Songs about working life

[Con Murphy]

Assuming we are talking about industry generally as opposed to specifically factory, another obvious one is Lee Dorsey's Working in a Coalmine.

But the ultimate factory song must surely be The Four Vagabonds' Rosie the Riveter.

"All the day long,
Whether rain or shine,
She's a part of the assembly line.
She's making history,
Working for victory,
Rosie the Riveter.
Keeps a sharp lookout for sabotage,
Sitting up there on the fuselage.
That little girl will do more than a male will do."


I seem to recall a film about her in the late 70s/early 80s?

[NormanD]

I haven't heard the 4 Vagabonds' song, but you can see a picture of Rosie The Riveter here: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/ ... _rosie.htm
Hmmm, what a dame!

The Lee Dorsey song has reminded me of "HI HO" from the Disney film Snow White (I don't know how true this is, but when it was first released I believe the film got a good review in the Daily Worker because of its sympathies towards the proletarian Seven Dwarves. Honest.)

And TOM WAITS (I capitalise, to draw some readers' interest back) has done a very scary version of the HI HO song.

norman

[Guest]

Check out The Dixon Brothers, a Carolina duo who recorded in the'30's when brother acts were all the rage, their repertoire included songs about working in the textile industry such as "Weave Room Blues". Knockout acoustic lap-steel too.

[Charlie]

Merle Haggard's Working Man Blues must belong here, whatever his politics.

Yes, Merle Travis wrote 16 Tons, and also Dark as a Dungeon, a song about coal miners which has a very interesting twist on the theme - men get addicted to working, and can't let go.

Come and listen you fellows
So young and do fine
And seek not your fortune
In the dark, dreary mines

It will form as a habit
Seep in your soul
'til the blood in your veins
Runs as black as the coal

There's many a man
That I've known in my day
Who lived just to labor
His whole life away

Like a fiend with his dope
And a drunkard his wine
A man will have lust for
The lure of the mine

It's dark as a dungeon
Damp as the dew
The danger is double
And the pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

I hope when I'm gone
And the ages shall roll
My body will blacken
And turn into coal

Then I'll look out the door
Of my heavenly home
And I'll pity the miners
A-diggin' my bones

It's dark as a dungeon
Damp as the dew
The danger is double
And the pleasures are few

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

Where the rain never falls
Where the sun never shines
It's dark as a dungeon
Way down in the mine

(Merle Travis, 1948)

Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton are among the many who recorded it. The latest version is by Heike Makatsch, who sings it during the opening credits of Almost Heaven, written and directed by Ed Herzog (due for release in Germany in August).

Oval released a B-side by Pete Fowler called Miners' Strike, which Bob Christgau wrote an amazing review of in The Village Voice.

Does Eddie Cochran count? I been workin' all summer just to try to raise a dollar.

[RobHall]

Sorry to introduce yet a further sub-division, but...

I was going to suggest Oscar Brown Jr's "Work Song". Then I remembered that it was a prison work song, and if we have that, then we should surely have Sam Cooke's "Chain Gang". This opens us up to the prison work songs collected by Alan Lomax on his Southern Journey, and I'm sure there must be others besides those.

And the "Rosie the Riveter" song (thanks for that Con) begs the question as to why these songs are all about men? Which leads us to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5", and Jody Miller's "Queen of the House".

Miscellaneous others: the gospel tune "Working on a Building"; the Isley's "Work To Do"; the Silhouettes' "Get A Job".

[Ted]

the Silhouettes' "Get A Job".

Smokey & and the Miracles answer to that "Got a job (and the boss is a slob)".


Three Miles Down by Gil Scott Heron

TW

[Con Murphy]

Which leads us to Dolly Parton's "9 to 5"

And Sheena Easton. Altogether now: "My baby takes the morning train..."

[Charlie]

who's got the time to put the lyric of Get a Job into this thread?

[NormanD]

"Get A Job" and The Miracles' answer disc are both great ones that both say one or two things about the alienating nature of the labour process (could that be a PhD option for some desperate scholar?). And the only line of The Smiths I can be interested in remembering is "I was looking for a job, and I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now".

