I'm a Union Man or part of the Union

[Ichingcarpenter]

Now I'm a union man
Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, that the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man

When we meet in the local hall
I'll be voting with them all
With a hell of a shout, it's "Out brothers, out!"
And the rise of the factory's fall

Oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die

The union has made me wise
To the lies of the company spies
And I don't get fooled by the factory rules
'cause I always read between the lines

And I always get my way
If I strike for higher pay
When I show my card to the Scotland Yard
And this is what I say:

Oh, oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die

Before the union did appear
My life was half as clear
Now I've got the power to the working hour
And every other day of the year

So though I'm a working man
I can ruin the government's plan
And though I'm not hard, the sight of my card
Makes me some kind of superman

Oh, oh, oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die

You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die



The history of this song can be read here.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_of_the_Union
I don't know many that are aware of this song so for your edification


"Part of the Union" is a song by English band Strawbs featured on their 1973 album Bursting at the Seams and was the band's most successful single, peaking at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. The writing credits are given to Richard Hudson and John Ford, but the song may be an adaptation of the Woody Guthrie/Almanac Singers' song "Union Maid"

The lyrical resemblance is striking although it is set to different music.
The song was included on the album Bursting at the Seams but is not considered typical of the songs on that album. Indeed, the track was originally recorded without a contribution by band leader Dave Cousins and was to be released under the name of "The Brothers".

It demonstrates the different, more commercial direction the writing partnership of Hudson and Ford was taking within the band.
The song was unofficially adopted by the trade union movement, and it is widely considered to be a proud folk anthem for the working man.

[Brickbat]

1. I work for the union 'cause she's so good to me.

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.

[Brickbat]

2. P-9 by Soul Asylum, written for and about the Hormel strike.

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?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlDACRwRVz0

[Tippy]

3. K&R

[Brickbat]

4. Dropkick Murphys, "Which Side Are You On?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDOzMvMqb7I

[ConsAreLiars]

13. Just now listening to the Seeger version:

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

[Brickbat]

14. Also quite good.

[asdjrocky]

17. My favorite version.

Love me some Murphys.

[Brickbat]

5. Pete Seeger, "Talking Union Blues." Take it easy, but take it!

Now, if you want higher wages let me tell you what to do
You got to talk to the workers in the shop with you
You got to build you a union, got to make it strong
But if you all stick together, boys, it won't be long
You get shorter hours, better working conditions
Vacations with pay. Take your kids to the seashore

It ain't quite this simple, so I better explain
Just why you got to ride on the union train
'Cause if you wait for the boss to raise your pay
We'll all be a-waitin' 'til Judgment Day
We'll all be buried, gone to heaven
St. Peter'll be the straw boss then

Now you know you're underpaid but the boss says you ain't
He speeds up the work 'til you're 'bout to faint
You may be down and out, but you ain't beaten
You can pass out a leaflet and call a meetin'
Talk it over, speak your mind
Decide to do somethin' about it

Course, the boss may persuade some poor damn fool
To go to your meetin' and act like a stool
But you can always tell a stool, though, that's a fact
He's got a yaller streak a-runnin' down his back
He doesn't have to stool, he'll always get along
On what he takes out of blind men's cups

You got a union now, and you're sittin' pretty
Put some of the boys on the steering committee
The boss won't listen when one guy squawks
But he's got to listen when the union talks
He'd better, be mighty lonely
Everybody decide to walk out on him

Suppose they're working you so hard it's just outrageous
And they're paying you all starvation wages
You go to the boss and the boss would yell
"Before I raise your pay I'd see you all in hell."
Well, he's puffing a big cigar, feeling mighty slick
'Cause he thinks he's got your union licked
Well, he looks out the window and what does he see
But a thousand pickets, and they all agree
He's a bastard, unfair, slavedriver
Bet he beats his wife

Now, boys, you've come to the hardest time
The boss will try to bust your picket line
He'll call out the police, the National Guard
They'll tell you it's a crime to have a union card
They'll raid your meetin', they'll hit you on the head
They'll call every one of you a goddam red
Unpatriotic, Japanese spies, sabotaging national defense

But out at Ford, here's what they found
And out at Vultee, here's what they found
And out at Allis-Chalmers, here's what they found
And down at Bethlehem, here's what they found
That if you don't let red-baiting break you up
And if you don't let stoolpigeons break you up
And if you don't let vigilantes break you up
And if you don't let race hatred break you up
You'll win. What I mean, take it easy, but take it

[Brickbat]

6. Woody Guthrie, "Mean Talking Blues." "I hate union ever'where, cuz God likes unions and I hate God!"

(Irony.)

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...

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Seems we need to return to our roots

That made the middle class and captialism and the wage earners at least co-exist.





Because World Labor is getting fucked. over right now.

Ban ..... right to work laws in your states.

I do enjoy all the union songs though.

[Brickbat]

8. Yes indeed.

I find it devastating that we are going to have to re-fight the battles of 50 and 80 and 100 years ago. The privileges and benefits my family enjoys from union contracts were bought and paid for in blood, and it grieves me that we are going to have to go through it all again.

[Omaha Steve]

9. R #5 :-)

[patrice]

10. K & R!

[hfojvt]

11. it would appear that the Mars Union

needs women.

Solidarnosc.

[hfojvt]

12. It would also appear that this thread died a lonely death.

Then again, is there much point to kicking it at 2 a.m?

[Brickbat]

15. Par for the course for labor issues around here.

[asdjrocky]

16. My go to every single time-

Workers Song - Dropkick Murphys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTafZRecy2k