Welcome to the first Saturday Jukebox. It took me a long time to decide what today's Neo-Retro-Crash was going to be about. I want yo showcase music you may not normally hear or music that needs to be redeemed or defended. Sometimes I will spotlight an artist or a particular song, but for the first entry...I thought I would be thematic.
It being Labor Day weekend, I thought I'd spotlight the musical obsession of working for the man. The work song has been forgotten in popular culture. Not so much forgotten but outsourced to other countries just like many of the American jobs.
Most worksongs, at least the early ones, talked about poor working conditions, low pay, and impending death from working too many damn hours. Most folks don't consider those to be big issues anymore, because most folks don't work in the mines or the factories. We pay little attention to those who do. There is no longer a spotlight on people who work in jobs where the hours are long and the tasks possibly debilitating.
America still has mines and farms and factories. There are evil corporations who own those things and still exist that they get 10-12 hours of work per day from their workers.
The plight of the worker hasn't gone away, it's just fallen out of fashion to expose working conditions. It has become the victim of journalism that no longer tilts at windmills, especially when those windmills are owned by the same corporations that own the media outlets.
Work songs have always had their place. Nobody like work unless they are damn lucky. John Henry died at work. We had songs about 16 tons, blue collar men, working 9to5, and working class heroes. There are songs dedicated to getting off work and becoming who you really are.
There are plenty of worksongs, I've compiled a list. You can find it at the link below
Notice the age on some of these. Why are ther no modern worksongs creeping into the American culture. Songs that expose working conditions, but don't make reference to guns, God, or beating up woman or minorities.
Are we do divided as a nation over who sleeps with whom and reality television that we forget that there is still an employment crisis in this country. They want to blame it on immigrants, but America is a nation of immigrants and specifically not a nation of corporations. Every founding father who had an semblance of his shit being together warned us about letting the corporations getting too powerful.
Wait...this is supposed to be about music, and music has never had any political agenda. Music has never challenged a corporation or politician.*
Some of the songs on the list are political and some ain't, I like them all. Check out the link new you decide for yourself.
Yes, I do know that 5 o'clock world is on the list twice
*The italicized word "never" indicates sarcasm
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