Goodbye Joe Hill chords by Rosalie Sorrels

Chords with lyrics

Tuning: EADGBE

A augmentedA song dedicated to Joe Hill , the great social shaker and songwriter killed by the State of Utah in 1915,
Tom Joad , the protagonist of "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck,
Gene Debs (1855-1926), historical leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)
and Ammon Hennacy (1893-1970), a pacifist and anarchist Christian who was the founder of the "Joe Hill House",
home of the Catholic Worker Movement in Salt Lake City

Verse 1:
E MajorE                      BB
Goodbye, Joe Hill, we've had some good times here.
                 E MajorE
I wish you could stay around for just another year.
                   A augmentedA
But the battle line keeps movin' and I know that you can't stay.
BB                    E MajorE
I guess sometimes it just works out that way.

Verse 2:
                      BB
Goodbye, Tom Joad, we'll meet, I don't know where.
                          E MajorE
We're a better kind of people for knowin' you were here.
                  A augmentedA
It was a damn good fight, Tom, but we lost and that's a shame;
BB                    E MajorE
I'm glad we stood and fought it, all the same.

Verse 3:
E MajorE
Goodbye, Gene Debs, I know just where you'll be:
 BB               A augmentedA        E MajorE
"While there's a man in prison, my soul can not be free."
                          A augmentedA
Well, Gene, you tried to change them, but they beat you in the end;
D#mD#m              E MajorE
I'm glad that we had you for a friend.

Verse 4:
E MajorE                        BB
And Ammon, you old rebel, it's just another round.
                A augmentedA   E MajorE
Takes more than politicians to keep a rebel down.
                    A augmentedA
There's one thing I know for certain, I swear by God it's true:
BB                      E MajorE
This blue-nosed town ain't seen the last of you.

Verse 5:
E MajorE
So long, Joe Hill. So long, but not goodbye.
BB                    A augmentedA       E MajorE
You're off to teach some grafters how to sizzle and to fry.
                     A augmentedA
But someday we're going to need you Joe, you and all your friends,
BB                E MajorE