0:00:01) Labor Day (It’s A Holiday) by The Black Eyed Peas off of Elephunk
0:04:00 (Rev. Interruption 1 Music: Sedagive by The Mag Seven off of End Sounds Ten Year Anniversary Sampler)
Greetings fellow travelers. Welcome again to Aurally Fixated. I’m Rev. and here to give you the unorthodox aural pleasure you love… Anyway, I hope I don’t have to tell you what today is because, firstly that would mean you missed the blaring call of the Elephunk and The Black Eyed Peas Telling us it’s Labor Day. But more importantly I hope you know (It’s A Holiday) because if you work for somebody else you should have today off! And be celebrating. You’ve earned it for busting your ass to keep the economy and country grinding So The Rich Can Sleep at night. And a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and lives were given so we could have the labor laws and labor unions we get to take for granted today, this very important day, one of the holiest of occasions… One of only a half-dozen of the most Ginormous blow-out Sales events of the year!
0:05:30) So The Rich Can Sleep Tonight by Sole with Solillaquists Of Sound off of Nuclear Winter Volume 1
0:10:00) Career Opportunities by The Clash off of The Clash
0:11:50) Big Boss Man (R&B Version) by Elvis Presley off of The Essential Elvis Presley
0:14:40) I Love My Job by Bill Hicks off of 1990 Dangerous
0:16:10) I Hate My Job by Butthole Surfers off of Humpty Dumpty LSD
0:18:10 (Rev. Interruption 2 Music: Some Summers They Drop Like Flies by Dirty Three off of Whatever You Love, You Are )
One can always count on those Butthole Surfers to keep them on their toes! From Humpty Dumpty LSD, a compilation of there mid-80s – 90s lost and found, that was I Hate My Job. Before that was a ghost always making waves around our little noise-altar Bill Hicks telling us, “I Love My Job.” Prior to that we had King Presley singing for his Big Boss Man. Right before that is a perfect example of why The Clash are THE CLASH with Career Opportunities. And we started it all off with a Sole track from Nuclear Winter. Which in additions to the Solillaquists Of Sound it’s also got; Ceschi, Astronautalis, Bleubird… And It’s “pay what you can” on BandCamp. That anthem was called, So The Rich Can Sleep Tonight.
It’s Labor Day, that very important day… the last day you can wear white, without the Fashion Police curb-stomping it crimson. (Unless it’s “winter-white” of course). And it celebrates us, the cogs in the machines… In the digital age do machines even still have cogs? It doesn’t really matter, workers are being replaced by robots anyway. That’s just one reason some say we’re on the verge of another gilded age. Gilding is the process of taking something basically worthless and covering it with a thin layer of gold-leaf. Not really any better, but Ooooh Shiny! The first Gilded Age was about 100 years ago, and an unprecedented time of rich getting richer and poor poorer. The business and country were doing great, but the workers and majority of the population not so much. The captains of industry, robber-barons, had a way of dividing and conquering the workers. Pitting them against each other to work longer hours, in unsafe jobs, and only hire whoever’d do the most for the least pay. So having enough of nothing (but starving and dying in the; mines, mills, and factories) manual-laborers got together and discussed how to improve things, and what to do about Those Greedy Bastard.
0:20:40) Those Greedy Bastards by Imani Coppola off of Come and Get Me…What?!
0:23:32) Stupid’s Pledge by Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco off of Fellow Workers
0:23:45) Never Learn by Devil Makes Three off of Longjohns, Boots and A Belt
0:28:35) Work Song By Baracuda Young Fish (feat. Ceschi, NGAFSH & Child Actor) off of Diamonds On My Cereal
0:32:45 (Rev. Interruption 3 Music: Gun (Instrumental) by Cunninlynguists off of Dirty Acres [Deluxe Edition] )
Ok, all my hard-workers out there, and my “work smarter not harder” ones too, it’s “one of those episodes” again. Like the Stonewall Uprising one just less fun. But before I dance back up atop my soapbox-pulpit I’ve gotta say, isn’t Mz. Imani Coppola just so funderfully versatile! You may remember some snippets of her strange perfection from New Years Day, and/or, The last day of Black History Month. Or about a dozen minutes ago. We started that set off with one of her countless so-hard-to-find-they-aren’t-even-on-YouTube albums. I tracked down a treasure-trove of her tunes, for disgustingly cheap on NimBitMusic.com. We heard one about Those Greedy Bastards. From there we marched on with the ol’ labor organizer, folk singer, one man revolution, Utah Phillips. We heard Stupid’s Pledge from one of the records he did with Ani DiFranco called Fellow Workers. Then up jumped the Devil Makes Three who told they’ll Never Learn. And we ended with a Work Song from the practically magical in every way Ceschi and Child Actor. I got that one off the compilation album his label (Fake Four) put out to stay afloat while he was locked up. And speaking of Ceschi, Direct Action!
Way back then, it seemed Impossible to make the rich, ruthless, and unscrupulous business-heads listen, especially with both political parties taking bribes and serving their interests. Richer than even today’s billionaires they thought they could do whatever they wanted, and were right – until the workers got together and bargained collectively. They could fire one for wanting a living wage and safe conditions, but couldn’t fire them all. The laborers unionized and refused to go back to work until their demands were met.
It was a fascinating and crazy time of Social and political upheaval. Strikes, riots, picket lines, scabs, boycott, and terror. But it was also the beginning of the end of the conspiracies, monopolies, and corruption of that Gilded Age being the norm, and the beginning of the Progressive Era. And it’s why we have this very important day… that marks the beginning fall sports season! But it took a lot of Direct Action and standing up to the Robber Barons as they pushed-back with violence and murders from police, mercenary Pinkertons and the National Guard deployed by corrupt officials. So here’s a song called The ’69 Strike.
