The Tramp (song)

"The Tramp"
Music by	George F. Root
Lyrics by	Joe Hill
Published	1913
Language	English

"The Tramp" (1913) is – together with "The Preacher and the Slave" – one of labor organizer Joe Hill's most well-known songs. The lyrics tell about an able-bodied but unemployed man who wanders around looking for work, but is not welcome anywhere – even in church, Heaven, and Hell – and thus must "keep on a-tramping".

The tune is borrowed from the song "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Boys are Marching", a Civil War song written in the 1860's by military songwriter George F. Root. Root wrote it for Union soldiers, but the song was so popular that Confederate soldiers wrote their own words, and both sides sang it while marching. That song has appeared in several movies, including Gone with the Wind, and the tune is well-known today as the melody of the Sunday School standard "Jesus Loves the Little Children".

"The Tramp" was first published in the Mar 6, 1913 edition (fifth edition) of the Little Red Songbook of the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies). The Wobblies used songs – parodies set to traditional melodies – to help unionize workers. Hill wrote more than 25 such songs and was considered one of the Wobblies' best lyricists.^{[citation needed]}

Lyrics

If you all will shut your trap,

I will tell you 'bout a chap,

That was broke and up against it, too, for fair;

He was not the kind to shirk,

He was looking hard for work,

But he heard the same old story everywhere.

(Chorus)

Tramp, tramp, tramp, keep on a-tramping,

Nothing doing here for you;

If I catch you 'round again,

You will wear the ball and chain,

Keep on tramping, that's the best thing you can do.

He walked up and down the street,

'Til the shoes fell off his feet.

In a house he spied a lady cooking stew,

And he said, "How do you do,

May I chop some wood for you?"

What the lady told him made him feel so blue.

(Repeat chorus)

'Cross the street a sign he read,

"Work for Jesus" so it said,

And he said, "Here is my chance, I'll surely try,"

And he kneeled upon the floor,

Till his knees got rather sore,

But at eating-time he heard the preacher cry–

(Repeat chorus)

Down the street he met a cop,

And the copper made him stop,

And he asked him, "When did you blow into town?

Come with me up to the judge,"

But the judge he said, "Oh fudge,

Bums that have no money needn't come around."

(Repeat chorus)

Finally came that happy day

When his life did pass away,

He was sure he'd go to heaven when he died,

When he reached the pearly gate,

Santa Peter, mean old skate,

Slammed the gate right in his face and loudly cried:

(Repeat chorus)

In despair he went to Hell,

With the Devil for to dwell,

For the reason he'd no other place to go.

And he said, "I'm full of sin,

So for Christ's sake, let me in!"

But the Devil said, "Oh, beat it! You're a 'bo!'

(Repeat chorus)

See also

Wobbly lingo

External links

• The lyrics to The Tramp
• Joe Glazer- The Tramp (Joe Hill) on YouTube