One little girl, fair as a pearl,Worked every day in a laundry ;All that she made for food she paid,So she slept on a park bench so soundly ;An old procuress spied her there,And whispered softly in her ear :refrainCome with me now, my girly,Don’t sleep out in the cold ;Your face and tresses curlyWill bring you fame and gold,Automobiles to ride in, diamonds and silks to wear,You’ll be a star bright, down in the red light,You’ll make your fortune there.Same little girl, no more a pearl,Walks all alone ‘long the river,Five years have flown, her health is gone,She would look at the water and shiver,Whene’er she’d stop to rest and sleep,She’d hear a voice call from the deep :Girls in this way, fall every day,And have been falling for ages,Who is to blame ? you know his name,It’s the boss that pays starvation wages.A homeless girl can always hearTemptations calling everywhere.
Accueil > Chansons > The White Slave
Text by Joe Hill (1912). Tune : “Meet Me Tonight In Dreamland” (1909) by Leo Friedman (1869-1927) with lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson.
First published in the March 1913 edition (fifth edition) of the IWW Little Red Songbook.
Voir :
- https://joehill100.com/joe-hill-songs/the-white-slave-1912/
- Green, Archie ; Roediger, David ; Rosemont, Franklin ; Salerno, Salvatore. The Big red songbook : 250+ IWW songs ! (2016), p. 121-122.
Record : Hill, Joe. Don’t mourn, organize ! songs of labor songwriter Joe Hill