The jazz clarinetist Perry Robinson (1938–2018) was his son.\n', '

Robinson studied violin, viola and piano as a child, and studied composition at the University of Washington, receiving a BM and teaching certificate in 1933. In 1934 he moved to New York City where he studied with Hanns Eisler and Aaron Copland. He was also involved with the depression-era WPA Federal Theater Project, and was actively involved in the anti-fascist movement and was the musical director at the Communist-run Camp Unity in upstate New York. In the 1940s he worked on film scores in Hollywood until he was blacklisted for being a Communist. Unable to work in Hollywood, he moved back to New York, where he headed the music program at Elisabeth Irwin High School, directing the orchestra and chorus.\n', '

Robinson\'s musical influences began with both classical music and American folk music and included individuals such as Carl Sandburg, Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly, Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger. He composed "Ballad for Americans" (lyrics by John Latouche), which became a signature song for Robeson after it was broadcast on CBS in November 1939. It was also recorded by Bing Crosby, Lawrence Tibbett and Odetta. In 1936, Robinson wrote and performed "Joe Hill", also known as "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", a setting of a poem by Alfred Hayes, a fellow staff member at Camp Unity. The song became a popular labour anthem and was recorded by Robeson, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs, among others. It was used in the 1971 film Joe Hill, directed by Bo Widerberg.\n', '

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