My apologies to poligirl and her regular favorite music diaries, but since this is Labor Day weekend, I thought it would be a good idea to do a music diary celebrating this holiday dedicated to the working man. Interestingly enough, while Christmas Day has a whole littany of songs dedicated to the holiday, Valentine's Day is filled with love songs, and Independence Day is a day to break out your favorite patriotic ditty, not too many radio stations play any songs about work on Labor Day.
Well, the most classic work/labor song I remember from my youth is the classic "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
And one of the most famous ex-Beatles sang a song about the pursuits and pitfalls of employment in his song, "Working Class Hero."
Now, a little bit more relevant to me (since I was a teenager when these songs came out) was a classic work song written by Prince but sung by the Bangles.
And also around that time, one of the seminal rock bands of that time, R.E.M., did a song about working the rails.
Now, I'm a huge R&B fan, but I had a hard time finding some work songs with a nice funky beat and melody. However, I did find one nice tune about dealing with the daily grind and wanting to get away from it all.
And in closing, for all of those GOP Romney supporters who have tried to make a big deal out of taking President Obama's quote out of context and make it a rallying cry against being a privileged business owner who bootstraped their way to success, here's a song about the people who really built our capitalist enterprise system, whether they were my ancestors who were kidnapped in another continent, put in shackles on ships across the Atlantic, and treated worse than farm animals, or those destitute Italian, Irish, and Eastern European ancestors who came over to America seeking a better life for themselves, often working and living in horrific conditions but being treated only one rung better than my ancestors.
So what are your favorite work songs? Feel free to post below. And have a happy Labor Day! :-)