Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"
Song by
Language	English
Written	1897?
Published	1908
Songwriter(s)	?
Composer(s)	John J. Husband 1815

"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" (Roud 7992) is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a hobo.

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 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:

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:

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.

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Wikipedia