Joe Hill is probably the most well-known Wobbly composer, but the story of the Little Red Songbook begins even before Joe Hill joined the IWW. As early as April 1908, fellow worker J.H. Walsh wrote about the Spokane Wobblies' use of 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum.' Walsh seems to have been interested in music as a tool of class warfare before he arrived in Spokane. Though it is unclear how much the Spokane Wobblies were singing before his arrival, when Walsh came to town he brought his own group of Wobbly troubadours known as the 'Overall Brigade.' At times during the Wobblies street meetings they would 'sing note by note with the Salvation Army' [brass band], only while the Salvation Army's words were 'describing Heaven above' the IWW's were talking about 'Hell right here - all to the same tune!' In their musical battles with the 'Starvation Army' the Wobblies saw how the bosses were using the music's power in an attempt to manipulate and control workers. The power of this religious and patr
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Joe Hill is probably the most well-known Wobbly composer, but the story of the Little Red Songbook begins even before Joe Hill joined the IWW. As early as April 1908, fellow worker J.H. Walsh wrote about the Spokane Wobblies' use of 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum.' Walsh seems to have been interested in music as a tool of class warfare before he arrived in Spokane. Though it is unclear how much the Spokane Wobblies were singing before his arrival, when Walsh came to town he brought his own group of Wobbly troubadours known as the 'Overall Brigade.' At times during the Wobblies street meetings they would 'sing note by note with the Salvation Army' [brass band], only while the Salvation Army's words were 'describing Heaven above' the IWW's were talking about 'Hell right here - all to the same tune!' In their musical battles with the 'Starvation Army' the Wobblies saw how the bosses were using the music's power in an attempt to manipulate and control workers. The power of this religious and patr
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