Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions

Subject: Leaving a job with a bad boss - suggestions
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 08:11 PM

It was a good job for years, then a really bad manager just about eviscerated the place with a reorganization and cock-eyed strategic plans. Many of my friends left in the first year after the reorg, and others have left as they could retire or finally find good replacement jobs (difficult for older workers). The staff were always great, helpful, doing the helpful work the public expected, but the top management became adversarial, divisive. So - what labor songs or others are out there that are critical of the bosses and sympathetic with the workers?

If it's on YouTube, all the better. :)

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - suggestions
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 08:30 PM

I think you need a good dose of U. Utah Phillips. How 'bout Dump the Bosses off Your Back?

Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpnlSgzvUhs

Anne Feeney does a great job of it, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FDtBNwhusU

And Joe Glazer recorded it, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UMhh7myVDQ

I think those are the three best labor singers I know of.

May your days be brighter soon.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: gillymor
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 08:34 PM

Kentucky Headhunters updating the Jimmy Reed classic
Big Boss Man

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 10:02 PM

Acme, I can totally relate to your tale of woe.

(You don't work in an Oz state government department, do you? I could be working in the same place as you, based on your description of what has been inflicted on us by managers over the years.)

This is the first song I thought of. It is probably not entirely relevant but the first line pops into my head on a regular basis.

Irish Rovers Good bye Mrs Durkin

"Goodbye Mrs Durkin, I am sick and tired of working".

I'll be singing that song in April next year, but I might change some of the lyrics to make them more specific. LOL

Also, not entirely relevant to your situation, but I'm been a union rep for the majority of my working life, so I can relate to the song.

Strawbs - Part of the union

Good luck
Helen

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 10:29 PM

And then there is this one, which we had on a 78 rpm record when I was a kid:

Tennessee Ernie Ford Sings Sixteen Tons

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 30 Aug 18 - 11:26 PM

Take this Job and Shove it. My spouse wrote the song I'm posting fro Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWqnbC2CJU8&index=14&list=PLIGgWKMGaPQmSKYn0ye9GYqGwP5ZtQbni

I hope the link works. (I had to help it a little - Joe Offer-)

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 12:14 AM

Oops. Typo. "I've been..." a union rep>

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 01:38 AM

So long, been good to know you


Sarcastically:-)


I would say good luck, Acme, but you don't need it. You will do great!

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Mr Red
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 03:00 AM

Dolly Parton's "9 to 5"

"Turning Steel" (Factory Lad)

Gold Watch Blues

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 03:33 AM

Boss Man by Gordon Lightfoot

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: gillymor
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 05:14 AM

Once, when I was between jobs a friend said simply "enjoy your time", I took it to heart and still look back on that period fondly.


Enjoy Yourself

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: GUEST,Modette
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 07:43 AM

Josh White's Freedom Road.


Freedom Road

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 10:27 AM

Roy Bailey sang a great parody of 'My Way' when he retired from being a uni lecturer, aimed at the institute's pointless and divisive system.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: GUEST,John C. Bunnell
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 01:50 PM

Leslie Fish's "The Paper Sea" is likely a fit.

Also out of the filk world, a couple of songs by "Dr. Jane" Robinson would apply (titled respectively "Song of the Middle Manager" and "Anthem to Bureaucracy"). Unfortunately, neither seems to be directly available online, and whereas I think I have both audio and lyrics somewhere, both are buried just now.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Hagman
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 10:26 PM

And then there's Johnny Paycheck....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIjEauGiRLo

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Aug 18 - 11:16 PM

I listened to these and looked up others - I think coal mines and railroad work would be lost on people in an office environment. Clearly there is a need for a modern urban "this place sucks I quit" song.

If the Woody Guthrie songs weren't so closely tied to historic events, they were close. "So long, it's been good to know you" is good for the friends left behind. Perhaps Amos will drop in and generate a song challenge - how do we tell the modern office executive that they've turned the company into a toxic cesspool for the rank and file?

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 12:18 AM

I heard on the radio that John McCain's family had them play "My Way," piped in by Frank Sinatra, at the end of his funeral as the casket was carried out.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 06:11 AM

Not white collar-oriented but a great song for all working folk-


The Worker's Song
performed by Dick Gaughan

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 06:59 AM

I know nothing about "workers' jobs" having worked either for Chartered Accountants or as Company Accountant since 1964, but my present boss, although is a nice enough guy, is a mean bastard. What he doesn't know is that I know all the tricks !!!

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 04:57 PM

I'm sure there will be many sighs of relief when I say I'm refraining from fully expressing everything I have to say about my current workplace. I'm saving it up for the "fiction" book - or TV series - I'm going to write when I retire. LOL

However, as I said above, I can sincerely relate to your situation and the boss/es and their foibles.

gillymor, your link to Enjoy Yourself didn't work for me. Maybe I'm in the wrong country. Or you're in the wrong country. I'm in the "Lucky Country".

