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    #26
    Songs about the working class

    I.Wright wrote:
    MsD wrote:
    Which version did you have? I have versions by Working Week on their own, and with Tracey Thorn and Robert Wyatt (and a Latin American singer whose name I forget) - a jazzed-up version that is by far my favourite. I only have it on vinyl or would offer to copy it for you.
    I'm pretty sure it was Working Week on their own. The video's listed here. And thanks for the kind offer, I didn't know of the Tracey Thorn/Robert Wyatt version.
    This is the one.



    I often find frantic jazz a bit much, but I think it suits here, as the bossa nova and more mellow versions are a bit mogadonish for a stirring call to arms.

    Interesting that Tracey Thorn has the deeper voice here, compared to Robert Wyatt, so the roles are kind of reversed.

    And BRILLIANT horns. You can make tea during the percussion section.

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      #27
      Songs about the working class

      MsD wrote:

      we left before he and the Men They Couldn't Hang played, because it was a rarely beautiful day, and we wanted a picnic. I fashioned an anarchist pamphlet into a sort of cushion so I could sit on the pavement and drink my Pimms cocktail without getting dirty.
      What???!!!

      That's the thing with living in and around London, you're bound to take these kind of things for granted. I'd have given my right arm to be there, even if I had to drink Pimms.

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        #28
        Songs about the working class

        Jimmy Barnes - Working Class Man

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          #29
          Songs about the working class

          Lee Dorsey - Working In The Coal Mine

          Also mining, but in Britain: Coal-hole Cavalry. I heard this at Uni by a couple from Lancashire. I wish I could remember their names - they were very good.

          Warren Zevon - Play It All Night Long (dysfunctional farm folk)

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            #30
            Songs about the working class

            Jon wrote:
            Ewan McColl (and many other folk singers) spring to mind. As does Harlan Man by Steve Earle.
            Yeah, I was going to mention both of them, as well as Earle's "The Mountain". And, from quite another angle, there's his harrowing "Oxycontin Blues".

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              #31
              Songs about the working class

              The Jam - Saturday's Kids

              And probably several others.

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                #32
                Songs about the working class

                Cornelius Whalen by Jackie Leven, song about the last surviving Jarrow marcher.

                Clampdown by The Clash would fit the bill I'd say.

                Taste of the Keys - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby.

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                  #33
                  Songs about the working class

                  historyman wrote:
                  MsD wrote:

                  we left before he and the Men They Couldn't Hang played, because it was a rarely beautiful day, and we wanted a picnic. I fashioned an anarchist pamphlet into a sort of cushion so I could sit on the pavement and drink my Pimms cocktail without getting dirty.
                  What???!!!

                  That's the thing with living in and around London, you're bound to take these kind of things for granted. I'd have given my right arm to be there, even if I had to drink Pimms.
                  Yes .. and I'm probably more blah-zay than most. We'd also blown out Sister Mercedes earlier in the day, leaving another do to go to Cable Street. But beautiful days in London are far more rare than good bands playing, or have been this summer, so you grab what you can.

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                    #34
                    Songs about the working class

                    MsD wrote:
                    Deeper Love (the house/garage track later made famous by Aretha Franklin) has lyrics about a tough, working life.
                    Ooh that's a great call, a lot of garage house has quite dark lyrics about overcoming a hard life/abusive relationship/racism etc. Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters is another big one that comes to mind.

                    Also, from the unlikeliest of places :
                    Scissor Sisters - Night Work

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                      #35
                      Songs about the working class

                      "Take This Job and Shove It," David Allen Coe/Johnny Paycheck
                      "Five O'Clock World," The Vogues
                      "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White," The Standells/Minor Threat

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                        #36
                        Songs about the working class

                        "Night Shift" by Bob Marley must be the only song that mentions forklifts, referring to his days (or nights) at the Chrysler plant in Newark, Delaware.

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                          #37
                          Songs about the working class

                          Has no one mentioned 9 to 5 yet?

                          This thread should not be Dolly-free.

