In early September each year we celebrate Labor Day. Many in the United States consider Labor Day as simply the end of summer, forgetting the great contributions to our daily life that have occurred due to the efforts of the labor movement to organize the American workers. We will feature songs about organizations and occupations from Emma’s Revolution, Anne Feeney, Si Kahn, and Diana Jones, among others. Songs for a Labor Day celebration … this week on The Sing Out! Radio Magazine.

LISTEN:

Artist/”Song”/CD/Label

Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” (excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian
              Folkways
Three Bean Salad / “Field Assignment” / Acoustic Potluck / Self-produced
Windborne / “Which Side Are You On” / Song on the Times / Self-produced
Steeleye Span / “Blackleg Miner” / Back in Line / Shanachie
Pete Seeger / “He Lies in the American Land” / The Complete Bowdoin College Concert 1960
              / Smithsonian Folkways

Si Kahn / “Houses On the Hill” / Been a Long Time / Sliced Bread
John McCutcheon / “Laz’rus” / Stand Up! / Appalseed
Diana Jones / “Appalachia” / Coal Country Music / Heartwood
Hazel Dickens / “Coal Tatoo” / Coal Mining Women / Rounder
Three Bean Salad / “Red Bird-Second Shift” / Acoustic Potluck / Self-produced

Louie Fuller and Chorus / “Hopping Down in Kent” / Rhythms of Labor / Private
Cyril Tawney / “The Oggie Man” / Navy Cuts / ADA
The Furrow Collective / “The Cabin Boy” / Fathoms / Hudson

Willard Gayheart & Friends / “The Workin’” / At Home in the Blue Ridge / Blue Hens
Anne Feeney / “We Just Come to Work Here, We Don’t Come to Die” / Classic Labor Songs
              / Smithsonian Folkways
Emma’s Revolution / “Stand Together” / RPM / Moving Forward Music
Florence Reese / “Which Side Are You On?” / Coal Mining Women / Rounder
Pete Seeger / “If I Had A Hammer” (excerpt) / Songs of Hope and Struggle / Smithsonian
              Folkways