This is a fun version by one of my fave bands:

The Specials - Enjoy Yourself

Helen

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: gillymor
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 05:06 PM

Helen, the version I linked to was by Guy Lombardo with a kind of corny arrangement so you didn't miss much. I chose it because the vocalist had very clear enunciation. My favorite version (of one of my favorite songs) is by Jim Kweskin but I couldn't find a vid for it. I like the Specials version though.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: StephenH
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 08:58 PM

Stilly River Sage:
Check out this Stan Rogers' song - "White Collar Holler"



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsDkmVo2fg4

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: pattyClink
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 10:21 PM

Channel your inner Tanya Tucker! You gotta love a lyric like "putting on my it's-all-over-coat".

Walkin' Shoes

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 01 Sep 18 - 11:28 PM

Dilbert - the antidote for being subjected to silly management

At least one dose a day is helpful, but take as many doses as you need to feel normal again.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Sep 18 - 10:20 AM

If you want a version of Enjoy Yourself that you can understand, you can't go wrong with the Doris Day version. They even put the words over the video.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: gillymor
Date: 02 Sep 18 - 12:03 PM

True.
Maxine Sullivan also did a nice version with a very hot band but left out verses 3 and 4.
Finally found the Jim Kweskin recording of it- Enjoy Yourself

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: deanofromoz
Date: 04 Sep 18 - 12:30 AM

My suggestion would be

Johnny Cash - Oney


which is all about getting revenge on a bad boss!

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 04 Sep 18 - 03:12 PM

Someone reopened this thread:

Goldwatch Blues

I think it's also a good song choice about bad bosses and bad work situations.

Paul Reade's suggested update of a couple of verses is good, IMHO.

Paul said:

How things like “flexible working” , “zero hours contracts” etc. have changed Britain since then, with a “job for life” now regarded like gold dust to some people. Perhaps a more updated version would be:-

“He asked me how many jobs I'd had before.
He nearly had a heart attack when I answered, four.
Four jobs in twenty years! Oh, that will never do
We have short-term contracts then it’s down the road for you<\i>

Chorus:
“Forget your gold watch hanging from its chain
Here’s a six-month contract then you’re on the dole again
And if you've a son who wants a good career
We’ll give him a job on minimum wage till later in the year” <\i>

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 04 Sep 18 - 03:23 PM

My take on Paul's update of Goldwatch Blues is this.

Casualisation of the workforce is the bane of workers' lives, IMHO, especially young workers trying to get on in the world or even old biddies like me.

I've been desperately trying for over two years to find another job so that I wouldn't have to work 2 hours from home because of a sudden decision by management to move our unit away from our town and the majority of what little available work there is, is short-term temporary or casual.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I could look at retirement. The unlucky ones have major reasons for needing to continue to work in that town.

The managers were completely oblivious to the distress of the staff and all but impervious to any real solutions suggested by staff and the union, but all during this time there has been a verbal push by managers to make everyone say positive things about working there.

Brings to mind the movie called Brazil, a dark, dark fantasy of the future of work and society.

Helen

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Paul Reade
Date: 06 Sep 18 - 07:37 AM

Helen:

Thanks for your comments on my posting - much appreciated.

Hope you find a better job

Paul

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: BTMP
Date: 06 Sep 18 - 08:14 AM

Walking Boss by Doc Watson.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Helen
Date: 06 Sep 18 - 04:45 PM

Thank Paul. My better job starts at Easter next year: retirement! LOL

Helen

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: GUEST,ottery
Date: 06 Sep 18 - 04:56 PM

Boston Harbour - trad. and performed by Spiers and Boden

"And there's just one thing that we have to crave
That our Captain he meets with a watery grave
And we'll throw him down into some dark hole
Where the shark'll have his body and the devil have his soul"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7g32AfdE7I

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: Thompson
Date: 08 Sep 18 - 05:26 AM

Goodbye Muirsheen Durkan sung by Luke Kelly with the Dubliners https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMX-Lbxa_ac

The Rocks of Bawn sung by Paul Brady with pipes by Liam O'Flynn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6oqBKE1ObY

The Rocks of Bawn has that great sense of transition from gratefulness for work at the beginning into rage and hatred. The boss starts as 'Lovely Sweeney' and ends with a curse.

Don't hire with any master
Till you know what your work will be
For he will rise you early
From the clear daylight to the dawn…

May my curse attend you, Sweeney
You have me nearly robbed
You're sitting by the fireside
With your *dúidín in your gob*
Sitting by the fireside
From the clear daylight till the dawn…

*Dúidín - a short-stemmed clay pipe, the cigarette of the 18th and 19th century: put a spade in the earth anywhere in Ireland and you'll bring up their decorative stems, and if you're digging in bogland, sometimes the bowls too. Gob - contemptuous term for a mouth; the word actually means a bird's beak.

Subject: RE: Leaving a job with a bad boss - song suggestions
From: David W
Date: 09 Sep 18 - 03:45 AM

The song,

Take this job and shove it.

by various artists, would seem appropriate.