Lyr Add: Bring Back the Eight-Hour Day (C King)

Subject: Lyr Req: Your Life Is More Than Your Work
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Apr 15 - 08:16 PM

In the back of my mind, I can hear a song that starts:

Your life is more than your work
Your work is more than your pay...

But that's all I can recall. I've Googled, I've searched Mudcat, but I've found nothing. And then today when I was working on the last chapter of the Rise Again songbook, I came across a Charlie King song that says:

And some fuzzy folksinger repeats in my mind
that my life should be more than my work

So that song is going through Charlie King's head, too, but what's the song, and who's the fuzzy folksinger?
-Joe-

Subject: Lyr Add: BRING BACK THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY (C King)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Apr 15 - 08:19 PM

And here's the Charlie King song I was talking about:

BRING BACK THE EIGHT-HOUR DAY
(Charlie King)

My job makes me crazy; I'm always behind,
Even though I am not one to shirk,
And some fuzzy folksinger repeats in my mind
That my life should be more than my work.
Well, I like the work that I do.
I don't mind earning my pay,
But there's so much to do when the work day is through.
Bring back the eight-hour day.
C GC F C / F C - G / CG C F C / F C G C

Say you work at a white-collar job.
You get paid at a fixed monthly rate,
But you come in for meetings a half-hour early;
You're working a full hour late.
Then you sit for an hour in traffic
With the rest of the overtime drones.
There's a latchkey kid you must chase off to bed
'Fore you eat a cold supper alone.

CHORUS: Oh, bring back the eight-hour day.
When did we give it away?
There's so much to do when the work day is through.
Bring back the eight-hour day.
C G C F C / F C G C

There's a factory worker we know.
Joe Hill called him "Mr. Block."
If the foreman forgot him, he'd work 'til he dropped
And he'd never punch out on the clock.
Now they lay off ten workers a week.
Some are working half-time with no frills.
Mr Block doesn't care; he's got money to spare.
Let the rest of the world go to hell!

Well, did you know that the workers in Flint
Went on strike to climb out of this hole?
Where half the town works sixty hours a week
While the other half rots on the dole?
What good is a double-time check
When your town and your family is shot?
We need some enjoyment; we want full employment.
We will not be bullied or bought
We say: CHORUS

When I was a kid, mom stayed home
And we lived on dad's blue-collar pay.
Our standard of living was decent and sweet,
Just as good as what I've got today.
Now my wife has a good-paying job,
And me, well, I'm doing OK,
But we're putting out ninety-nine hours a week.
Tell me who the hell's getting my pay?
Hey: CHORUS

They've got cellular phones for your car.
They've got notebook PC's for your lap.
If you crawl off to sleep you stay close to your beeper.
Now why do we stand for this crap?
They tell you you've got to compete.
No! we're tired from footing the bill.
Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest,
Eight hours for what we will.

A hundred and ten years ago,
In Chicago in Haymarket Square,
They gathered from shipyards, from mine and from mill,
Just to march in the sun and the air.
They'd been slaving from dawn until dusk
But not on the first of May,
'Cause you can't smell the flowers when you're working twelve hours,
So they struck for an eight-hour day.

Hey, bring back the eight-hour day.
Bring back the five-day week.
When did we give it away?
How did it become an antique?
I like the work that I do.
I don't mind earning my pay,
But there's so much to do when the work day is through
Bring back the eight-hour day.


Charlie King
© 1994 Charlie King, Pied Asp Music/BMI. On his Inside Out.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Your Life Is More Than Your Work
From: Deckman
Date: 14 Apr 15 - 10:26 PM

WOW ... bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Your Life Is More Than Your Work
From: Howard Kaplan
Date: 15 Apr 15 - 12:09 AM

The song that was originally running through Joe's head, "Our life is more than our work", was discussed in a previous Mudcat thread.

An excerpt from the song, sufficient to remind one of the melody (which was one of Joe's outstanding questions from the other thread), can be heard on the Amazon download page for the track.

Subject: RE: ADD: Bring Back the 8-Hour Day
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Apr 15 - 02:27 AM

Thank you, Howard. I shoulda known it was Charlie King's voice in the back of my head. On the 8-hour day song, Charlie played what I think was Pete Seeger's voice in the background when Charlie sang about the "fuzzy folksinger."

And since we already have a thread on "Our Work" (and I'm the one who posted the lyrics), I've renamed this thread to "8-Hour Day."
The upcoming Rise Again songbook will have 5 Charlie King songs. I guess editors Peter Blood and Annie Patterson must really like Charlie King. I like Charlie King, too - but maybe not quite that much.

"Bring Back the 8-Hour Day" brings back memories of my 30 years as a government investigator. I worked 10 hours of overtime a week most of that time, and sometimes was required to work 20. When I went back to work after back surgery, I had to get a written statement from my doctor that I was not to work overtime. After we were privatized by the Clinton Administration, my 3 years as a contract employee were constantly under a requirement of 10 hours of overtime a week, and I was constantly pushed to do more. It near drove me batty, and I retired at the age of 51.

Now I investigate folk songs, a much more satisfying occupation - and I don't mind that I don't get paid.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Bring Back the Eight-Hour Day (C King)
From: GUEST,Glen
Date: 07 May 21 - 10:23 AM

Actually C Charlie Kingin another song also wrote "Our life is more than our work and our work is more than our job" so the fuzzy folk singer he refers to is himself. Self depricatrion is rare in C Charlie's work!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Bring Back the Eight-Hour Day (C King)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 May 21 - 08:46 PM

an excellent song, video -Charlie King, Bring Back the Eight Hour Day