Preacher and the Slave (Live 1981)

[Live Spoken Introduction]
Joe Hill wrote a song for the free speech fight of uh, 1910, and it was introduced on the streets of Spokane by Haywire MacMclintok - him what, he was a branch secretary then. He wrote "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"

He got together a little band, T-Bone Slim and a tuba, a garbage can lid, and they stood in a doorway waiting to leap out at the unemployed throng and regale them with song

They used a shill to build a crowd -- you know a carny shill, somebody that uses tricks to build a crowd. His name was [Tresker?]. He wore a black suit, black bowler hat, and a string tie with an umbrella and a briefcase, lookedlike a banker. He'd walk down to where they were hiding in the doorway, and suddenly he'd start to yell: "Help, help, help, I've been robbed, help, I've been robbed!"

Everybody would run across the street, "What's the matter, what's the matter?". As soon as he got the crowd together he'd yell, "I've been robbed by the capitalist system, fellow workers!"

He'd talk to 'em for 10 minutes and then the boys would leap out and start singing, and this is what they were singing:

[Chorus]
You will eat (You will eat)
By and by (By and by)
In that glorious land in the sky (Way up high)
Work and pray (Work and pray)
Live on hay (Live on hay)
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)

[Verse 1]
Oh, long-haired preachers come out every night
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right
But when asked about something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet:

[Chorus]
You will eat (You will eat)
By and by (By and by)
In that glorious land in the sky (Way up high)
Work and pray (Work and pray)
Live on hay (Live on hay)
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)

[Verse 2]
The starvation army, they play
And they shout and they clap and they pray
When they've get all your coins on the drum
They will tell you when you're on the bum

[Chorus]
You will eat (You will eat)
By and by (By and by)
In that glorious land in the sky (In the sky)
Work and pray (Work and pray)
Live on hay (Live on hay)
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)

[Verse 3]
Holy Rollers and jumpers come out
And they roll and they jump and they shout
Give your money to Jesus, they say
And you'll eat on that glorious day

[Chorus]
You will eat (You will eat)
Bye and bye (By and by)
In that glorious land in the sky (In the sky)
Work and pray (Work and pray)
Live on hay (live on hay)
You'll get pie in the sky when you die (That's a lie)

[Verse 4]
Workingmen of all countries unite
Side by side we for freedom shall fight
When this world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain

[Chorus]
You will eat (You will eat)
By and by (By and by)
When you've learned how to cook and to fry
Chop some wood (Chop some wood)
It'll do you good (Do you good)
And you'll eat in the sweet by and by (That's no lie)