The Fall//Fit and Working Again, American Analog Set//We're Computerizing And We Just Don't Need You Anymore

Two sweet songs to whistle while you work (or get downsized): get a job, kid.

So, a stomach flu put me in my girlfriend's (bless her heart) bed all day yesterday, alternately watching episodes of The L Word on her computer, vomiting into a pot (this is a horribly sad scene, isn't it?) and very much NOT working, which is why you get two songs about working today.

The Fall are punk/post-punk legends, having been around in some capacity since 1976, and now having released 27 studio albums. That is seriously putting in some work. This song comes from 1982's Slates.

The AmAnSet song is from one of my favorite albums, Known by Heart. I think the name of the song says it all. And sadly, in the current economy, might be the most relevant of all the songs this week.

Sorry this is short and sweet. I'm still not exactly fit and working again myself. Working on it. Work it, I need a glass of water. No, really.



Fit and Working Again.mp3




We're Computerizing And We Just Don't Need You Anymore.mp3

I saw the recession around Victoria Station.
I'm fit and working again.
Gimme the sun.
I'm fit and working again
And I feel like Alan Minter.
I just ate eight sheets of blotting paper
And I tripped out on the Alka Seltzer,
Cause I'm fit and working again.


Hope you've had a great work week. Enjoy the weekend and please, take it easy. Monday's just a few days away.

The Band//King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

You’re in a class of your own: the working class.

My dad always used to say that to me, once I got my first job. Actually, come to think of it, he still says it to me. My dad also used to sing along in a spirited manner with this song, pumping it loud through the living room.

Now that I’m really looking back, seems like The Band has been a family favorite for quite some time. I was down at my Uncle Mark’s house last year and we all sat around on the couch and watched The Last Waltz. My family’s alright.

This one’s about the union and it totally rocks harder than a cheap beer and a shot in a good-ol’-boy bar. That guitar tone on the long winding solo is kicking serious ass, just like the dry summer kicked the ass of the crops of the poor farmer who narrates this song. An expertly crafted narrative on work, fortune and class in America (even though The Band was from Canada?), noted rock critic Greil Marcus called it "The Band's song of blasted country hopes" and suggested that "King Harvest" might be Robertson's finest song, and the best example of the group's approach to songwriting and performing, says Wikipedia.

A little trivia: The Band started out as Bob Dylan’s backup band during his tumultuous switch to electric tour from ’65 to ’66.



King Harvest (Has Surely Come).mp3

I work for the union,
‘Cause she’s so good to me;
And I’m bound to come out on top,
That’s where she said I should be.
I will hear every word the boss may say,
For he’s the one who hands me down my pay.
Looks like this time I’m gonna get to stay,
I’m a union man, now, all the way.


Labor Fact: The origins of unions' existence can be traced from the eighteenth century, where the rapid expansion of industrial society drew women, children, rural workers, and immigrants to the work force in larger numbers and in new roles. Unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of medieval Europe. Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members' livelihoods through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship and the progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and eventually to master and grandmaster of their craft. A labor union might include workers from only one trade or craft, or might combine several or all the workers in one company or industry.

The Replacements//Bad Worker

Recession or not, work is lame. We’re celebrating/commiserating/job-hunting with you during this full Work Week on OSS.

I’m not sure if we were hanging out together back then, but if we were, you probably remember the moment when I got totally out-of-control obsessed with The Replacements. Yeah, that definitely happened.

Well, the buzz didn’t fade that quick, because I’m still real into them kinda bad. Also bad? Paul Westerberg’s work ethic, apparently.

This is a simple song about a simple concept: shit jobs. These are the jobs you get that suck the absolute most – summer jobs, high school jobs, service industry bottom-of-the-barrel that you end up in when you’re ambitionless and drunk all the time, or when the economy is so craptastical that you can’t find anything better. Some examples: the box office at the movie theater, a clerk at Blockbuster (I had both of these), the school janitor, the medical orderly, fast food anything, the grocery checkout or the barista. They often have something to do with cleaning or food or both, and they almost always involve people treating you like a second (or third, or fourth) class citizen. You barely ever get any kind of decent compensation, benefits or any real personal reward for this type of work—but the upside is that these jobs are almost always available and often do not stretch the brain much. If you’re Westerberg, this means you have more time to think about writing brilliant Replacements lyrics…or making it with a customer. Hot.

This breed of job blows way more than your average job, so if you happen to be stuck in one of these, I’d highly suggest downloading this one, memorizing the lyrics and signing them to yourself in particularly ridiculous situations…like when coffee spills on some lady’s dress and she threatens to sue you….or when your boss asks you to work your third double of the week. Up with OSS; damn the man.



Bad Worker.mp3

Get them fingerprints off of my neck.
I’m sure you haven't cleaned in the office yet.
Finish that cigarette on your own damn time.
Worked so hard I ain't got any,
Pocket full of dimes, quarters or a penny

Cause I'm a bad worker.
My father would be ashamed.
I'm a bad, bad worker.
I give you minimum effort for a minimum wage.


Labor Fact: According to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently 14.9 million people who are unemployed in the US, and the unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage point to 9.7 percent in August.

Nina Simone//Work Song

Happy Labor Day! I hope you aren't laboring too much. Since we like to push boundaries here at OSS, let's take this to the next level. Work sucks. Work hurts. Fuck Labor Day--it's Work Week, workers of the world.

Guess who gave us Labor Day? You are never going to get it. CANADA! I know, seriously...do they ALWAYS have to be right up there? Anyway, they had this thing called the "nine-hour movement" in the early 1870s which protected unions and striking and all that good shit. This dude Peter J. McGuire witnessed an event associated with the movement and came back to America with the idea of Labor Day, which he actually made happen in 1882. THANKS, Pete. We are enjoying your hard work even now in 2009 on this extra Monday off.

While the holiday started as a way to recognize and applaud the spirit and badassness of the American worker, at this point it's predictably just become the weekend that ends the summer for us. That said, just because we don't make anything here any more, doesn't mean we don't work. The average American works about 93, 600 hours from the ages 20 to 65. That's a lot of hours, guys. So no surprise that there are tons of songs about working. I'm rounding up the very best for you this week.

I thought we could kickoff the week with a song called "Work Song." This song was written by Nat Adderly ( I think--info on this song is actually kind of hard to come by) and performed here by American legend, Nina Simone. This song is about the worst kind of work--that done on a chain gang as a punishment/prison sentence. This was hard unpaid physical labor and what's worse, in the case of our narrator, the crime was "being hungry and poor." I'm sure you can connect the rest of the dots.



Work Song.mp3

Heard the judge say five years
On the chain gang you gonna go.
Heard the judge say five years labor
and my old man screaed, "lordy no!"


Labor Quiz: What's your job and do you like it? Answer in the comments.