Songs of the Industrial Workers of the World (4th Australian edition)/Don't Take My Papa Away From Me
DON'T TAKE MY PAPA AWAY FROM ME.
Words and Music by Joe Hill.
(Written just before his execution).
A little girl with her father stayed, in a cabin across the sea,
Her mother dear in the cold grave lay; with her father she'd always be—
But then one day the great war broke out and her father was told to go;
The little girl pleaded—her father she needed,
She begged, cried and pleaded so:
CHORUS:
He has cared for me so tenderly, ever since mother was gone.
Nobody like him can be, no one can so with me play.
Don't take my papa away from me; please don't take papa away.
Her tender pleadings were all in vain, and her father went to the war.
He'll never kiss her good-night again, for he fell 'mid the cannon's roar.
Greater a soldier was never born, but his brave heart was pierced one day;
And as he was lying, he heard some one crying
A girl's voice far away:
CHORUS: