Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Song

The song's authorship is uncertain, but according to hobo poetry researcher Bud L. McKillips the words were written by an IWW member. Some verses, though, may have been written by a Kansas City hobo known only as "One-Finger Ellis," who scribbled it on the wall of his prison cell in 1897. There is also a questionable theory that Harry McClintock could have written it in 1897 when he was only fifteen.

Sung to the tune of the Presbyterian hymn "Revive Us Again", the song was printed by the Industrial Workers of the World in 1908, and adopted by its Spokane, Washington branch as their anthem later that year. The success of their Free speech fights of 1909 led to its widespread popularity.

The version published in 1908 goes:

Why don't you work like other folks do? How the hell can I work when there's no work to do? Oh, why don't you save all the money you earn? If I didn't eat, I'd have money to burn. Whenever I get all the money I earn, The boss will be broke, and to work he must turn. Oh, I like my boss, he's a good friend of mine, That's why I am starving out on the bread line. When springtime it comes, oh, won't we have fun; We'll throw off our jobs, and go on the bum.

Other versions

The New Christy Minstrels created another version which added more story to the original. This version goes:

In 1961, the Freedom Riders adapted the song, with these lyrics:

Recordings

Harry McClintock 1928

Vernon Dalhart 1928

Al Jolson 1928

Jack Kaufman 1928

Frank Luther 1928

Hobo Jack Turner 1928

Pete Wiggins 1928

Ted Fiorito 1932

George Olsen 1933

Dan Ritchie 1933

Fats Waller 1939 Fine Arabian Stuff

Utah Phillips Legends of Folk, We Have Fed You All

Pete Seeger 1962 on American Favorite Ballads

The New Christy Minstrels

"Spider" John Koerner Some American Folk Songs Like They Used To

Tony Gilkyson 1998 Sparko

Daniel, Fred & Julie 2009

Wee Weary Willie (Unknown) 78 RPM with B side The Bum Song

Published versions

1908 song card, Spokane IWW

American Songbag 1927 Carl Sandburg pp. 184–185

George Milburn, The Hobo's Hornbook, 1930

Margaret Bradford Boni, Fireside Book of Folk Songs, 1947

Edith Fowke and Joe Glazer, eds., Songs of Work and Protest 1973 p. 127

Little Red Songbook Centenary Edition, 2005

Rise Up Singing p. 181

In popular culture

A 1933 musical comedy film is entitled Hallelujah, I'm a Bum.

The music was quoted in the Charlie Chaplin movie Modern Times (1936), when Charlie is released from the home for the bewildered and trudges along the street before picking up a red flag that has dropped off the back of a truck.

The Porky Pig cartoon Confusions of a Nutzy Spy depicts a spy attempting to plant a bomb on which "Hallelujah, I'm a Bomb!" is written.

In 2012, the rock band, Local H, released their seventh studio album, "Hallelujah! I'm a Bum".

The 1928 recording of the song was featured in Bob Dylan's Thanksgiving "leftovers"-themed episode of his Theme Time Radio Hour program.