Why haven’t I done this yet? Thorin loves making lists and such, right? So why not make a list of how he’s feeling right now? Shut up. I didn’t think of it till just now. I mean, I was too busy looking for a job to make some list. Anyway – Songs for the unemployed, songs for the working.
- “Working Class Hero” – John Lennon
- John Lennon’s ballad in ode to those of us (re: not me) that work for a living. Something that I’m sure he doesn’t remember all that well — not to say that music isn’t work, just that it isn’t the same type of thing. But we can ignore that and simply rock out eh?
- “The River” – Bruce Springsteen
- Okay this song is mostly about something else, but the lines, “I got a job working for the Johnstown Company/But lately there ain’t been much work on account of the economy” rings more true today then it did then.
- “Flint (For The Unemployed And Underpaid)” – Sufjan Stevens
- Although Sufjan Stevens is always making songs about himself, even when he’s trying to ode to whomever — the lines “Since the first of June/Lost my job/Lost my room” are still thoughful.
- “I Can’t Wait to Get Off Work (And See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)” – Tom Waits
- Tom Waits has had a lot of jobs in his life, and credit to this one for naming th eworst attributes of all of them — and bonus points for using the word “copacetic.” I love Tom Waits because you can find one of his songs for nearly any type of theme mix.
- “(Antichrist Television Blues)” – The Arcade Fire
- The Arcade Fire is taking a cue from punk bands of old as they chant on, “I don’t want to work in a building downtown.” It’s true, when you work in one of the buildings downtown the most exciting aspect of the day is when you go to lunch at Chili’s.
- “Working In A Coalmine” – Devo
- “When the work day is over/I’m too tired to have some fun.” Man, that sounds painfully familiar. Stupid bike courier job.
- “This Place” – Descendents*
- This song actually reminds me a lot when I worked at Secondspin. Maybe even when I worked for Denver/Boulder — “This place sucks/I haven’t found a single friend in three long years.” I played this on my last day for the last song when I worked at Secondspin. It was great.
- “Career Opportunities” – The Clash
- I was always a fan of the line, “I won’t open letter bombs for you.” Mostly because I really like the picture of Joe Strummer standing with goggles and tongs opening letters while the Queen of England stand over him looking over his shoulder.
- “Steelworker” – Big Black
- “See I’m a steelworker/ I kill what I eat.” Nuff’ said.
- “Clocked In” – Black Flag*
- I’ve been unemployed long enough to find sympathy in the opening lines of “Clocked In,” “I tried to apply/ I can’t get loose/My day is to myself/Put my brain in a noose”
- “I Pity the Poor Immigrant” – Angels Of Light/Akron Family
- Hmm… Michael Gira scares me a little bit.
- “There Is Power In A Union” – Billy Bragg
- Good old fashion working man’s song. Get with the union!
- “Uptown” — Crystals*
- Talking about how her man can work uptown and come home for some good lovin’… or something. I don’t actually know.
- “Step Into My Office, Baby” — Belle & Sebastian
- Okay, this song is about something else — but it can be applied to work.
- “Spoken For Mix” – DJ Shadow
- This is part of the soundtrack to the movie Dark Days — which if you’ve seen you understand why its here.
- “Invisible Man” – Public Enemy
- Hmm, Public Enemy, always so happy to be tackling issues and such.
- “Clockwork” – Blackalicious
- See, you can be a rapper for a job!
- “Protect Ya Neck” – Wu-Tang Clan
- I honestly don’t remember why I put this on here now… oh well, I’m sure it applies.
- “Sixteen Tons” –Tennessee Ernie Ford
- This is one of my favorite country songs of all time. And it’s pretty obvious why its on the list.
- “9 to 5? – Dolly Parton
- Also obvious. It’s about working, ya’ know. From 9 to 5. Except that is easy, not a day is 8 to 5 or longer. Way to go America.
- “Maggie’s Farm” – Bob Dylan
- “I ain’t gone a-work on Maggie’s farm, no more…”
- “Factory” – Bruce Springsteen
- What, I can put two Springsteen songs a mix about UNEMPLOYMENT AND WORKING. It’s Bruce Springsteen, who else sings about this stuff all the time?
- “Oney” – Johnny Cash
- The first time I ever heard this song I was actually at work. It made my frustrating day so much better.
- “Bill Morgan and His Gal (My Name is Morgan But It Ain’t J.P.)” – The New Lost City Ramblers
- A good working man finds himself a wife that wants to buy buy buy.
- “Marie” – Townes Van Zandt
- This is the most fitting and perfect song for this mix.
- “Poor Places” – Wilco
- This one is a bit of a stretch, but nothing says unemployment like the line, “I’m not going outside.”
- “Work Is a 4 Letter Word” –The Smiths
- And that 4 letter word is… “work.”
- “Plea from a Cat Named Virtute” – Weakerthans
- I’m not sure what the Weakerthans are actually going for with this tune, but describing a cat is likely describing a lonely, bored, unemployed dude who’s unsure whether he even want to get up every day let alone do anything.
- “I Ain’t Got No Home in This World Anymore” – Woody Guthrie
- This just seemed like the best way to end this mix.
It is (mostly) available for download via iTunes here.
I’ll just link back to imeem.com when I can for the time being.
*These songs are missing from the imeem.com stream of the playlist — don’t bash the free streaming service, they’re doing their best.
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