Joe Hill was executed for a murder he most likely did not commit. However, he came to believe he was worth more to the labor movement dead as a martyr than alive.

As a result his last words to the firing squad were, "Go ahead, fire."

Just prior to his execution, Hill had written to Bill Haywood, an IWW leader, saying, "Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don't waste any time in mourning. Organize … Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."

Hill's will was written as a poem beginning with: "My will is easy to decide/for there is nothing to divide".

Not only was he an organizer and agitator, but he was a song writer and poet. His songs often were to the tune of popular songs and hymns of the time. He coined the phrase "pie in the sky" in his song "The Preacher and the Slave" (a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By"). He also wrote "The Tramp", "There Is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab".

My will is easy to decide
For there is nothing to divide
My kin don't need to fuss and moan
"Moss does not cling to rolling stone"

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce
And let the merry breezes blow
My dust to where some flowers grow

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you
Joe Hill