Origins: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 21 Aug 14 - 10:49 AM

Times are changing. Now that most of the white middle class just sticks its boys in front of computer games for most of childhood and youth, their daughters are getting better educations, more chance for college, and more chance to become engineers.

Speaking of engineers, I have totally unrelated story to tell. My husband just watched a DVD about when the terrible tsunami damamged the nuclear reactor in Japan. The control room was without power - the usual supply and the back-up supply had been destroyed by the tsunami. The engineers desperately needed to know the temperature and pressure of the core, but the gauges could not work.

Then one of them got an idea. They took the batteries out of all their cars, hooked them up together and used them to operate the gauges.

Quiet heroes, if you ask me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 02:35 PM

I seem to remember a whole n'other song - anybody else?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 01:01 PM

"I used to hear Frankie Armstrong sing that on her annual trip to Berkeley -- always brought down the house. She explained that in Britain, an "engineer" can be someone who works using an engine or machine -- i.e., a turret lathe. In the U.S., we call them machinists. A college degree is not needed, but you do need technical training."

I don't think Frankie is an engineer! In the UK, a man/woman on a machine tool, although working in engineering, would be a turner, miller or setter rather than an engineer.

In the UK, when trains were pulled by steam engines or locomotives, the drivers were called engine drivers. Now trains are driven by train drivers. Nor are people who repair cars and washing machines engineers; they are skilled mechanics.

Engineers are usually graduates in their chosen field, whether civil, electrical, chemical, aeronautical or some other kind of engineering. Chartered engineers are members of their own professional institution, e.g. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Jon Doeringer
Date: 20 Aug 14 - 10:45 AM

'Engineer' has many meanings. My father was a 'stationary engineer'. Like a train engineer, without the tracks. From the 50's until he retired, he ran the big boilers and systems in plants and buildings. I assume it's still a profession. It did require a license, but no college, back then.
I used to play this song on my radio show, but was it by Peggy?
Found it - Willie Tyson. But this wasn't the version...
http://grooveshark.com/#!/search/song?q=Willie+Tyson+I%27m+Gonna+Be+An+Engineer

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 12:45 AM

But Some Encouragement for Women Engineers

(Peripheral to the music, of course.)

John (50 years SAE and ΣΞ, but not eligible for SWE)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 08 Sep 11 - 12:31 AM

What it's really like being an engineer

John

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: GUEST,Oz Childs
Date: 07 Sep 11 - 05:22 PM

I used to hear Frankie Armstrong sing that on her annual trip to Berkeley -- always brought down the house. She explained that in Britain, an "engineer" can be someone who works using an engine or machine -- i.e., a turret lathe. In the U.S., we call them machinists. A college degree is not needed, but you do need technical training.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 10:21 AM

It was on Frankie Armstrong's LP (which, I think, has never been released on CD) "Out of Love, Hope and Suffering" which is where I quasi-learned it from. (i.e. I can sing bits, but not the whole song.)

Linn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 06:25 AM

Or:

"Oh yes I'm gonna be an engineer again
With a monkey wrench, a socket set, swarfega in a tin.
Although carbolic soap & perfume
Never mask the smell of Benzene
Still I'm going to be an engineer again!"

If I could hear the verse in my head I might be tempted to go further, but I'm in work at the moment!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 05:40 AM

"Oh yes I'm gonna be an engineer again
With a monkey wrench, a socket set, swarfega in a tin.
I tell you lipstick, rouge & perfume
Never match the smell of Benzene
An' I'm going to be an engineer again!"



Sorry!

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seege
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 05:31 AM

Ok I found the link - it was at http://flyingfolk.org/ - but seems to not be there now - they had some very good stuff - anyone know what happened to them?

I found them back in Nov 2006.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seege
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Mar 10 - 05:22 AM

Found it - see 19 Nov 07 - 09:54 PM above

It was "The Flying Folk Army" - don't have the link - but a Google may find it, it is is still on the Web...

:-)

Subject: videos: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seeger)
From: Genie
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 06:06 PM

video of Peggy Seeger singing "I'm Gonna Be An Engineer"

Pete Seeger's version

Subject: Peggy and her brother
From: OtherDave
Date: 24 Mar 10 - 07:22 AM

It's Ada Lovelace Day, meant to honor women in science and technology, so I'm all the more pleased to have found Peggy herself singing this song on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCRRe72mwwY

And here's big brother Pete, some years earlier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgzl1Sai4Y0

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seege
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 20 Nov 07 - 03:47 AM

If I recall rightly, the set in New City Songster was described as "constructed by Peggy Seeger" - a little engineering note?

Jon Bartlett

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seege
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 09:54 PM

I'm not at home on my own PC at the moment, so I don't have the hard data - but some time ago - thru a link from Mudcat - I ended up at a site with some free downloads, and this song was on there with a bunch of modern young singers in a fairly large loose collecion of musos... sorry no more info at moment...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm Gonna Be an Engineer (Peggy Seege
From: retrancer
Date: 19 Nov 07 - 08:08 PM

thanks so much everyone. mudcat rules!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: peggy seeger engineer
From: oldhippie
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 06:00 PM

It's also on Bobbie McGee's LP "Bread & Raises".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: peggy seeger engineer
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 05:44 PM

It's also on Peggy's new "Period Piece" CD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: peggy seeger engineer
From: Irene M
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 03:22 PM

LP was called Different Therefore Equal.

