Labor Day Jukebox: Dedicate a song to America's (and the world's) under-siege working people

[marmar]

I dedicate "Allentown" by Billy Joel:



Well we are living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms, standing in line
Well our fathers fought the Second World War
Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore
Met our mothers at the USO
Asked them to dance, danced with them slow
And we're living here in Allentown
But the restlessness was handed down
And it's getting very hard to stay

Well we're waiting here in Allentown for the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave if we worked hard, if we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall but they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke, chromium steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they've taken all the coal from the ground
And the union people crawled away

Every child had a pretty good shot to get at least as far as their old man got
Something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face

Well, I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today

And it's getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown

[dana_b]

1. "Union Song" by The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello)

Union Song

For the fired auto workers
Who were twisted, tricked and robbed
To the peasant in Guatemala
In a sweatshop got your job
And she can't feed her family
On the pennies that she makes
Meanwhile the crime rate's rising
Up and down the Great Lake states

Like vegetables left in the field
The signatures smell rotten
On the contracts and the deeds
That push the race down to the bottom
As they load the rubber bullets
As they fire another round
I'm heading into the tear gas
Dig in man, hold your ground

For Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
For our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
For the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
For the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

Si nos quedemos
Juntos vamos a ganar? Si!
Hit em where it hurts
And bite the hand that feeds
You might get one to three
Or probation and a fine
But I know where I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be right on that front line

For Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
For our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
For the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
For the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

Now dirty scabs will cross the line
While others stand aside and look
But ain't nobody never got nothin'
That didn't raise their voice and push
Like the steel worker in Ohio
The miner in West Virginia
The teacher in Chicago
Janitor in Mississippi
From the sweatshops of L.A.
To the fields of Mission Flats
There's a thunder cloud exploding
And I'm free at last

Like Joe Hill and Caesar Chavez
Who fought in their own time
Like our brothers and our sisters
Up and down that picket line
Like the unnamed and unnumbered
Who struggle brave and long
Like the union men and women
Standing up and standing strong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azc_1a68N6o

[Faygo Kid]

2. Big John

Just popped into my head, so I will go with it.

Just a kid when it came out, but I remember how popular it was. He was a workin' man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx59fmP7jYE

Every mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive
He stood six foot six and weighed 2-45
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew you didn't give no lip to Big John
(Big John Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)
Nobody seemed to know where John called home
Just drifted into town and stayed all alone
He didn't say much he kinda quiet and shy
And if you spoke at all you just said hi to Big John
Somebody said he came from New Orleans
Where he got in a fight over a Cajun Queen
And a crashin' blow from a huge right hand
Sent a Louisiana fellow to the Promised Land Big John
(Big John Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)
Then came the day at the bottom of the mine
When a timber cracked and men started cryin'
Miners were prayin' and hearts beat fast
And everybody thought that they'd breath their last cept John
Through the dust and the smoke of this man made hell
Walked a giant of a man that the miners knew well
Grabbed a saggin' timber and gave out with a groan
And like a giant oak tree he just stood there alone Big John
(Big John Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)
And with all of his strenght he have a mighty shove
Then a miner yelled out there's a light up above
And twenty men Scrambled from a would be grave
Now there's only one left down there to save Big John
With jacks and timbers they started back down
Then came that rumble way down in the ground
And the smoke and gas belched out of the mine
Everybody knew it way the end of the line for Big John
(Big John Big John) Big Bad John (Big John)
Now they never reopened that worthless pit
They just placed a marbled stand in front of it
These few words're written on that stand
At the bottom of this mine lies a big big man Big John
(Big John Big John) Big Bad John (Big John Big John) Big Bad John

[OhioChick]

3. "Rain on the Scarecrow"/John Cougar Mellencamp

Scarecrow on a wooden cross Blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did My grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand

Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry there's no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow

The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the Farmers Bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it's just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol' hoss sure don't make it right
But if you want me to I'll say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandma's on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
Sometimes I hear her singing "Take me to the Promised Land"
When you take away a man's dignity he can't work his fields and cows

There'll be blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow

Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name
And some nights I feel like dyin' Like that scarecrow in the rain

Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow

Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joNzRzZhR2Y&ob=av2e

[blondeatlast]

4. "Sixteen Tons." The great Tennessee Ernie Ford (youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfu2A0ezq0

[jtrockville]

20. Love that song. Prefer B. B. King's version. (youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otOCOFw8zs8

[Morning Dew]

5. Cumberland Blues

Lyrics by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh


I can't stay much longer, Melinda
The sun is getting high
I can't help you with your troubles
If you won't help with mine

I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Got to get down to the mine

You keep me up just one more night
I can't sleep here no more
Little Ben clock says quarter to eight
You kept me up till four

I gotta get down
I gotta get down
Or I can't work there no more

Lotta poor man make a five dollar bill
Keep him happy all the time
Some other fellow making nothing at all
And you can hear him cryin...

