Which Side Are You on? SONGS ABOUT LABOR! (Solidarity!)

[Bennyboy]

This time let's mean it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g

[Bennyboy]

1. DIrty Business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJdq0OcRK3o

[Bennyboy]

2. Factory, Bruce Springsteen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqe2DR_v8HQ

[Bennyboy]

3. John Henry.... (Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions band)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMHLWmgi7WY&NR=1

[Arugula Latte]

4. Billy Bragg -- "There Is Power In a Union"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwbzxemJZIc

[Deep13]

36. +1

[Bennyboy]

5. Youngstown Springsteen

Might just be my favorite Bruce song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMHLWmgi7WY&NR=1

[Bossy Monkey]

6. Joe Hill n/t

[bookworm65t]

23. Paul Robeson's version was the best

imho

:)

[Bennyboy]

7. Springsteen and Tom Morello..The Ghost of Tom Joad..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLFLrTnue9s

[abq e streeter]

12. Read here that Morello is on his way to Madison

:thumbsup:

[Bennyboy]

8. The Worlds best union song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P38VM7IwCI&feature=related

[Deep13]

38. I'd be remiss if I did not mention L'Internationale. nt

[Bennyboy]

9. Utah Phillips, There is power in the Union!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O93YpTYCWRk&feature=related

Utah was from around here, Nevada City. I got an oppotunity to get to know him a bit and do some good works with him. I miss Utah.. Wanna read a great story, Utah's is a good one for sure.

[JanMichael]

10. But but but but but...stutter...that's all "with us or against us" music!!

Where's the capitulation to the opposition????

[Archae]

11. The Strawbs..."I'm A Union Man"

1973.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOCWUgwiWs

[Bennyboy]

13. Dropkick Murphys: Workers song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bud0hEqzkRY

[Bennyboy]

16. War on the workers. Anne Feeney

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=1119299&q=hi&newref=1

[Joe Fields]

14. You want to know what side I'm on? I'm on my fucking side.

The side that no one else is on. Not the government's, not the factory and not the union's side. Because none of those have done me a goddamned bit of good in my life.

Do I sound harsh? Fucking A...

And I have reasons, which I doubt anyone caught in the newest hip issue here care to hear.

[kwassa]

18. and this is news?

I dreamed I saw Joe Fields last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he
"I never died," says he
"In Salt Lake, Joe," says I to him,
Him standing by my bed,
"They framed you on a murder charge,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead,"
Says Joe, "But I ain't dead."
"The copper bosses killed you, Joe,
They shot you, Joe," says I.
"Takes more than guns to kill a man,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die,"
Says Joe, "I didn't die."
And standing there as big as life
And smiling with his eyes
Joe says, "What they forgot to kill
Went on to organize,
Went on to organize."
"Joe Fields ain't dead," he says to me,
"Joe Fields ain't never died.
Where working men are out on strike
Joe Fields is at their side,
Joe Fields is at their side."
"From San Diego up to Maine,
In every mine and mill,
Where workers strike and organize,"
Says he, "You'll find Joe Fields,"
Says he, "You'll find Joe Fields."
I dreamed I saw Joe Fields last night,
Alive as you or me
Says I, "But Joe, you're ten years dead,"
"I never died," says he
"I never died," says he

[Mad_Dem_X]

40. Wrong place - whoops

[Skittles]

15. BTO Taking Care of Business

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSlZi01Hm-8

[Bake]

17. Coal Tattoo

Travelin' down this Coal Town road
Listen to my rubber tires whine
Goodbye to buckeye and white sycamore
I'm leaving you behind.

I've been a coal miner all my life
Layin' down track in the hole
Got a back like an ironwood bent by the wind
Blood veins as blue as the coal

Somebody said that's a strange tattoo
There on the side of your head
I said that's the mark of the number nine coal
A little more and I'd be dead

I stood for the union, I walked the line
Fought agains the company
I stood for the U.M.W. of A.
Now who's gonna stand for me?

I got no house and I got no job
Just got a worried soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal.



Jimmy Driftwood wrote this, as I recall ...