PM me for any more info.

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M GONNA BE AN ENGINEER (Peggy Seeger)
From: bobad
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 08:51 AM

I'M GONNA BE AN ENGINEER
(Peggy Seeger)

When I was a little girl I wished I was a boy.
I tagged along behind the gang and wore my corduroys
Everybody said I only did it to annoy,
But I was gonna be an engineer.

Momma told me, “Can't you be a lady?
Your duty is to make me the mother of a pearl.
Wait until you're older, dear, and maybe
You'll be glad that you're a girl.”

Dainty as a Dresden statue,
Gentle as a Jersey cow,
Smooth as silk, gives creamy milk,
Learn to coo, learn to moo,
That's what you do to be a lady now.

When I went to school I learned to write and how to read
Some history, geography and home economy,
And typing is a skill that every girl is sure to need
To while away the extra time until the time to breed,
And then they had the nerve to say, “What would you like to be?”
I says, “I'm gonna be an engineer.”

“No, you only need to learn to be a lady
The duty isn't yours, for to try and run the world.
An engineer could never have a baby.
Remember, dear, that you're a girl.”

So I become a typist and I study on the sly,
Working out the day and night so I can qualify,
And every time the boss came in, he pinched me on the thigh,
Says, “I've never had an engineer.

“You owe it to the job to be a lady.
It's the duty of the staff for to give the boss a whirl.
The wages that you get are crummy, maybe,
But it's all you get ’cause you're a girl.

“She's smart (for a woman).
I wonder how she got that way.”
You get no choice. You get no voice.
Just stay mum. Pretend you're dumb.
That's how you come to be a lady today.

Then Jimmy came along and we set up a conjugation.
We were busy every night with loving recreation.
I spent my day at work so he could get his education,
And now he's an engineer.

He says, “I know you'll always be a lady.
It's the duty of my darling to love me all her life.
How could an engineer look after or obey me?
Remember, dear, that you're my wife.”

As soon as Jimmy got a job, I began again.
Then, happy at my turret-lathe a year or so, and then,
The morning that the twins were born, Jimmy says to them:
“Kids, your mother was an engineer.

“You owe it to the kids to be a lady,
Dainty as a dish rag, faithful as a chow.
Stay at home. You’ve got to mind the baby.
Remember you're a mother now.”

Every time I turn around, there's something else to do.
It's cook a meal or mend a sock or sweep a floor or two.
I listen in to Jimmy Young; it makes me want to spew.
I was gonna be an engineer.

Now I really wish that I could be a lady.
I could do the lovely things that a lady's s'posed to do.
I wouldn't nearly mind if only they would pay me,
And I could be a person too.

What price - for a woman?
You can buy her for a ring of gold,
To love and obey (without any pay).
You get a cook and a nurse, for better or worse.
No, you don't need a purse when a lady is sold.

But now that times are harder, and my Jimmy's got the sack.
I went down to Vickers, they were glad to have me back,
But I'm a third-class citizen; my wages tell me that,
And I'm a first-class engineer.

The boss he says, “We pay you as a lady.
You only got the job ’cause I can't afford a man.
With you I keep the profits high as may be.
You're just a cheaper pair of hands.

“You've got one fault: you're a woman.
You're not worth the equal pay.
A bitch or a tart, you're nothing but heart.
Shallow and vain, you got no brain.
You even go down the drain like a lady today.”

I listened to my mother and I joined a typing pool.
I listened to my lover and I put him through his school,
But if I listen to the boss, I'm just a bloody fool
And an underpaid engineer.

I've been a sucker ever since I was a baby:
As a daughter, as a wife, as a mother and a dear;
But I'll fight them as a woman, not a lady.
I'll fight them as an engineer.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: peggy seeger engineer
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 08:37 AM

The only "twist" I can think of is that throughout the whole song the refrain is that she wants to be an engineer (not the train variety) and then she gets married, supports her husband through higher education, and HE winds up being the engineer. The refrain in that verse is, "and now he's an engineer!"

It's a great song - Frankie Armstrong always made a wonderful job of it and has perhaps recorded it, not sure - but there must be others. I have a dim memory that Peggy herself did. I've got the words SOMEwhere among my Mt Everest of papers - if I can even find them! I'll keep an eye on this thread and if you get no joy I'll go a-digging, am at work at the moment so I can't.

It's a great idea to sing for your friend's daughter - hope you find it.

Subject: Lyr Req: peggy seeger engineer
From: retrancer
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 08:22 AM

a friends daughter is wanting to be an engineer and i wanted to get her a copyof the peggy seeger song "I wanna be an engineer". I looked at a couple of lyrics online but I am recalling a version that had a funny twist in that it was about being an engineer like a MIT engineer, not a railroad engineer - does that ring a bell (arrrggghhh) with anyone? Ideas on where to find a recording?

Thanks mudfolk!