Work in Songs

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the lyrics and music of eighteen songs to see what they say about work, about workers, and about the effects of work on the worker.The paper reviews songs like "Old Man River," showing how this song has a plaintive power in keeping with its role in Showboat as the song of a black workman linked to the river and seeing himself as humbled by comparison. The Jim Croce version uses slightly different lyrics, but the underlying sense of the humble worker acing the eternal river remains.

From the Paper:

"The music creates a certain sense of melancholy at the same time. The song says much about the worker in a natural setting and how he or she relates to the enormity of the job. 16 Tons This song has a low-down, almost conspiratorial sound, in part from Ford's deep voice. The song evokes the work of the miner and says much about how the individual is overwhelmed and even exploited by the company for which he works, a company that keeps him in hock by selling goods to him from its own store. The song suggests the plight of the worker, who expends all the energy and reaps few of the rewards."

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