"Can I go buddy
Can I go down
Take your shift at the mine?"

Got to get down to the Cumberland mine
That's where I mainly spend my time
Make good money/five dollars a day
Made any more I might move away -

Lotta poor man got the Cumberland Blues
He can't win for losin
Lotta poor man got to walk the line
Just to pay his union dues

I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin back again
I don't know now
I just don't know
If I'm goin back again

[Brickbat]

6. The Band, "King Harvest"

Corn in the fields.
Listen to the rice when the wind blows ’cross the water,
King harvest has surely come.

I work for the union ’cause she’s so good to me;
And I’m bound to come out on top,
That’s where I should be.
I will hear ev’ry word the boss may say,
For he’s the one who hands me down my pay.
Looks like this time I’m gonna get to stay,
I’m a union man, now, all the way.

The smell of the leaves,
From the magnolia trees in the meadow,
King harvest has surely come.

Dry summer, then comes fall,
Which I depend on most of all.
Hey, rainmaker, can’t you hear my call?
Please let these crops grow tall.
Long enough I’ve been up on skid row
And it’s plain to see, I’ve nothin to show.
I’m glad to pay those union dues,
Just don’t judge me by my shoes.

Scarecrow and a yellow moon,
And pretty soon a carnival on the edge of town,
King harvest has surely come.

Last year, this time, wasn’t no joke,
My whole barn went up in smoke.
My horse jethro, well he went mad
And I can’t remember things bein’ so bad.
Then there comes a man with a paper and a pen
Tellin’ us our hard times are about to end.
And then, if they don’t give us what we like
He said, men, that’s when you gotta go on strike.

Corn in the fields.
Listen to the rice when the wind blows ’cross the water,
King harvest has surely come.

[Billy Burnett]

7. Around Here

Counting Crows - Round Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBy8n7V81QY&p=793725C450C726F9


Step out the front door like a ghost
Into a fog where no one notices
The contrast of white on white.
And in between the moon and you
The angels get a better view
Of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.
I walk in the air between the rain
Through myself and back again
Where? I don't know
Maria says she's dying
Through the door I hear her crying
Why? I don't know

Round here we always stand up straight
Round here something radiates

Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand
She said she'd like to meet a boy who looks like Elvis
And she walks along the edge of where the ocean meets the land
Just like she's walking on a wire
In the circus
She parks her car outside of my house
And takes her clothes off
Says she's close to understanding Jesus
And she knows she's more than just a little misunderstood
She has trouble acting normal when she's nervous

But Round here we're carving out our names
Round here we all look the same
Round here we talk just like lions
But we sacrifice just like lambs
Round here
She's slipping through my hands

Sleeping children better run like the wind
Out of the lightning dream
Mama's little baby better get herself in
Out of the lightning

She says "it's only in my head"
She says "Shhhhh I know, it's only in my head"
But the girl on the car in the parking lot
Says "Man you should try to take a shot
Can't you see my walls are crumbling?"
Then she looks up at the building
Says "she's thinking of jumping"
She says "she's tired of life"
She must be tired of something

Round here she's always on my mind
Round here hey man I got lot's of time
Round here we're never sent to bed early
And nobody makes us wait
Round here we stay up very, very, very, very late
I can't see nothing... nothing around here

Would you catch me if I'm falling
Would you catch me if I was falling
Will you catch me 'cause I'm falling down
I said I'm under the gun around here
Oh man I said I'm under the gun around here
And I can't see nothing
Nothing.
'Round here

[Jack Bone]

8. "Millworker" - James Taylor

From a UAW worker...to my fellow Union Brothers & Sisters...Happy Labor Day!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2MQ04ESSx8

Millworker- James Taylor

Now my grandfather was a sailor
He blew in off the water
My father was a farmer
And I, his only daughter
Took up with a no good millworking man
From Massachusetts
Who dies from too much whiskey
And leaves me these three faces to feed

