steve earle – RI Future

Monday Dec 23, 2013
North Kingstown, RI – Happy Holidays Ocean State and fellow futurists … This is Bob Plain and as always I am podcasting to you from The Hideaway on the banks of the Mattatuxet River behind the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. But this is a special edition of the RI Future podcast celebrating that solstice time of year – or, as we call it here in America, Christmas.

Because so many of us suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and maybe take a little bit of umbrage at all the wanton consumerism posing as peace on earth and goodwill towards all people, we put together an extended podcast today dedicated to all the Christmas tunes Jesus would want us to spin at his birthday party … none are about how disgustingly sweet our lives can be or religious dogma or getting presents. Instead our playlist – ranging from rap to rock and from punk to funk – are about the real reason for the season: building community between our brothers and sisters during this otherwise dark and depressing time of year.

Footnotes:

John Lennon “Happy Xmass (War Is Over)

The Kinks “Father Christmas”

Stevie Wonder “Someday at Christmas”

Woodie Guthrie “1913 Massacre”

The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones “This Time of Year”

The Flaming Lips “Christmas at the Zoo”

Run DMC “Christmas Is”

The Sonics “Don’t Believe in Christmas”

The Ramones “Merry Christmas, I don’t want to fight tonight”

Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas from the Family”

Steve Earle “Christmas Time in Washington”

Billy Squier “Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You”

Simon and Garfunkel “Silent Night”

MXPX “Auld Lang Syne”

Happy Labor Day, Rhode Island. Enjoy your day off, and thank a union member that you get them. Here are some of my favorite working class songs to help you celebrate.

While all such lists much start with Dust Bowl Poet Woody Guthrie, the godfather of the modern working class song and a real life folk hero himself, he certainly wasn’t the first one to sing about labor struggles.

That dubious distinction belongs to the early American slaves.

Blues guitarists like Leadbelly took it from there.

And then artists like Johnny Cash took over.

Joan Baez was one of the folk singers to follow in Woodie Guthrie’s footsteps by singing about folk heroes like Joe Hill, most famous for saying, “Don’t mourn. Organize.”

All of a sudden, the working class was a meme in pop music once again.

Reggae legend Bob Marley wrote many songs about the struggles of black people. This one is my favorite.

Once John Lennon shed Paul and Ringo, he joined in too:

But no one since Woodie Guthrie has better portrayed the working class struggle than Bruce Springsteen. This song is called “Factory”

Through the mansions of fear, through the mansions of pain
I see my daddy walking through the factory gate in the rain
Factory takes his hearing, but he understands
He’s just a working, a working a working man

End of the day, factory whistle cries
Men walk through the gates with death in their eyes
And you just better believe boy somebody’s gonna get hurt tonight
It’s the work, the working, just the working life

The eighties, for reasons related to Ronald Reagan, wasn’t the best era for working class anthems, but punk bands kept the tradition alive.

So did country music, and to some extent Hollywood:

Here’s another of my favorite working class songs that come from the stage. “Annie” is one of America’s great examples of anti-government propaganda – the poor kids are mistreated in the public orphanage until Daddy Warbucks comes and rescues the lucky ones. The American dream, indeed.

In the 1990’s rap acts like Public Enemy kept alive the tradition of creating music about the struggles of the poor.

And today, artists like Steve Earle are keeping the tradition alive.

Tag: steve earle

RIF Radio: A working class Christmas: lefty-themed holiday songs to call attention to the reason for the season

Happy Labor Day: A history of working class music