Subject: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Susan-Marie Date: 17 Aug 99 - 03:56 PM WE've had a few threads about work songs and the labor movement, but they've been heavy on the serious songs. I'm looking for some more light-hearted songs that folks might like to sing at a light-hearted labor day celebration. So far I have "White Collar Holler", a parody called "Unions are a Girl's Best Friend", and "Why Paddy's Not at Work Today". Any other suggestions? |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: MMario Date: 17 Aug 99 - 04:01 PM "Let Union Be" - actually a grange song - but it's a play on words.... |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bert Date: 17 Aug 99 - 04:11 PM My sweetheart's the mule in the mines I drive her without any lines on the bumper I sit, and I chew and I spit all over my sweetheart's behind. Bert. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Alice Date: 17 Aug 99 - 05:12 PM I was thinking of the parody of "Dark As A Dungeon" about the secretary, but when I looked in the DT with an @parody @work search, I found 26 songs. I don't think any of them are the secretary song I was thinking of.
1) AUSTRALIA'S ON THE WALLABY
2) BALLAD OF PARKWAY PATRIOT
3) BANKS OF THE CONDAMINE
4) BLOW YE WINDS IN THE MORNING (II)
5) THE BOLD LIBRARIAN
6) THE C.I.O. SONG
7) CASEY JONES - UNION SCAB
8) THE COMMUTER'S CORONACH
9) CONESTOGA ON THE JORDAN ROAD
10) THE DRAPES OF ROTH
11) DUMP THE BOSSES OFF YOUR BACK
12) EVERY MAN
13) FAREWELL AND ADIEU
14) THE FOREMAN'S JOB
15) FOUR POUNDS A DAY
16) HENRY THE ACCOUNTANT
17) I'VE BEEN RAILING AT THE WORKLOAD
18) THE JOLLY GRINDER
19) THE PROGRAMMER'S LAMENT
20) ROCKABYE BABY
21) SKIVING
22) SPERRY RAND
23) TEAMING UP THE CARIBOO ROAD
24) TWAS EFFICIENT AND COST EFFECTIVE
25) WHAT A FRIEND WE HAS IN RHODA!
26) THE WORK OF THE LANDLORD
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Subject: Lyr Add: On Mondays I Never Go to Work^^ From: bigJ Date: 17 Aug 99 - 05:30 PM What about the English music-hall song :
On Monday I never go to work, Short and pithy! |
Subject: Lyr Add: On Mondays I Never Go to Work^^ From: Sandy Paton Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:20 AM I learned it this way: On Mondays I never goes to work, On Tuesdays, I stays at home, On Wednesdays, I never feel inclined, Work is the last thing on my mind! Thursday's an 'oliday, (shops all closed on Thursday afternoons) And Fridays I detest. It's too late to make a start on Saturday, And Sunday is the day of rest. London, 1958 |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: paddymac Date: 18 Aug 99 - 02:50 AM Susan Marie - "Why Paddy Isn't at Work Today"? Could you be so kind as to post the lyrics? I suspect it's the same as, or very similar to, the "Sicknote" or "The Brick Song". The only recordings I've heard of it are by the Dubliners and the Corries, but there are probably others. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Roger the zimmer Date: 18 Aug 99 - 04:08 AM They Call It Stormy Monday... (OK not funny but an "I hate work song"! As well as the parodies from the DT listed which have white-collar jobs there is Frank Crumit's "The Man Who Sells insurance" the lyrics to which I posted earlier this year. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: AndyG Date: 18 Aug 99 - 05:26 AM On a Monday Morning (Cyril Tawney) from the DT is another good "I hate work song".
