Monday is the start of the weekly grind is a phenomenon to which I have had to acclimatize in the last few months. The term is accurate, the relentlessness of the five day week is such that it can only be called attrition. So for this Music Monday I let’s embrace that. A certain tune by Dolly Parton does suggest itself, but, precisely for that reason, it seems all to easy.
Queen – I Want To Break Free (1984)
Dressed in a frock and armed with a vacuum hoover, Freddie Mercury may not be articulating the strife of the working day. In fact in the setting of the video is accenting the domestic incarceration of women in the ‘traditional’ household. Still, it is not much of a leap: it’s a hop. I have walked around the workplace, glancing at the clock, gleefully singing this song in an attempt to stave off boredom, anger, madness. In fact I have laughed with colleges, who were unknowingly doing the same, to the same end.
Be it an ill-socialised member of the public, computer fault, broken equipment, this ditty may be the pick-me-up that prevents that prevents circumstance getting the better of you.
Sam Cooke – Chain Gang (1960)
Chain Gang is a song that describes a plight many of us have thankfully never experienced. Menial labour in appalling conditions was intended as a form of punitive measure and deterrent. Yet the only response from Sam Cooke is compassion. The pathos of the piece is perhaps most impressive in light of who, or what, prisoners; walled-off from a society that demonises them, prisoners are in effect free people to hate or disregard as human beings. It is not merely that prison is a repository for ‘undesirables’ but that criminals themselves are repositories of contemporary social fears anxiety and misplaced vitriol. Cooke nonrecognition of human suffering as such is striking in its observation and humanity even now – keep in mind this was released in 1960.
The Sonics – Money (1965)
The prime motivation for any job you don’t like. The lyrics are basic the music unfussy, which probably why you can shake you can dance with easy abandon. It discloses a harsh truth, but owns the truth. Interesting about the band is that it marks a cross over from the popular music of the 1960s to the 1970s. The sound is reminiscent of the Beatles and yet as a bite that anticipates the Sex Pistols, though of course their notoriety far exceeded that of The Sonics.
All the same, the song sets the shoulder to wheel and get you to where you want to go, even if it’s just till the end of your shift.
Bob Dylan – Maggie’s Farm (1965)
1965 was a good year for music!
Over the years Dylan has attracted an aura that often seems cult-like; people talk about how they never felt alone because they had Bob Dylan, he understood. Listening to it even now, Maggie’s Farm seems quint-essential in forming that impression.
Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (2001)
Jump forward nearly 40 years we come to Daft Punk. The song on its own tells of a reluctance over-work. For those in the grind that is the first rule: don’t do more than you have to. The resent you feel toward your employer is such that doing more than you have to does not bear thinking about. However, accompanied by the video, the song takes a wry look at music industry exploitation, with a sci-fi twist. .
City High – What Would You Do (2001)
Same year; much heavier content. The song tells of a single mother who has turned to prostitution to support herself and her young son. It is surprising that a song detailing such a harsh truth in such stark terms was recorded at all, never mind being the most most successful City High song to date. You might well nod your head to this tune on your way to work, but it is go
Hozier – Work Song (2014)
And up to present day. The song, despite its name, isn’t really about work. That is, it not really concerned with work as far as lyrics go, bu the structure, the form recalls work songs that would be sung by field workers. The reference to the beloved, sin, the hereafter are all tropes that define a genre of songs sung while workers were hard at the tasks of the field. While many will perhaps know this number it is new to me, but be assured I’ll be whistling this to myself for some time yet, in work or not.
If any of these songs have brightened any of your working days, you may consider this writer pleased.