"Dark As A Dungeon" used to be sung a lot in UK folk clubs, and was often thought of as trad. I'm sure many didn't know it was written by the guy who is better known for the influential guitar picking style named after him.

norman

PS Just spotted above request. So -

"Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Every morning about this time
she get me out of my bed
a-crying get a job.
After breakfast, everyday,
she throws the want ads right my way
And never fails to say,
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na
And when I get the paper
I read it through and through
And my girl never fails to say
If there is any work for me,
And when I go back to the house
I hear the woman's mouth
Preaching and a crying,
Tell me that I'm lying 'bout a job
That I never could find.
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Sha na na na, sha na na na na,
Yip yip yip yip yip yip yip yip
Mum mum mum mum mum mum
Get a job Sha na na na, sha na na na na"

sorry, not able to credit writers / publishers.

[garth cartwright]

the Paul Schrader film Blue Collar - starring Richard Pryor, harvey Keital and Yaphet Kotto - had a great soundtrack thrown together by Ry Cooder. Most of the tunes were songs that were already hits with blue collar audiences (Lynyrd Skynyrd, Satin Sheets etc) but for the title theme Ry took Muddy Waters' Mannish Boy beat/riff/stomp and got Captain Beefhart to recite over it the working man blues. Cooder has never played tougher slide guitar and the Captain sounded amazingly coherent. I haven't heard this for years so can't remember the lyrics, owned it on vinyl in NZ and am not sure if it's ever been issued on CD. But a good working song for sure. the movie had some fine performances from all involved but memory suggests it loses focus about half way through.

[neil spencer]

Sixteen Tons was written by Merle 'Poet of the Common Man' Travis.

For Working Class heroism, try 'Big Bad John' by Jimmy Dean, a miner giving his life for the greater good (sob).

Steve earle's 'The Mountain' is pretty good too.

One issue with all these 'nobility of labour' songs is that they are all about macho geezers. As the miners found out back in 1984, that isn't always enough.

Any nominations for songs about getting up at 4 am to go and clean the city office blocks or the shopping mall at heathrow?

For tragic reality, hard to beat 'Deportees' by Woody, about wetback fruit pickers in california. Fave version is by his son Arlo on an early album.

Architecture? How about 'Buildings going up to the sky/people going downto the ground' by some old singer songwriter.

n

[Con Murphy]

Any nominations for songs about getting up at 4 am to go and clean the city office blocks or the shopping mall at heathrow?

Well, cleaning cars isn't the greatest job in the world but Rose Royce were able to make it sound pretty...well, funky to use a word from elsewhere on the site.

[Ian A.]

half-memories of some British folk songs

Hard to know where to begin: from industrial ballads to old songs about farm work, the British tradition is saturated with them. For example (but don't let Charlie hear it, he'll have a fit . . . ) Vol. 20 of Topic's epic CD set The Voice Of The People is subtitled "Working Men & Women In Song" . . .

[NormanD]

Architecture? How about 'Buildings going up to the sky/people going down to the ground' by some old singer songwriter.

'I thought I knew some ups & downs, etc..' That the one? Is this a test for people of a certain age?

Any nominations for songs about getting up at 4 am to go and clean the city office blocks or the shopping mall at heathrow?

Maybe these are the non-English language songs I hope are there, it would be great to know if there are any.

The Ry Cooder song is the one that sparked this all off, mentioned elsewhere. It has a great, thumping auto plant pressing machine whacking out the beat. Didn't Ry Cooder do a similar thing - blues + sound effects - on "Don't Bug Me While I'm Working", the Little Village album he did with John Hiatt, etc?

norman

[RobHall]

Sorry Norman, I can't think of any non-English songs, but here's a few more to throw into the pot:

Randy Newman "Mr President (Have Pity On The Working Man)"
NRBQ "Whistle While You Work"
John Handy "Hard Work"
Mississippi Matilda "Hard Working Woman" (also features a mention of rolling stone)
Elvis P "Big Boss Man"
Elvis C "Welcome To The Working Week"
The Blasters "Common Man"
Little Village "Do You Want My Job?" (much better than "Don't Bug Me While I'm Working" for this exercise)
Buddy Holly "Midnight Shift"
The Easybeats "Friday On My Mind"
Joan Baez "Joe Hill"