AndIdotooyG |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: John in Brisbane Date: 18 Aug 99 - 07:04 AM The best example I know of is Jeremy Taylor's 'Prawns in the Game' which is all Pommie shop steward speak. I posted here a long time ago, but wouldn't have a clue as to how to find it again. It's delicious master piece. Regards John |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bert Date: 18 Aug 99 - 09:15 AM Here's a few more... Manura Manyah When I'm Cleaning Windows Molly Malone Liverpool Barrow Boy Jellied Eels All my life I've wanted to be a Barrow Boy Chinese Laundry Blues Come Inside The Lincolnshire Poacher The Miller of Dee The work of the weavers The Great American Railway I'm an Old Cowhand The Twang Man Washing up Click go the shears Coney Island Washboard The Buffalo Skinners The Ballad of Billy Kershaw Bert |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: teller Date: 18 Aug 99 - 09:57 AM Shortest one I've come across:- 'I can't read and I can't write, But that don't really matter, Because I lives in Honiton, And I can drive a tractor!' So there! Teller. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Alice Date: 18 Aug 99 - 10:24 AM Bert.... Molly Malone is amusing? Do you know a funny verse for it? |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bert Date: 18 Aug 99 - 10:52 AM ALice, I guess it's how you sing it. Bert. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Alice Date: 18 Aug 99 - 11:35 AM Ok, Bert, I bite... how do YOU sing it?? |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: marion Date: 18 Aug 99 - 11:39 AM There's a song in "Rise Up Singing" about a woman being expected to make the coffee for all in her office... I think it's called "Coffee". The tune is Lord of the Dance (aka Simple Gifts) The chorus:
Coffee, the bane of my life Good song - look it up if you have the book. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bert Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:59 PM Alice, It should be sung with exagerated sentimentality, Kind of like when you've had a few too many. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Alice Date: 18 Aug 99 - 01:07 PM Kind of like with a wet sponge in a handkerchief, so when you wring it in your hands, wobbling the voice and casting mournful eyes to heaven, your hankie streams with tears splashing on the floor? ok, that would be amusing. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bert Date: 18 Aug 99 - 01:11 PM That's the way. Perfect. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: campfire Date: 18 Aug 99 - 01:37 PM Don't know that I'd say its amusing, but today I could sing "Take This Job and Shove It". campfire |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Wally Macnow Date: 18 Aug 99 - 06:05 PM Ginny Haley's(?) "I Am an Old Cowpuncher" "The Cowpuncher's Waltz" "Keep That Wheel a-Turning" |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Bill D Date: 18 Aug 99 - 06:38 PM ohh.."Keep That Wheel a'Turning" is great! Says a LOT!..*grin* |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 19 Aug 99 - 06:13 AM Is it too much of a stretch to include Shel Silverstein's "The Man Who Turns the Damn Thing Off and On"? Roger in Baltimore |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Susan-Marie Date: 19 Aug 99 - 08:53 AM THANK YOU, THANK YOU, all, those are great suggestions. I'm going to be laughing all day looking at the lyrics! |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: GeorgeH Date: 19 Aug 99 - 08:56 AM On a slightly more serious but still (fairly) humerous note there's the likes of "The pit owner and the collier's wife". G. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Roger the zimmer Date: 19 Aug 99 - 09:05 AM ...and for one who found his work amusing ("Once he did arrest a man and laughed until he cried"): The Laughing Policeman (NOT folk). |
Subject: Lyr Add: MOLLY MALONE (parody) From: paddymac Date: 19 Aug 99 - 11:17 AM Alice - here's a Molly parody I wrote a few years ago which usually gets a chuckle or two.
If Dublin you'll visit, down on Grafton Street,
Now it may be the porter that causes the strokin',
Now the Dubs are the fun ones, an irrev'rent lot, Hope you enjoy it. |
Subject: Lyr Add: DARK AS A DUNGEON (parody) From: Jack (who is called Jack) Date: 19 Aug 99 - 11:44 AM Alice, The secretary parody is one of my own.
Come listen, young ladies so fair and so fine,
Where the pressure is double, the raises are few, I got the rest of the verses somewhere (sorry, forgot to take my ginkgo this morning) I'll dig 'em up if'n you want em. Like most songs I do myself, I keep changing the lyrics so much I forget how the dang thing goes. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Scott Hounsell Date: 19 Aug 99 - 01:37 PM You have "White Collar Hollar", maybe you would find "Working Joe" by Stan Rogers amusing |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Barbara Date: 19 Aug 99 - 02:41 PM 'The Excuse Note' or 'Why Paddy's not at work today' is here in DT.
