What is the message/point of this song ?

[tradeunionsupporter]

Music (http://www.plp.org/music/) > PLP LPs


pl - Preacher And The Slave.mp3 (http://www.plp.org/music/plp-lps/pl%20-%20Preacher%20And%20The%20Slave.mp3)

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http://www.plp.org/music/plp-lps/

[tradeunionsupporter]

Does anyone have a view on this thanks ?

[Revolution starts with U]

Not downloading mp3s off of a random website :lol:

Perhaps if you could link to a youtube video or something?

[ComradeMan]

Not downloading mp3s off of a random website :lol:

Perhaps if you could link to a youtube video or something?

Good advice. Perhaps OP could post the lyrics?

[Catmatic Leftist]

Ca_MEJmuzMM
Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet
Chorus
You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

And the Starvation Army, they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray,
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they tell you when you're on the bum
(Chorus)
Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out
And they holler, they jump and they shout
Give your money to Jesus, they say,
He will cure all diseases today
(Chorus)
If you fight hard for children and wife-
Try to get something good in this life-
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.
(Chorus)
Workingmen of all countries, unite
Side by side we for freedom will fight
When the world and its wealth we have gained
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain
Chorus (modified)
You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry;
Chop some wood, 'twill do you good
Then you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye
The chorus is sung in a call and response pattern.
You will eat [You will eat] bye and bye [bye and bye]
In that glorious land above 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!]
Thus the final verse becomes
You will eat [You will eat] bye and bye [bye and bye]
When you've learned how to cook and how to fry [How to fry]
Chop some wood [Chop some wood], 'twill do you good [do you good]
Then you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye [That's no lie]

It's literally an echoing of Karl Marx's religion is the "opiate of the masses" in how it prevents workers from rebelling with a bunch of fluffed up nonsense and rhetoric.

[tradeunionsupporter]

Thank you for your answers.

[hatzel]

I think that, like pretty much every other song ever written, it's about drugs. I mean c'mon, long-haired preachers? Clearly hippies on acid...and what's that about living on hay? An allusion to weed, no doubt...

Does anybody else kind of hate these leftist rallying songs? They all just sound so ridiculous to me :confused:

[Manic Impressive]

I think that, like pretty much every other song ever written, it's about drugs. I mean c'mon, long-haired preachers? Clearly hippies on acid...and what's that about living on hay? An allusion to weed, no doubt...

Does anybody else kind of hate these leftist rallying songs? They all just sound so ridiculous to me :confused:
No they're ossim you just don't like it coz it's dissing religion

OP the song is criticizing religious authorities for telling workers to stop worrying about life as they'll all go to heaven one day

[hatzel]

No they're ossim you just don't like it coz it's dissing religion

Nah, man. Any song which says something like "workingmen of all countries, unite, side by side we for freedom will fight" instantly loses all credibility, as far as I'm concerned. Don't know what it is about that kind of stuff, but...nah, it's just not doing it for me. It doesn't rouse me from my slumber or anything like that :unsure:

[ComradeMan]

ndyqezkr0dU

[tradeunionsupporter]

I agree Workers need to stop looking for Heaven in the sky after death and work to build a Heaven here on Earth in this life.

[Yugo45]

"The Preacher and the Slave" is a song written by Joe Hill in 1911. It was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye". The Industrial Workers of the World (commonly known as the Wobblies) concentrated much of its labor trying to organize migrant workers in lumber and construction camps. When the workers returned to the cities, the Wobblies faced the Salvation Army (which they satirized as the "Starvation Army").[1] Hill had first encountered the Salvation Army in Sweden when he was a child.[2]
Several songs were written parodying the Salvation Army's hymns, "The Preacher and the Slave" being the most successful. In this song, Joe Hill coined the phrase "pie in the sky."[3] The song is often referred to as "Pie in the Sky", or as "Long Haired Preachers" (which was its original title).[4] It was first published in the 4th edition of the Little Red Songbook in 1911.[5]

Source: Wikipedia