Utah Phillips - Hallelujah I'm a Bum

HALLELUJAH, I'M A BUM!

Tune: Revive Us Again
Written by: Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock
Adapted by Spokane IWW Winter of 1908 For Use on Song Card of That Year)

LYRICS (as written by Haywire Mac, not the ones performed here by Utah):
O, why don't you work Like other men do?
How in hell can I work
When there's no work to do?

(Chorus)
Hallelujah, I'm a bum!
Hallelujah, bum again!
Hallelujah, give us a handout
To revive us again.

O, why don't you save
All the money you earn?
If I did not eat
I'd have money to burn.
(Chorus)

O, I like my boss -
He's a good friend of mine;
That's why I'm starving
Out in the breadline.
(Chorus)

I can't buy a job
For I ain't got the dough,
So I ride in a box-car
For I'm a hobo.
(Chorus)

Whenever I get
All the money I earn
The boss will be broke
And to work he must turn.
(Chorus)

VISIT:
http://www.utahphillips.org

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Utah
• Phillips
• Hallelujah
• I'm
• Bum
• folk
• music
• IWW
• Wobblies

[ganlesat]

This song was play by the volunteers of the A.Lincoln International Brigade in Spain 1936/39 !

[YGK2012]

Low wage earner in the restaurants, hotel fields? Organize with the I.W.W IU 640 for better wages and conditions!!!

[lesillmagpie]

played this song in a public area, lost some teeth worth it.

[johnrechy1]

God i miss him! I met him at Philly folk fest.never forget.What a great man...

[Mullahgrrl]

@ganlesat They may have won the war, but we had all the good songs.

[saurosnake]

Well, it occured to me that in my predicament that having the FBI open your mail might come in handy. I sent Sheila, my partner, a letter through the United states mail, and it said 'For God's sake, don't plow up the backyard, that's where the guns are buried.' National Guard rolled up, dug up the whole backyard in time for me to come back and plant the dang thing. Lol.

[OpakeArawra2]

ohhhh rest in peace my friend. :D

[SuperCHANDLER95]

I learned about this song in history when we talked about the IWW's Little Red Song Book

[jencdhs]

An awesome song. Saw Utah in Boston a little over a year before he died. A wonderful experience.

Union Forever!

Remember Spain!

[moshpiler]

@ToddBoyle what?