Bake

[Dystopian]

19. Pillar of Davidson - Live

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hge8yfUoD_I

warm bodies, I sense
are not machines that can only make money
past, perfect, tense
words for a feeling and all I've discovered
I'll be along son with medicine supposed to,
designed to make you high
I'll be along son
with words for a feeling and all I've discovered

old, bad eyes
old, bad eyes
old, bad eyes

on loneliness comes
go see the foreman, go see the profiteer
on loneliness drives
we're takin' our time movin' shit for this holy slime

old, bad eyes
old, bad eyes
old, bad eyes, almighty fear

the shepherd won't leave me alone
he's in my face and I
the shepherd of my days
and I want you here by my heart and my head,
I can't start till I'm dead

Background Lyrics:
here I am locking horns with the stallion
failing to hold my head up, I'll go back again
pillar of davidson feeling to hard to go down
cheaper than all souls he will walk upon
deeper and deeper in love so I hold my head up
cheaper than all souls he will walk upon
pillar of davidson feeling to hard to go down

peace~

[Bennyboy]

20. For What It's Worth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g9PiEgYYUU

There's something happening here
What it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away
We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, now, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down
Stop, children, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down

[Dystopian]

21. Rosa on the Factory Floor - Jethro Tull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ROegaBJQ4

She moves with machinery for the fancy sports car trade.
Part of the industrial process: she sees that they stay made.
She works from early A.M.. They work her to the bone.
When I call her in the evening, she's too tired to lift the phone.

Damned if I'll wait for her, and I'll be damned if I don't.
Damned if I only see that Rosa on the factory floor.

Signed on for the duration. They say she came from the East.
With her tool bag and her coveralls, to pay the rent at least.
She doesn't talk with workers on the rest of the line
and over in the canteen, she's alone most of the time.

Somewhere in her history is a lock without a key.
She doesn't trust the management--and she won't trust me.
We're two different animals. We live jungles apart.
She circles round her freedom and I circle round her heart.


peace~

[Dystopian]

22. Working John, Working Joe - Jethro Tull

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJwxU_l9Mow

When I was a young man (as all good tales begin)
I was taught to hold out my hand
And for my pay I worked an honest day
and took what pittance I could win
Now I'm a working John and I'm a working Joe
and I'm doing what I know
for God and the Economy
Big brother watches over me
And the state protects and feeds me
And my conscience never leaves me
And I'm loyal to the unions
who protect me at all levels

And as I grew, the winds of fortune blew
and the bank smiled down upon me
And mortgaged to the hilt I threw
the breeze of caution behind me
Now I'm a working John and I'm a working Joe
and I'm good at what I know
And God and the Economy
have blessed me with equality
Now I'm equal to the best of you
And better than the rest of you
who would criticise my success
in times of national unrest

Now I own my horseless carriage
in its central-heated garage
And I commute eighty miles a day ---
up at seven to make it pay
I direct ten limited companies
with seeming consummate expertise
two ulcers and a heart disease
a trembling feeling in both knees ---
I'm a working John and I'm a working Joe

peace~

[Enrique]

24. Steve Earle, "Harlan Man"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jngBrzeu-4U

[marigold20]

25. Union Maid

I always liked this one - "You can't scare me, I'm sticking to the Union..."

[Deep13]

37. She never was afraid...

...of goons or ginks or company finks or deputy sheriffs who led the raids.

[Bennyboy]

26. Industrial Disease

Dire Straits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3GqClIZ9kc



Now warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control
Somebody threw a spanner, they threw him in the hole
There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down

There's a meeting in the boardroom, they're trying to trace the smell
There's a leakin' in the washroom, there's a sneakin' personnel
Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze
Goodness me, could this be industrial disease ?'

Caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post
Refusing to be pacified, it's him they blame the most
Watchdog's got rabies, the foreman got the fleas
Everyone's concerned about industrial disease

There's panic on the switchboard, tongue is in knots
Some come out in sympathy, some come out in spots
Some blame the management, some the employees
Everybody knows it's the industrial disease

Yeah, now the work force is disgusted down tools and walks
Innocence is injured, experience just talks
Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees
That these are classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze

On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse
Philosophy is useless, theology is worse
History boils over, there's an Economics freeze
Sociologists invent words that mean industrial disease
http://www.elyrics.net/read/d/dire-straits-lyrics/industrial-disease-lyrics.html>

Doctor Parkinson declared, "I'm not surprised to see you here
You've got smokers cough from smoking
Brewer's droop from drinking beer
I don't know how you came to get the Bette Davis wheeze
But worst of all young man you've got industrial disease"

He wrote me a prescription he said, "You are depressed
I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
Come back and see me later, next patient please
Send in another victim of industrial disease"

And I go down to speaker's corner, I'm a thunderstruck
They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks
Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong
There's a protest singer, he's singing a protest song, he says

They wanna have a war to keep their factories
They wanna have a war to keep us on our knees
They wanna have a war to stop us buying Japanese
They wanna have a war to stop industrial disease

They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind
They wanna sap your energy, incarcerate your mind
Give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three
Two weeks in Espania and Sunday striptease

Meanwhile the first Jesus says, "I'll cure it soon
Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons"
The other one's out on hunger strike, he's dying by degrees
How come Jesus gets industrial disease?

