"Unemployable"/ A thread dedicated to great labor songs!!!!!!!

[inthebrain]

Unemployable Pearl Jam lyrics
Artist: Pearl Jam
Album: Pearl Jam
Year: 2006
Title: Unemployable

He's got a big gold ring which says Jesus Saves
and it's dented from the punch thrown at work that day
when he smashed the metal locker where he kept his things
after the big boss say You best be on your way

So this life is sacrifice
oh yeah
jumping trains just to survive

Well his wife and kids asleep but he\'s still awake
and his brain weighs the curse of thirty bills unpaid
gets up, lights a cigarette, he\'s grown to hate
thinking if he can\'t sleep, how will he ever dream again?

So this life is sacrificed
oh yeah
to a stranger\'s bottom line
oh yeah

I've seen the light, oho oh ohhhh oho oh ohhhh
I'm scared alive
nearly dead
oho oh ohhhh oho oh ohhhh
I've seen the light
Still alive

yeah
So this life is sacrificed
oh yeah
Was a dream that had to die
oh yeah

I've seen the light, oho ohhh ohhhhh oho ohhh ohhhhh
I'm scared alive
Near to death
oho ohhh ohhhhh oho ohhh ohhhhh

I've seen the light
scared alive
oho ohhh ohhhhh oooohoooo
I'm here to die
here to die
scared alive
Here to die
Here to die
Scared of life

[madrchsod]

1. that`s me.....

been there, done that, for to many years and i`m running out of time...and there are millions of guys and gals just like me..."and little pink houses for you and me"

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Bob Dylan: North Country Blues

This is very timely, although written in 1963.

Come (Dm)gather 'round friends
And I'll (C)tell you a tale
Of when the (Dm)red iron pits ran (C)plenty.
(Dm)But the cardboard filled windows
And (C)old men on the benches
Tell you (Dm)now that the (C)whole town is (Dm)empty.

More here.

[salib]

3. Joe Hill - "The Preacher and the Slave"

Long haired preachers come out ev'ry night,
Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right;
But when asked, how 'bout something to eat, (Let us eat)
They will answer with voices so sweet; (Oh so sweet)

Chorus:
You will eat, (You will eat)
Bye and bye, (Bye and bye) in that glorious land in the sky;
(way up high)
work and pray, (work and pray) live on hay, (Live on hay)
you'll get pie in the sky when you die. (That's a lie)
:End Chorus

And the starvation army they play,
And they sing and they clap and they pray.
Till they get all your coin on the drum,
Then they'll tell you when you're on the bum:

-Chorus-

Holy Rollers and Jumpers come out,
And they holler, they jump and they shout
"Give your money to Jesus," they say,
"He will cure all diseases today."

-Chorus-

If you fight hard for children and wife-
Try to get something good in this life-
You're a sinner and bad man, they tell,
When you die you will sure go to hell.

-Chorus-

Working men of all countries unite,
Side by side we for freedom will fight!
When the world and its wealth we have gained,
To the grafters we'll sing this refrain:

-Final Chorus-

You will eat, bye and bye,
When you've learned how to cook and to fry.
Chop some wood, do you good,
And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye. (that's no lie)

[kestrel91316]

4. Hey, now you've reminded me of Joan Baez's "Joe Hill"...........

"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night,
as live as......(forget the words)...

........I never died, said he.
I never died, said he".

Wish I could remember all the lyrics.......it's about the labor organizer.

[kineneb]

5. Bread and Roses

from:
http://www.sccft1789.org/resources/songs.php
lots of other web sources

I have heard the Judy Collins version.


Bread and Roses


 words by James Oppenheim
music by Caroline Kohlsaat


As we come marching in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing, "Bread and roses, bread and roses."


As we come marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again,
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread but give us roses!


As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient cry for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too!


As we come marching, marching, we bring the greater days.
The rising of the woman means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler-ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses!


Inspired by the New England textile strikes of 1912, Bread and Roses has become an anthem to women's rights.

[followthemoney]

6. "We Can't Make it Here"

"We Can't Make it Here"
Lyrics


Vietnam Vet with a cardboard sign
Sitting there by the left turn line
Flag on the wheelchair flapping in the breeze
One leg missing, both hands free
No one's paying much mind to him
The V.A. budget's stretched so thin
And there's more comin' home from the Mideast war
We can't make it here anymore

That big ol' building was the textile mill
It fed our kids and it paid our bills
But they turned us out and they closed the doors
We can't make it here anymore

See all those pallets piled up on the loading dock
They're just gonna set there till they rot
'Cause there's nothing to ship, nothing to pack
Just busted concrete and rusted tracks
Empty storefronts around the square
There's a needle in the gutter and glass everywhere
You don't come down here 'less you're looking to score
We can't make it here anymore

The bar's still open but man it's slow
The tip jar's light and the register's low
The bartender don't have much to say
The regular crowd gets thinner each day

Some have maxed out all their credit cards
Some are working two jobs and living in cars
Minimum wage won't pay for a roof, won't pay for a drink
If you gotta have proof just try it yourself Mr. CEO
See how far 5.15 an hour will go
Take a part time job at one of your stores
Bet you can't make it here anymore

High school girl with a bourgeois dream
Just like the pictures in the magazine
She found on the floor of the laundromat
A woman with kids can forget all that
If she comes up pregnant what'll she do
Forget the career, forget about school
Can she live on faith? live on hope?
High on Jesus or hooked on dope
When it's way too late to just say no
You can't make it here anymore

Now I'm stocking shirts in the Wal-Mart store
Just like the ones we made before
'Cept this one came from Singapore
I guess we can't make it here anymore

Should I hate a people for the shade of their skin
Or the shape of their eyes or the shape I'm in
Should I hate 'em for having our jobs today
No I hate the men sent the jobs away
I can see them all now, they haunt my dreams
All lily white and squeaky clean
They've never known want, they'll never know need
Their sh@# don't stink and their kids won't bleed
Their kids won't bleed in the da$% little war
And we can't make it here anymore

Will work for food
Will die for oil
Will kill for power and to us the spoils
The billionaires get to pay less tax
The working poor get to fall through the cracks
Let 'em eat jellybeans let 'em eat cake
Let 'em eat sh$%, whatever it takes
They can join the Air Force, or join the Corps
If they can't make it here anymore

And that's how it is
That's what we got
If the president wants to admit it or not
You can read it in the paper
Read it on the wall
Hear it on the wind
If you're listening at all
Get out of that limo
Look us in the eye
Call us on the cell phone
Tell us all why

In Dayton, Ohio
Or Portland, Maine
Or a cotton gin out on the great high plains
That's done closed down along with the school
And the hospital and the swimming pool
Dust devils dance in the noonday heat
There's rats in the alley
And trash in the street
Gang graffiti on a boxcar door
We can't make it here anymore

Music and lyrics © 2004 by James McMurtry