My vacation is almost at an end. Last weekend’s wide open vistas of possibility have narrowed to a short dark passageway with an overflowing “To Do” box at its terminus. Such are the vagaries of wage slavery. At least I have another week off coming up at the end of August to look forward to.
In the meantime, it’s back to work for me – commuting through a potentially unsafe and partially shut down tunnel, and trying to find a parking space now that my employers have decided to close down the garage.
Magazine – Model Worker (from The Correct Use of Soap, 1980) – “This one is full of moral fibre.” Uptempo new wave pop that plays around with Marxist-Leninist jargon. Here’s a video of the song being performed as part of Urgh! A Music War:
Tennessee Ernie Ford – Sixteen Tons (from Greatest Hits, 1993) – The ultimate wage slave anthem. My grandmother, who took me in after my mother died, used to listen to a station that played nothing but old school, pre-rock and roll pop standards – Perry Como, Ray Conniff, Frank Sinatra, and the like – and over time I grew to appreciate, if not actually like, that style of music. My wife finds that incredibly depressing.
The Farrell Bros. – Career Opportunities (from This Is Rockabilly Clash, 2003) – A great Clash cover from a Canadian rockabilly outfit. The entire compilation is pretty damn fine and worth checking out by anyone who loves the Clash and/or rockabilly music.
The Godfathers – Birth, School, Work, Death (from Birth, School, Work, Death, 1988) – This is a solid, guitar-driven alt-rock song that gets a few points deducted for sounding like something from a beer commercial. “Birth! School! Work! Death! All go better with a Heineken!”
The Mekons – Work All Week (from The Quality of Mercy Is Strnen, 1979) – A far cry from the sloppy DIY punk of “Never Been in a Riot,” this song could be mistaken for a lost Gang of Four track.
The Specials – Rat Race (from The Singles Collection, 1991) – I adore the Specials. They run a close second to the Clash as “my favorite band ever”. That said, I must confess that Terry Hall’s eyebrows scare the bejeezus out of me.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
and I’ve been shirking my duty
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2 comments:
I've certainly got a soft spot for "Sixteen Tons" myself--there was still coal in my grandfather's back when he died, so he loved that song.
I'm more partial--in terms of songs of the worker--to Joe Hill's "The Preacher and the Slave."
Poor Joe Hill. When we were voting on switching unions at work, I advocated for the I.W.W.
In retrospect, there were a lot of great songs I could have used in this post, but the last daylight hours of my vacation beckoned, and so I went with what was close at hand.
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