Millwork ain't easy
Millwork ain't hard
Millwork it ain't nothing
But an awful boring job
I'm waiting (on) a daydream
To take me through the morning
And put me in my coffee break
Where I can have a sandwich
And remember

Then it's me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
(and) the rest of the afternoon
And the rest of my life

Now my mind begins to wander
To the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me
Swinging on his arm
I can hear my granddad's stories
Of the storms out on Lake Eerie
Where vessels and cargos and fortunes
And sailors' lives were lost

(Yeah), but it's my life has been wasted
And I have been the fool
To let this manufacturer
Use my body for a tool
(I'll) ride home every evening
Staring at my hands
Swearing to my sorrow that a young girl
Ought to stand a better chance

So may I work your mills just as long as I am able
And never meet the man whose name is on the label

(it's still)me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
And the rest of the afternoon (and on and on and on...)
for the rest of my life

[Brickbat]

9. Pete Seeger, "Which Side Are You On?"

Come all of you good workers,
Good news to you I'll tell
Of how the good old union
Has come in here to dwell.


Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

My daddy was a miner
And I'm a miner's son,
And I'll stick with the union
'Til every battle's won.



They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there;
You'll either be a union man,
Or a thug for J. H. Blair.



Oh workers can you stand it?
Oh tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab
Or will you be a man?



Don't scab for the bosses,
Don't listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven't got a chance
Unless we organize.

[Brickbat]

10. Woody Guthrie, "Union Maid"

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid
Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.
She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,
And when the Legion boys come 'round
She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.
Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,
I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise to the tricks of company spies,
She couldn't be fooled by a company stool, she'd always organize the guys.
She always got her way when she struck for better pay.
She'd show her card to the National Guard
And this is what she'd say

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me;
Get you a man who's a union man and join the ladies' auxiliary.
Married life ain't hard when you got a union card,
A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife.

[Brickbat]

11. Woody Guthrie, "Mean Talking Blues"

I'm the meanest man that ever had a brain,
All I scatter is aches and pains.
I'm carbolic acid, and a poison face,
And I stand flat-footed in favor of crime and disgrace.
If I ever done a good deed -- I'm sorry of it.

I'm mean in the East, mean in the West,
Mean to the people that I like the best.
I go around a-causin' lot of accidents,
And I push folks down, and I cause train wrecks.
I'm a big disaster -- just goin' somewhere's to happen.
I'm an organized famine -- studyin' now I can be a little bit meaner.
I'm still a whole lot too good to suit myself -- just mean...

I ride around on the subway trains,
Laughin' at the tight shoes dealin' you pain.
And I laugh when the car shakes from side to side,
I laugh my loudest when other people cry.
Can't help it -- I was born good, I guess,
Just like you or anybody else ---
But then I... just turned off mean..

I hate ev'rybody don't think like me,
And I'd rather see you dead than I'd ever see you free.
Rather see you starved to death
Than see you at work --
And I'm readin' all the books I can
To learn how to hurt --
Daily Misery -- spread diseases,
Keep you without no vote,
Keep you without no union.

Well, I hurt when I see you gettin' 'long so well,
I'd ten times rather see you in the fires of hell.
I can't stand to fixed... see you there all fixed up in that house so nice,
I'd rather keep you in that rotten hole, with the bugs and the lice,
And the roaches, and the termites,
And the sand fleas, and the tater bugs,
And the grub worms, and the stingarees,
And the tarantulas, and the spiders, childs of the earth,
The ticks and the blow-flies --
These is all of my little angels
That go 'round helpin' me do the best parts of my meanness.
And mosquiters...

Well, I used to be a pretty fair organized feller,
Till I turned a scab and then I turned off yeller,
Fought ev'ry union with teeth and toenail,
And I sprouted a six-inch stinger right in the middle of the tail,
And I growed horns...
And then I cut 'em off, I wanted to fool you.
I hated union ever'where,
'Cause God likes unions
And I hate God!

Well, if I can get the fat to hatin' the lean
That'd tickle me more than anything I've seen,
Then get the colors to fightin' one another,
And friend against friend, and brother... and sister against brother,
That'll be just it.
Everybody's brains a-boilin' in turpentine,
And their teeth fallin' out all up and down the streets,
That'll just suit me fine.
'Cause I hate ever'thing that's union,
And I hate ever'thing that's organized,
And I hate ever'thing that's planned,
And I love to hate and I hate to love!
I'm mean, I'm just mean...

