Joe Jencks - The Old Labor Hall

The Old Labor Hall
(Performed by Joe Jencks)
For my great friends of over 40 years, Chet Briggs & Karen Lane


They stand outside the doorway
As the long shadows fall
A line of ghostly figures
At the Old Labor Hall
Mother Jones has just arrived
In pillbox hat and shawl
From the Battle of Blair Mountain
To the Old Labor Hall

Big Bill Haywood stoops to enter
He’s nearly six feet tall
Bringing children from Lawrence
To the Old Labor Hall
He nods to Emma Goldman
So fiery yet so small
She’s arguing with Eugene Debs
At the Old Labor Hall

We still tell their stories
We still share their prid
‘Cross a century of struggle
We’re still on their side

They view the ancient photographs
That line the worn wood walls
They are back in 1900
At the Old Labor Hall
An Italian woman cocks her head
As if trying to recall
Some old song from Palermo
At the Old Labor Hall

A Scots stonecutter proudly holds
His chisel and his maul
His Highland brogue still echoes
Through the Old Labor Hall
He sculpts the Barre granite
The finest stone of all
For some rich man’s mausoleum
At the Old Labor Hall

We still tell their stories
We still share their pride
‘Cross a century of struggle
We’re still on their side
With socialists and anarchists
Sometimes it’s quite a brawl
It isn’t always peaceful
At the Old Labor Hall
But on the roll of honor
The brightest names of all
Are the immigrants whose strong hands built
The Old Labor Hall

So today we gather
Grateful to recall
This gentle man who fought to save
The Old Labor Hall
Who with such grace and humor
Such feeling for us all
Infused his steadfast passion
Through the Old Labor Hall

We will tell his story
We will share his pride
Today and in the future
Chet Briggs is on our side

We still tell their stories
We still share their pride
‘Cross a century of struggle
They’re still on our side
We’re still on their side