Pi in the Sky when you Die

by VorJack

Happy Pi Day! Here, have one million pieces of pi.

The other day I heard a great track of the late Utah Phillips performing Joe Hill’s “The Preacher and the Slave” – the song where we get the phrase “pie in the sky.” This song was written back in 1911 as a counter to “In The Sweet By and By.” It’s a labor song trying to inspire the workers to organize, but at its heart it’s a song about how churches end up supporting the established order.

Unfortunately, I can’t find any good youtube videos of it. There are a couple of solo performances, but none of them have the audience responses -what Phillips called “singing Baptist style.”

So here are the lyrics. Try to imagine this being sung at rallys all over the country during the early part of this century.

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

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

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.

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

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