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                            #38
                            Songs about the working class

                            I dont think any thread should be 'Dolly' free. Her latest release is her usual class.

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                              #39
                              Songs about the working class

                              (Although mentioning 9-5 makes me think of Sheena Easton, which isnt neccesarily a good thing)

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                                #40
                                Songs about the working class

                                Pete Seeger.

                                I'd imagine that the majority of recorded music between 1920 and 1960 was about the working class.

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                                  #41
                                  Songs about the working class

                                  I don't know if he's known outside of the US, but just about everything Mike Ness and Social Distortion have done fits into this category, although a lot of his stuff is sub-working class. More about unemployment and having a hard time getting out of one's own way.

                                  Story of My Life

                                  Ball and Chain

                                  And of course, it doesn't get much more explicitly working class than the Dropkick Murphies, famous for doing the Red Sox song, the song about Mickey Ward and that song for The Departed.

                                  But this one is more typical of their work:

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                                    #42
                                    Songs about the working class

                                    E10 Rifle wrote:
                                    Has no one mentioned 9 to 5 yet?

                                    This thread should not be Dolly-free.
                                    I wondered whether that one was blue-collar enough. (Which isn't very Marxist of me, I realise: a worker is a worker.)

                                    There's also "Coat Of Many Colors", which is less about being working-class than about being poor, but which is worth a mention because it's so bloody good.

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                                      #43
                                      Songs about the working class

                                      Indeed. I'm obviously being strictly Marxian about all this, as one should. Though, of course, 9 to 5 has dated somewhat - such relatively humane working hours would seem like a bloody luxury to the generation below Dolly. You could almost re-angle the song to big up the virtues of a properly observed and regulated eight-hour day.

                                      Coat of Many Colours is indeed superb.

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                                        #44
                                        Songs about the working class

                                        The vast majority of The Men They Couldn't Hang's back catalogue concerns the working class in different contexts - either contemporary or historical.

                                        Seeing as it's the 75th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street then here's a perfect example.

                                        Remember that MsD forsook the anniversary for a glass of Pimms. Not very working class, eh?

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                                          #45
                                          Songs about the working class

                                          E10 Rifle wrote:
                                          Has no one mentioned 9 to 5 yet?

                                          This thread should not be Dolly-free.
                                          Jah Womble, yesterday :

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                                            #46
                                            Songs about the working class

                                            We've got this far and not mentioned the oeuvres of either Cribbins or Donegan?

                                            Poor show.

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                                              #47
                                              Songs about the working class

                                              Mention of Bernard Cribbins brings this to mind which is possibly the best thing I've ever seen on Youtube.

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                                                #48
                                                Songs about the working class

                                                historyman wrote:
                                                The vast majority of The Men They Couldn't Hang's back catalogue concerns the working class in different contexts - either contemporary or historical.

                                                Seeing as it's the 75th anniversary of The Battle of Cable Street then here's a perfect example.

                                                Remember that MsD forsook the anniversary for a glass of Pimms. Not very working class, eh?
                                                Oi. I turned up to the event for over an hour.

                                                I didn't stay around for the bands, is all, and that wasn't really my decision as I was with three friends. I have a couple of records by Mr Bragg and know a former member of TMTCH.

                                                And I had to have Pimms, they didn't have champagne.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Songs about the working class

                                                  MsD wrote:
                                                  ...And I had to have Pimms, they didn't have champagne.
                                                  Hahaha.
                                                  Excellent.

                                                  I'll be 'doing' Mr. Bragg in a couple of weeks.
                                                  Lovely man, fucking hideous voice, like someone hitting a baby with a cat, and an accent I just can't stop laughing at.
                                                  SEXXYOOALLATEE

                                                  Anyway,quite a lot of The Kinks' output was all about the 'oul working-class thing.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Songs about the working class

                                                    Mention of Ewen McColl brings to mind 'Dirty Old Town'.

                                                    'That Lucky Old Sun' fits. What about 'Manic Monday'?

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