Throw on some Utah Phillips, nothing better than an old Wobblie to preface getting wobbly with someone special, thank me later.
Test Dept made an album with the ‘South Wales Striking Miners Choir’ called Shoulder to Shoulder. It contains the track ’ Shockwork ’ which starts with a speech, rallying up the protestors. Test Dept is an industrial band with an emphasis on percussion. Another track on the album is called ’ Fuel to Fight '. They accomplish exactly that with their music. I can’t imagine a more appropriate band to be at such a rally.
I sometimes miss the sort of politically engaged anger of the 80s. I was born in the 90s so perhaps it’s just a romantic look at a past that never was. People are angry now too, but I wonder if it’s not, more than in the past, fused with algorythmically induced hatred of the ‘other’, instead of honest, rightful anger. Like the difference between: ‘I am angry because there is this injustice, and we’re not going to tollerate you standing in our way to solve this injustice’ and ‘I am angry at you because there is this injustice, which is your fault and therefor I hate you’. Clearly the first version leaves room for the ‘unjust person’ to change and choose to go along with this new move towards justice. The second one leaves the ‘unjust person’ feeling, "wait, what… I am not deserving of such hate, I am not evil, you must be crazy for hating me, and therefor I will hate you in return and together we will spiral down into the depths of civil war’.
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I sing that at the company karaoke every year, and just replace ‘company’ with our company’s name. It usually gets good chuckles from the workers and scowls from the sycophantic managers.
That one’s the best by far.
Love this one. Absolute banger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9j91-18Kb4
Geoff Castellucci (the bass singer from Voiceplay) made a great cover version of that one btw ❤️
Damn, that was really good. I’ve only ever heard the original, but brava
Right?! I highly recommend that you rabbit hole the shit out of both his solo stuff and Voiceplay! So damn good!
God don’t venture down here
The Devil’s lost your name
Your life hangs in the balance
on this fragile human chain
And when your spirit’s waning
The fear is yours to tame
When you feel the darkness closing
Turn up your carbide flameSo tell God and the Devil they can try
But today’s not gonna be the day we dieI also like this one: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=whdzP0GHuc4
Here’s another one for the sexy time
But the banks are made of marble
With a guard at every door
And the vaults are filled with silver
That the miners sweated for
I don’t have a link anymore, but this playlist does exist.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0TwmS2Fps3wdCIoBy9r4BX
but that’s just shy of an hour.
Seems to be missing “Pound a Week Rise”
I have a good many of these in a personal “class war” Playlist but this increases my collection
I think it’s this one Sexy Time Although it doesn’t seem to actually be nine hours long
Put down your bibles, pick up your guns.
Blair Mountain here we come.
I wonder if it was specifically about coal miners, or if that was just the theme of the playlist. Because if it’s just the vibe, there’s some great songs there. First two that come to mind are Dire Straits’ “Telegraph Road” and Springsteen’s “The River”, but there’s a lot more like that.
Come, mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan’ go home)
Come, mister tally man, tally me banana
(Daylight come and me wan’ go home)
Definitely not about coal miners, but certainly a song about blue collar workers
I was just thinking about that song because I watched The Greatest Night in Pop, and they broke into singing Day-O at one point in the process. I was just thinking a call and response work song would have made for a much better solution for what they were trying to do, which was have a chorus, but also give soloists a chance to do a very quick solo.
But just believe in me, baby, and I’ll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cause I’ve run every red light on memory lane
I’ve seen desperation explode into flames
And I don’t want to see it again
If it even exists. The coal miner part was obviously added in after the fact and not part of the original tweet.
Indeed, the original read, “It was 9 hours of non-stop Star Wars cantina band.”
I’ll begrudgingly accept this reality over the striking songs, because I also like non-disney star wars + Andor.
Man I hate having to make that distinction.
Look what they did to ma boy 😭
Do people have sexy time playlists?
Yes, it is just cbat on repeat
Is that the radio version of C-Span?
Its a reference to a viral post from reddit
This is my go to album https://youtu.be/njB4CDHElUQ
Because there’s always a relevant XKCD.
Learned the hard way. Got this experimental radio I love and tended to have on most of the time. Well, a children’s choir bursting in full swing at the exact moment we were both peaking with my partner worked great as a contraceptive.
Barry White’s growly rendition of “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
Need YouTube playlist link! Please
(Bcuz fuck Spotify. But also fuck Google. But ya.)
I miss Grooveshark
subsonic is a similar setup though nowhere near as much love yet
I dont think subsonic is recommended anymore. It is closed source now. It has been forked and there are several forks available. Suck as navidrome.
I don’t use any of these though, so do your own research!
Are there even enough Billy Bragg albums to do this?
After listening to his rendition of She’s Leaving Home, does there need to be even be one Billy Bragg album
It’s in the evening after dark
When the blackleg miner creeps to work
With his moleskin pants and dirty shirt
There goes the blackleg minerSo join the union while you may
Don’t wait till your dying day
For that may not be far away
You dirty blackleg minerBlackleg Miner (traditional - Roud 3193) - listen to the Steeleye Span version, ideally from the Back in Line album - and don’t break the strike!
Mine is just sixteen hours of this:
