That was a blast from the past...my sons, now grown brought that song home from Co-op nursery school...shortly after that, at a childrens concert at the Ark in Ann Arbor, I recall Utah Phillips doing this song...the kids were ecstatic, a song they knew!

RE: the suggestion that this may be a labor history song, I do not recall Utah delivering any polemic on the meaning or history of the song.

I associate "goon" with other images, Alice the Goon, a cartoon character, as well as "the Goons and the ginks, and the Company finks..."or "goon squads".