[Bennyboy]

27. Bread and Roses...

Joan Baez and Mimi Farina http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3GqClIZ9kc

[Bennyboy]

28. Union Burying Ground..>Woody Guthrie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA7WGWn8cPE

[Bennyboy]

29. Hey Woody Guthrie where are ya?

Hey Woody Guthrie whee are ya,
we could use you once more..
Hey Woody Guthrie where are ya
The big dogs are back at the door.

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/3839661

LEFTOVER SALMON.

[Petrushka]

30. "One Day More" by Elaine Purkey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WczCJySAD2E

http://www.wvculture.org/goldenseal/summer06/purkey.html

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Elaine+Purkey%22

[Dystopian]

31. Salt of the Earth - Rolling Stones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLsQ2CJQU8U

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink of the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Spare a part for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth

And when I look into the this faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray blue
Black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, we all look so strange

Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leading but get gamblers instead

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio

And when I look into this faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don't look real to you
Or do we look too strange

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth

Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the three thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth

peace~

[janet118]

32. 1913 Massacre by Woody Guthrie

You ask about work and you ask about pay;
They'll tell you that they make less than a dollar a day,
Working the copper claims, risking their lives,
So it's fun to spend Christmas with children and wives.
There's talking and laughing and songs in the air,
And the spirit of Christmas is there everywhere,
Before you know it, you're friends with us all
And you're dancing around and around in the hall.
Well, a little girl sits down by the Christmas tree lights,
To play the piano, so you gotta keep quiet.
To hear all this fun you would not realize
That the copper-boss thug-men are milling outside.

About an incident that killed 73 children at Italian Hall in Calumet,Michigan during a strike by copper miners. Song was also recorded by Arlo, Dylan and Ramblin' Jack.

[bluesbassman]

33. Cumberland Blues - Grateful Dead

Lotta poor man make a five dollar bill, keep him happy all the time.
Some other fellas make nothin at all, and you can hear him cryin...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o8HUNj499U

[travelingtypist]

34. Big Bad John -- Jimmy Dean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3ErDN50Qk

[Tabasco_Dave]

35. John Lennon - Power to the People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wos-dDxpJlQ

[Bennyboy]

39. Big Boss Man! Grateful Dead and many others

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-cCv-1AuIk

[Mad_Dem_X]

41. Wokring Class Hero - John Lennon

[realisticphish]

42. Otep - Smash the Control Machine

Not strictly about labor, but in the right spirit, I think
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1cv2IjKkic


(With the perfect hair
And the perfect wife
And the perfect kids
And the perfect life
I will finally be somebody...)

(Let's play born-again American, resistance is the game!)

Two pigs wearing suits
Brought the news
That I'm wanted by the bank

They say the rent is due
Caesar's onto you
So you better remember your place

Then they outsourced my job
And gave a raise to my boss

Bailed out the banks
But billed me for the loss

They say we must submit
And be one with the Machine

Because the Kingdom of Fear
Needs compliance to succeed

So waterboard the kids for fun
It's all the rage

And play born-again American
Resistance is the game

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Work, buy, consume, die

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Happy little slaves for minimum wage

(The revolution will be monetized
And streamed live via renegade WiFi)

The clinic said I'm sick
Toxic..... and impure

But there isn't any cure
For the poor or uninsured

So we live our digital lives
On multiple screens

And we forget that
The blood of the workers
Grease the machines

In the Psalm of the Fiends
Love ...... discriminates

While the fat cats feed the rats
Their daily dose of cake

So waterboard the kids for fun
It's all the rage

And play born-again American
Resistance is the game

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Work, buy, consume, die

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Happy little slaves for minimum wage

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Work, buy, consume, die

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Haters, betrayers, liars, and thieves

(America)

She sold her soul
For designer clothes

For the perfect lips
And the perfect nose

The winner in the end
Always owns the most

Reality tv told her so!

(Mammonites)

Money changer!
Greedy bankers!

This is the Peoples House!

My minister has a sinister plan
To save my soul with a credit card scam

Exploitation is contagious
For the selfish & self-inflated

Start a war, use the poor,
Watch our profits soar & soar

We've become a nation of wolves
Ruled by sheep

Owned by swine
Overfed & put to sleep

And while the media's elite
Decrees what to think

I am wide awake
On the edge
And on the brink

So when Atlas shrugs
And The Fountainhead bleeds
And when Walstreet Apostles
Preach a gospel of greed

I'll renounce the fame of this gluttonous age
And be a Born-again American
Resistance is to blame!

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Work, buy, consume, die

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
Haters, betrayers, liars, and theives

SMASH THE CONTROL MACHINE
A nation of wolves - ruled by sheep!

Exploitation is contagious
Exploitation is contagious
Exploitation is contagious
Exploitation............