I like the Secretary's Song (not sure if that's the name) with the chorus:
"Whatever will they do
It's a somewhat older song, and I'm not sure it's here in the database. Anyone know it? Bev and Jerry, you out there?
I too love "Keep that Wheel a-Turnin'". |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: AndyG Date: 20 Aug 99 - 04:23 AM And then there's Downsized bt Mr Barker. Look now because this page will be changed shortly.
AndyG |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Susan-Marie Date: 20 Aug 99 - 06:48 AM Thank you AndyG - I love listening to "Downtown" when I'm feeling too old, so "Downsized" is perfect! |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Jeri Date: 20 Aug 99 - 10:00 AM Here are some David Diamond songs. I think Alice mentioned a couple of them. 'Twas Efficient and Cost Effective The Programmer's Lament Limmerick Programmer Grey Jacket and Grey Trousers Dodkin's Job |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Dani Date: 20 Aug 99 - 11:55 AM Roger, I couldn't find that particular on from Shel Silverstein - could you point to it or post it for me? I could use it, too. I'm needing some music for a Sunday service on Labor Day: Work in Modern Society. Any thoughts, y'all? I did, however, make the wonderful discovery of Shel's poetry for adults. I had no idea!! I'm posting on particulary wonderful one on Art's 100 Words thread. Thanks! |
Subject: Lyr Add: WAIT TILL THE WORK COMES ROUND^^ From: CeltArctic Date: 21 Aug 99 - 02:35 AM I have two suggestions that haven't been meantioned. Both of them are British Music Hall numbers: British Workman's Grave (it's in the database under "Moving Father's Grave") and "Wait 'til the Work Comes Round." I couldn't find the second one in the database, so here's the lyrics, if you're interested: WAIT TILL THE WORK COMES ROUND AUTHOR: Gus Elen SOURCE: Cosmotheka Some people knuckle down through being out of work But I ain't one of them, not me. If a gaffer starts to nag, I soon picks up me bag And I flops him one with this, you see... It don't do to make people think you're out of work Cause they're bound to turn their heads the other way. It makes no odds to me what the future's going to be So long as I've got all I want today... CHORUS So what's the use of kicking up a row If there ain't no work about. If you can't get a job, you can rest in bed Till the school kids all come out. And if you can't get work, you can't get the sack-- That's an argument that's sensible and sound. So lay your head back on your pillow, And read the Daily Mirror; And wait till the work comes round. When trade gets very rocky and you has to take the nocky It's best to face the music like a brick. And if creditors come down on you for everything you own, You should bash them on the crumpet with a stick! A lot of people walk the streets, a-looking out for work Till they haven't got a leg to call their own; Instead of just a-waiting for the work to come to them With their feet stuck on the mantle-piece at home... CHORUS So what's the use of kicking up a row If there ain't no work about. If you can't get a job, you can rest in bed Till the school kids all come out. And if you can't get work, you can't get the sack-- That's an argument that's sensible and sound. So lay your head back on your pillow, And read the Daily Mirror; And wait till the work comes round. Line Breaks |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Art Thieme Date: 21 Aug 99 - 10:19 AM "The Rackets We Had 'Round The Blue Mountain Lake" ---a fine humorous lumberjack work song from New York collected by Frank & Ann Warner
"Pokegama Bear"
"The Black Fly Song"
"The Frozen Logger"
"Saginaw, Michigan"
"The Bitter Withy"
"The Boll Weevil"
"The Union Maid"
"This Land Is Their Land":
This land is their land,
As I went walking that endless breadline...
So take your slogan and kindly stow it, (This parody was from THE BOSSES SONG BOOK 1960s.
