As some of you may know or care I harbour a warm love and regard for left wing songs. Regardless of political efficacy these songs rouse the spirit despite all those murdered in the name of similar ideals.
Viva La Quinta Brigada - Christy Moore
Solidarity Forever- Pete Seeger
Between The Wars - Billy Bragg
The Red Flag- Jim McConnell
The Internationale (Billy Bragg Version) - Billy Bragg
I think you’ll appreciate this then!
CMC fnord!
Thank you Comrade!
Working Class Hero? Green Day apparently covering John Lennon. I should probably be more familiar with Lennon, eh?
Joe Hill - Phil Ochs.
Universal Soldier sung by Donovan, written by Buffy Sainte-Marie
Pretty much anything by Pete Seeger and the Almanac Singers is going to be very pro-labor and especially pro-union. Check out Talking Union for specific examples.
Robin
To add to the Pete Seeger lovin -
Moorsoldaten (Peat Bog Soldiers) (I can’t find Pete’s version, here’s a nice German version, though. Interesting English version here.)
I’m also fond of Mary Black’s My Youngest Son Came Home Today, and the whole family of songs that came before it.
More closely linked to the OP’s request: her Men of Worth.
I’d also like to add Jimmy Buffet’s The Missionary
Um every song written in the 60s?
I can’t believe I forgot this one: Sixteen Tons, performed here by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
The Bum Song. I don’t know its proper name, but it goes: “Hallelujah, I’m a bum, hallelujah, bum again, hallelujah, give us a handout, to revive us again.” And, The Big Rock Candy Mountain: “Where the bulldogs all have rubber teeth, and the hens lay hard-boiled eggs . . . .there’s a lake of stew and of whiskey too, you can paddle all around in a big canoe . . .”
“Maggie’s Farm” - Bob Dylan.
Union Maid by Woody Guthrie
(of course there’s a fair amount of his catalog that would qualify)
Shit, every Billy Bragg song ever written. I mean that in a good way.
I recall that The Style Council and Communards were in Red Wedge with Billy in the 80s, but don’t know if they ever wrote songs that were labour-intensive.
Dropkick Murphys have a lot of songs that are left wing. They sing about labor unions and stuff.
Billy’s There Is Power In A Union.
New Model Army are good for some more … aggro anarcho-lefty songs, especially early on. Favourites include The Charge and My Country
Actually, Billy’s pretty evenly split between the politics and the kitchen sink. For every Intenationale or Price of Oil there’s a Valentine’s Day is Over or …New Brunette.
This Land Is Your Land – Woody Guthrie
Big Rock Candy Mountain – Harry McClintock
John Henry The Steel Driving Man
Allentown – Billy Joel
The Bruce Sprintsteen catalog
Eve of Destruction – Barry McGuire
Lisa Simpson
