Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[iloveyou]

Hello,

This is part of lyric of Joe hill...
"work and pray, live on hay, you will get pie in the sky when you die
that's a lie"

Here, "live on hay" literally means to eat hay?

Thanks
Yun

[redset]

Well I looked it up, and the lines before that one are

Long-haired preachers come out every night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked how 'bout something to eat
They will answer in voices so sweet

You will eat, bye and bye,
In that glorious land above the sky;
Work and pray, live on hay,
You'll get pie in the sky when you die

I don't think humans can actually digest hay (it's high in fibre though!), so either the preachers are being dismissive ('you'll be fine, you can eat some hay' - which won't actually help), or it's a figurative expression meaning 'live on some basic foodstuff' like wheat.

My interpretation is that the preachers are coming along, talking about morality and how people should behave, and saying they should give their money to the church. The workers point out that they have other worries, like food (which might symbolise their worldly needs in general), and the preachers reply that they should just work and pray - and either forget about food or, more likely, eat frugal and basic meals. So it sounds as though the preachers want the workers to live ascetically, denying themselves pleasures like good food and devoting their entire lives (and money) to the church.