"The Ladies Auxiliary"
Oh, the ladies auxiliary is a good auxiliary,
"The Philadelphia Lawyer"
"Sally Don't You Grieve"
"Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues"
"Hobo's Lullaby"
"When I Was a Cowboy"
"Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill"
"In the Good Old Colony Days"
"The Fox"
"The Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train
"Click Go the Shears"
"The Night They Drove Old Dickie Down"
"My Name Is Yon Yonson"
"Pick a Bale o' Cotton"
"Rock Island Line"
"No More Auction Block for Me"
"By the Hush" (read between the lines and many songs are work songs---some very funny.
"Pat Works on the Railway"
"The Bullhead Boat" THERE ARE SO VERY MANY... I do hope this helps---Art Thieme |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: MAG (inactive) Date: 21 Aug 99 - 05:46 PM "Bony Fingers" -- does black humor count as funny? (Probably not in DB; contemporary country) If you include military service, there's always "Stung Right." |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: emily rain Date: 21 Aug 99 - 06:05 PM is it too much of a stretch to include "Gentlemen of Distinction in the Army"? |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Mungo Date: 22 Aug 99 - 12:26 AM Hard Times in the Mill The Thinking Man, John Henry Erie Canal Shovelin' Iron Ore:
"Something happened the other day that never happened before--
Paul Bunyan's Manistee This is just off the top of my head--I have several thousand folk songs of all kinds committed to memory. Mungo Bob McElroy |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Arkie Date: 22 Aug 99 - 12:52 AM D.W. Washburn, the old Coaster number about not working, also nicely recorded by Mike Dowling. Keeper of the Eddystone Light Life Is A Toil, a complaint about housework. Sam Jones Deliver Them Bones, Richard Thompson's song about a dealer in bones. |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: JedMarum Date: 22 Aug 99 - 11:02 AM The subject of this thread caught me: isn't Amusing Work Song an oxymoron? |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: karen k Date: 25 Aug 99 - 05:24 PM EVERYBODY WORKS AT MY HOUSE by Jesse Fuller Everybody works but father He sits around all day Pokes his feet in the fire Smoking his pipe of clay Mama now she takes in the washing So does sister Ann Everybody works at my house But my old man! |
Subject: From: GUEST,sbrown@vthc.org.au Date: 22 Feb 01 - 11:42 PM Does anyone have the music and words to "All my life I've wanted to be a barrow boy"? Was mentioned in the "Amusing work songs" thread, but I can't find anywhere. Sarah Brown |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 23 Feb 01 - 09:10 AM THE GREENHORN A song about a guy who wanted to be a cowboy. They put him on a horse, which bucked him off "and I come down and busted the ground". It includes such lines as: They picked me up and carried me in Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 23 Feb 01 - 10:00 AM A few more, in the cowboy genre: The Zebra Dun Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: The Walrus at work Date: 23 Feb 01 - 01:09 PM Do military songs count? If so, you could start with "Muddley Barracks" . Not a work song, but a song about work, Flanders & Swan's "The Gas Man Cometh" Good luck. Walrus |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Amos Date: 23 Feb 01 - 01:22 PM And for Playboy ladies, there is the "Woes of the Gentleman's Club" by no less an honored pair than Sir Leej and moi, at your disposal on the Mudcat Songbook page. Max has an .mp3 of it if you want it. A |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Kim C Date: 23 Feb 01 - 03:27 PM The one about why Paddy's not at work today is one of my faves. We've all had days like that... |
Subject: Lyr Add: BARROW BOY^^ From: R! Date: 23 Feb 01 - 03:32 PM I don't have the music to Barrow Boy but here are the words - minus correct punctuation and possibly proper formatting. As I've heard it, the song repeats twice (or is that redundant? Repeats once? Oh sing it all the way through and then sing it again!) Reen
All me life I wanted to be a barrow boy |
Subject: RE: Amusing Work Songs?? From: Nancy King Date: 23 Feb 01 - 05:10 PM The Boarding Party recorded several in this genre, including:
Sailor's Alphabet (there are "alphabet" songs about a lot of occupations), and Cheers, Nancy
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