0:36:00) The ’69 Strike by Tigerman WOAH! Off of Tigerman WOAH!
0:39:35) Unless You Are Free by Utah Phillips & Ani DiFranco off of Fellow Workers
0:39:55) Jerry by Louis Armstrong & Jewel Brown off of Louis Armstrong All Stars
0:44:20) Bossman by Voodoo Glow Skulls off of The Potty Training Years
0:45:55) Rich Man’s World (1%) by Immortal Technique off of The Martyr
0:50:30 (Rev. Interruption 4 Music: Casella Walk from Dap-Dippin’ with… Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings)
It wasn’t easy choosing a song from TigerMan Woah! “Should it be Wage Slave, or Mr. Peabody’s Mine, or Factory Boys, or Workhorse Warehouse” Tough call, but The ’69 Strike won. They’re a band that was made for a day like today. After we heard from Utah & Ani Again with Unless You Are Free. Then we heard about Jerry from the staggering voice of Mz. Jewel Brown. She was kind enough to lend her pipes and spice up a number by Ol’ Sachmo himself, King Louie Armstrong. Then came fourth a tidal wave of ska from the Voodoo Glow Skulls was Bossman. And finally, another gentleman who was made for days like today, Immortal Technique. From The Martyr we heard Rich Man’s World (1%), speaking of which…
Trying to wrestle their lives from the sweaty claws of the Rich-Man the workers got together and resisted and fought in every way they could think of. And after a long struggle they eventually won. And got the laws we take for granted today; minimum wage, child-labor laws, an 8 hour work day, overtime pay, safety regulations, workman’s comp. The right to join a union without being fired. Social security so you don’t have to work until you die. The 5 day work week…
But of course, you give a monster a cookie… No sooner than Those Damn Blue Collars didn’t have to work all 7 days a week did they ask for another one off! Every year! A payed holiday no less! Greedy bastards. A day to celebrate workers?! Smack dab between the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving we get Labor Day. A very important Day… because you get to hear my voice. And some music too I suppose.
0:53:10) Get a Job by The Silhouettes off of Philadelphia Pop: Rockin’ and Croonin’ on Bandstand, 1957-1959
0:55:55) I Work Hard by Pillowfight off of Pillowfight
0:59:25) How Much Do You Pay? By Oliver Hart off of The Many Faces Of Oliver Hart
1:04:25 (Rev. Interruption 5 Music: If You Stayed Over (Instrumental) by Bonobo off of Days to Come)
Hello again all you out there in listening-land, tiz me again, Rev. from Ranting-land, reminding you to never forget that the fact we have all those hard-won laws means if your bosses’ bosses could get away with doing/giving you less, they most certainly would. And the government didn’t pass them out of the goodness of its cursed little heart, people got together, and refused to work, and protested, and rioted, and sabotaged, and made them listen.
So that last song was a thinker, wasn’t it? It was by a man called Eyedea. From an album called The Many Faces Of Oliver Hart, his solo, self-produced one by the late Eyedea from astounding Eyedea & Abilities. Talk about lost potential. Why do opiates hate good music so much?
Before the broken Hart hymn, How Much Do You Pay? we had a Pillowfight telling us “I Work Hard.” Their album is produced by Dan The Automator and that comes through loud and clear. If you’ve heard Lovage or Deltron 3030, or some of his 100 other projects you know what I mean. And we plowed into that slab of sound with Get a Job by The Silhouettes. A #1 hit back in the late 1950s that inspired an impressive amount and imitators, everyone from Smokey Robinson & The Miracles to… Ya know what? Here are The Tempos with I Got A Job
1:06:40) I Got A Job by The Tempos off of Malt Shop Parody Songs – Doo Wop Sensations
1:08:25) I’ll Do Anything But Work by Ray Charles off of Anthology
1:10:50) Fuck Work by Asylum Street Spankers off of The Last Laugh
1:13:50 (Rev. Interruption 6 Music: To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament by Sufjan Stevens off of Come On Feel The Illinoise!)
You may remember those Asylum Street Spankers as the band that cracked open our Beer episode, and here they were again with Fuck Work. Which was led into by a very young, and in my opinion Nat “King” Cole sounding Ray Charles, with I’ll Do Anything But Work.
Now it’s time to start wrapping up this episode, about this very important day that traditionally brings the summer to it’s unofficial close. But I’m going to leave you with a Song written in 1931.
One night when the cops broke into the home of a guy who was organizing a union to intimidate him, they only found his wife and children so terrorized them instead. They though this would get him to back down. But after which, with no paper in sight, the calendar was taken down off the wall and on its back, the wife and mother who had endured while her husband was off hiding somewhere, wrote this song. Since then it’s been adapted and covered by a crazy array of folks; Natalie Merchant, Talib Kweli, Dropkick Murphys, B. Dolan, Rebel Diaz (ft. Dead Prez and Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples), Ani DiFranco, just too many to list. And, of course, Pete Seeger recorded his version back in 1940 so he often gets credit. But I just wanted you to know that this was written by Florence Reece.
1:15:40) Which Side Are You On by Natalie Merchant off of Seeds: The Songs Of Pete Seeger, Volume 3
1:20:30) Which Side Are You On (ft. Kendra Ross & Tef Poe) by Talib Kweli & 9th Wonder off of Indie 500
1:24:50) Which Side Are You On by Dropkick Murphys off of Sing Loud, Sing Proud!
1:27:15) Which Side Are You On by B. Dolan off of House Of Bees Vol 2
1:31:10) Which Side Are You On (ReMix) by Rebel Diaz ft. Dead Prez and Rakaa Iriscience off of Radical Dilemma
1: 36:20) Which Side Are You On? By Ani DiFranco Feat. Pete Seeger off of Which Side Are You On?