[myrna minx]

12. Dirty Old Town by the Pogues

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

[MindPilot]

13. Five O'Clock World by The Vouges

Up every mornin' just to keep a job
I gotta fight my way through the husslin' mob
Sounds of the city poundin' in my brain
While another day goes down the drain

But it's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows
No one owns a piece of my time
And there's a five o'clock me inside my clothes
Thinkin' that the world looks fine, yeah
Holiday, yeah...

Tradin' my time for the pay I get
Livin' on money that I ain't made yet
Gotta keep goin', gotta make my way
While I live for the end of the day

'Cause it's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows
No one owns a piece of my time
And there's a long-haired girl who waits, I know
To ease my troubled mind, yeah
Holiday, yeah...

In the shelter of her arms everything's okay
She talks and the world goes slippin' away
And I know the reason I can still go on
When every other reason is gone

In my five o'clock world she waits for me
Nothin' else matters at all
'Cause everytime my baby smiles at me
I know that it's all worthwhile, yeah

[Brickbat]

14. Soul Asylum, "P-9"

Note: This was about the 1985-86 Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota. Soul Asylum wrote this in honor of UFCW Local P-9 and performed on the picket line.
* * * * *

Somebody's thinking that there might be something wrong
Business is sinking and the crew's been casted off
Nobody's bailing, nobody's sailing, but we're watching it from shore
Nobody's working and we better work this out

If we could see eye to eye, you could see just exactly who is small
But I do my job and do it well and go to hell for writing on the wall
There'd be enough to go around if I could just get around you
I am not down, my hands are empty, and they're open and I need something to do

And it makes me wonder who I'm working for
'Cause I think you know just what I'm looking for
And it makes me wonder who you're working for

How many children are waiting by your door?
Is this just a job that I'm working for?

You gave me nothing now you're taking it away
I should be walkin' and makin' it easy to ignore but I guess I'd better stay
And I forgave you for all the people you've done wrong
Nobody's working and it's gone on far too long

And it makes me wonder who you're working for
'Cause I think you know just what I'm looking for
And it makes me wonder who I'm working for
How many children are waiting by your door?

Is it just a paycheck I'm fighting for?

[a la izquierda]

15. Workers' Song by the Dropkick Murphys

Yeh, this one's for the workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead

In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed


We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about

And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth?


All of these things the worker has done
From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can

[Booster]

16. "She works hard for the money" - Donna Summer.

[Brickbat]

17. I'M GONNA BE AN ENGINEER

When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy
I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys.
Everybody said I only did it to annoy
But I was gonna be an engineer.

Mamma said, "Why can't you be a lady?
Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl
Wait until you're older, dear
And maybe you'll be glad that you're a girl.

Dainty as a Dresden statue, gentle as a Jersey cow,
Smooth as silk, gives cream and milk
Learn to coo, learn to moo
That's what you do to be a lady, now.

When I went to school I learned to write and how to read
History, geography and home economy
And typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need
To while away the extra time until the time to breed
And then they had the nerve to ask, what would I like to be?
I says, "I'm gonna be an engineer!"

"No, you only need to learn to be a lady
The duty isn't yours, for to try to run the world
An engineer could never have a baby
Remember, dear, that you're a girl"

She's smart --- for a woman.
I wonder how she got that way?
You get no choice, you get no voice
Just stay mum, pretend you're dumb.
That's how you come to be a lady, today.

Well, I started as a typist but I studied on the sly
Working out the day and night so I could qualify
And every time the boss came in, he pinched me on the thigh
Said, "I've never had an engineer!"
"You owe it to the job to be a lady
The duty of the staff is to give the boss a whirl
The wages that you get are crummy, maybe
But it's all you get, 'cause you're a girl"

Then Jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation
We were busy every night with loving recreation
I spent my days at work so he could get an education
And now he's an engineer!

He said: "I know you'll always be a lady
The duty of my darling is to love me all her life
Could an engineer look after or obey me?
Remember, dear, that you're my wife!"

As soon a Jimmy got a job, I studied hard again
Then busy at me turret-lathe a year or two, and then
The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them
"Your mother was an engineer!"
"You owe it to the kids to be a lady
Dainty as a dish-rag, faithful as a chow
Stay at home, you got to mind the baby
Remember you're a mother now!"

