COME AND TAKE A JOY-RIDE IN MY AEROPLANE (JOE HILL) (1914)

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Hill's sentimental love songs never appeared in the "Little Red Songbook." These songs when analyzed today appear markedly inferior to his I. W. W. lyrics and give us a glimpse into an aspect of his personality about which little is known. Undeniably, it is an aspect of his personality contradictory to that admired by the I. W. W. Although several of Hill's I. W. W. songs exhibit a touch of sentimentality, none matches the three which follow. Two of them, "Come and Take a Joy-Ride in My Aeroplane" and "Oh, Please Let Me Dance This Waltz with You," were found by police in his room in the house where he was arrested in Salt Lake City in 1914. The Salt Lake Tribune printed the songs....

The third thoroughly sentimental song, "My Dreamland Girl," was found in the Joe Hill file of the Archives of the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm, Sweden. It was printed on a small card, indicating that it had probably been for sale at one time.

Gibbs M. Smith, Labor Martyr Joe Hill, New York, NY, 1969, pp. 38-39.

Lyrics as reprinted ibid.

If you will be my sweetheart, I'll take you for a ride
Among the silv'ry clouds up in the sky.
Then, far away from sorrows like eagles we will glide,
And no one will be there but you and I.
Say, darling, if you'll be my little honey dove,
We'll fly above and coo and love.
I'll take you from this dusty earth to where the air
Is pure and crystal clear -- and there
I'll give my promise to be true,
While gliding 'mong the silv'ry clouds with you.

Come and take a joy-ride in my aeroplane tonight,
Way beyond the clouds, where all the stars are shining bright.
There l'd like to look into your loving eyes of blue,
And if I should fall, then I know I'd fall in love with you.

If you will be my sweetheart, I'll take you to the stars,
The man in the moon will meet you face to face.
We'll take a trip to Venus, to Jupiter and to Mars,
And with the comets we will run a race.
We'll go to the milky way, where all the milk is sold
In cups of gold, so I was told.
Our little honeymooning trip shall be a scream,
A sweet and lovely dream.
Come, put your little head close to my heart,
And promise that we'll never, never part.

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