Every time I turn around there's something else to do
Cook a meal or mend a sock or sweep a floor or two
Listening to Jimmy Young - it makes me want to spew
I was gonna be an engineer.

I only wish that I could be a lady
I'd do the lovely things that a lady's s'posed to do
I wouldn't even mind if only they would pay me
Then I could be a person too.

What price for a woman?
You can buy her for a ring of gold,
To love and obey, without any pay,
You get a cook and a nurse for better or worse
You don't need a purse when a lady is sold.

Oh, but now the times are harder and me Jimmy's got the sack;
I went down to Vicker's, they were glad to have me back.
But I'm a third-class citizen, my wages tell me that
But I'm a first-class engineer!

The boss he says "We pay you as a lady,
You only got the job because I can't afford a man,
With you I keep the profits high as may be,
You're just a cheaper pair of hands."

You got one fault, you're a woman;
You're not worth the equal pay.
A bitch or a tart, you're nothing but heart,
Shallow and vain, you've got no brain,

Well, I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool
Listened to my lover and I put him through his school
If I listen to the boss, I'm just a bloody fool
And an underpaid engineer
I been a sucker ever since I was a baby
As a daughter, as a mother, as a lover, as a dear
But I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady
I'll fight them as an engineer!

Words and music by Peggy Seeger
(c) 1970 Stormking Music, Inc.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. "Career Opportunities" The Clash

Career Opportunities

They offered me the office, offered me the shop
They said I'd better take anything they'd got
Do you wanna make tea at the BBC?
Do you wanna be, do you really wanna be a cop?

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

I hate the army an' I hate the R.A.F.
I don't wanna die fighting in a Falkland street
I hate the civil service rules
And I won't open letter bombs for you

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

Bus driver....ambulance man....ticket inspector
I don't understand

They're gonna have to introduce conscription
They're gonna have to take away my prescription
If they wanna get me making toys
If they wanna get me, well hell, I got no choice

Career opportunities are the ones that never knock
Every job they offer you is to keep you out the dock
Career opportunity, the ones that never knock

Careers
Careers
Careers

Ain't never gonna knock



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIuS2LCWNh8

[pnorman]

19. This is a GREAT thread!

K & R!

[Morning Dew]

21. The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore

The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore :


When I was a curly-headed baby
My daddy set me down on his knee
Saying ''Son you go to school, you learn your letters
Don't you be no dusty miner, boy like me''
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty row of all empties
Because the L & N don't stop here anymore


I used to think my father was a black man
With scrip enough to buy the company store
But now he goes to town with empty pockets
And his face is as white as the February snow
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties
Because the L & N don't stop here anymore

Never thought I'd live to lean to love the coaldust
Never thought I'd pray to hear those temples roar
But God I wish the grass would turn to money
And then them greenbacks would fill my pockets once more
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties
Because the L & N don't stop here anymore

Last night I dreamed I went down to the office
To get my payday like I done before
But them old kudzu vines was covering the doorway
And there was leaves and grass growing up through the floor
I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler
Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door
But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties
Because the L & N don't stop here anymore

[merh]

22. 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqiwEafCJ74

[Hannah Bell]

23. "borderlines" tom juravich (depriest/gingrich)

BORDERLINES
(Valerie Depriest and Gail Gingrich)

I'm hearing how business is tough in America
And how the union's out of hand.
And I read in the news today
About the latest threat to my pay
There's one thing I just don't understand.
They say they can't afford our wage
As they turn their greedy eyes to distant shores.

While patrols guard the borderlines
I'm standing in a picket line
Corporate boardroom plans are formed
To move my job to Salvador
Where for fifty cents a day,
A worker sweats her life away
Then they tell me she's my enemy.

At first I didn't have the time
To bother with the words
It all seemed so very far away.
But now I'm in a worried mood,
Cause hands need work and kids need food
And I just got laid off today.
They say it just makes good business
As foreign sweat swells profit like disease

While patrols guard the borderlines
I'm standing in an unemployment line
While over in the Philippines
A mind grows numb from sewing seams
Guatemalan hills are cash;
A coffee picker's skull is smashed
Then they tell me he's my enemy.

I think i'm finally putting it all together;
Borderlines don't hold their loyalty.
They don't care who is the drone;
Hands of yellow, black, or brown.
Profit is their only deity.
As corporate arms spread all around the world,
They'll strangle any weak neck they can find.

From the mines in south Africa
To the fields of El Salvador,
From the sweatshops down in Mexico
To the wire slots in Tokyo,
Sweat is sweat and blood is blood,
And one day soon the time will come
We'll stand and face our common enemy.

http://www.rhapsody.com/tom-juravich/a-world-to-win

http://www.tomjuravich.com/altar/borderlines.php

copyright Valerie Depriest and Gail Gingrich

[pipi_k]

24. Jethro Tull...."Heavy Horses"

One of my all-time favorite Jethro Tull songs :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDYK5SBnVaQ

[Swede]

25. Ballad of John Henry's Hammer - Johnny Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxReOxRwS-g

[Lyric]

26. I dedicate THE song: "Working Class Hero"

Working Class Hero - by John Lennon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwsjE1O4Ow

As soon as you're born, they make you feel small
By giving you no time instead of it all
'Til the pain is so big, you feel nothing at all
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

They hurt you at home, and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool
'Til you're so fucking crazy, you can't follow their rules
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

When they've tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can't really function, you're so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants, as far as I can see
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

There's room at the top, they are telling you still
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
If you want to be like the folks on the hill
A working class hero is something to be
A working class hero is something to be

If you want to be a hero, well just follow me
If you want to be a hero, well just follow me...

:cry:

:patriot:

[Lyric]

27. For the coal miners: "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive"

You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RltP6HsaXbA (Kathy Mattea performing the song--I love her version, and HIGHLY recommend her working-class folk album, "Coal")

In the deep, dark hills of eastern Kentucky
That's the place where I trace my bloodline
And it's there I read on a hillside gravestone
"You'll never leave Harlan alive"

Oh, my granddad's dad crossed the Cumberland mountains
Where he took a pretty girl to be his bride
Said, won't you walk with me outta the mouth of this holler?
Or we'll never leave Harlan alive

Where the sun comes up about ten in the mornin'
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinkin'
And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away

No one ever knew there was coal in them mountains
'Til a man from the northeast arrived
He was wavin' hundred dollar bills, said "I'll pay ya for your min'rals"
But he never left Harlan alive

Grandma sold out cheap, and they moved out west of Pikeville
To a farm where big Richland River winds
Oh I bet they danced them a jig, and they laughed and sang a new song
Who said we'd never leave Harlan alive?

But the times got hard, and tobacco wasn't sellin'
And old granddad knew what he'd do to survive
So he went and dug for Harlan coal, sent the money back to Granny
But he never left Harlan alive

Where the sun comes up about ten in the mornin'
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinkin'
And you spend your life just thinkin' of how to get away

Where the sun comes up about ten in the mornin'
And the sun goes down about three in the day
And you fill your cup with whatever bitter brew you're drinkin'
And you spend your life diggin' coal from the bottom of your grave...

[Silver Swan]

28. Solidarity Forever

by Ralph H. Chaplin

When the Union's inspiration
Through the worker's blood shall run,
There can be no power greater
Anywhere beneath the sun,
Yet what force on earth is weaker
Than the feeble strength of one?
But the Union makes us strong.

Chorus:
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
Solidarity forever!
For the Union makes us strong.

2. Is there aught we hold in common
With the greedy parasite
Who would lash us into serfdom
And would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left for us
But to organize and fight?
For the Union makes us strong.
Chorus:

3. It is we who plowed the prairies;
Built the cities where they trade,
Dug the mines and built the workshops;
Endless miles of railroad laid.
Now we stand, outcast and starving,
'Mid the wonders we have made;
But the Union makes us strong.
Chorus:

4. All the world that's owned by idle drones,
Is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations;
Built it skywards, stone by stone.
It is ours, and not to slave in,
But to master and to own,
While the Union makes us strong.

Chorus:
5. They have taken untold millions
That they never toiled to earn.
But without our brain and muscle
Not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power;
Gain our freedom, when we learn
That the Union makes us strong.
Chorus:

6. In our hands is placed a power
Greater than their hoarded gold;
Greater than the might of armies,
Magnified a thousand fold.
We can bring to birth the new world
From the ashes of the old,
For the Union makes us strong.
Chorus:

[Rochester]

29. The River