# Lefty songs, Labour Songs ahoy!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 22, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393 "2009-01-22T02:10:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/1 "2009-01-22T02:10:37Z")
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](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=pW1MUpZT4ug&feature=related) - Christy Moore
[Solidarity Forever](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiKdJoSsb8)- Pete Seeger
[Between The Wars](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=yLQgkF_FsO4) - Billy Bragg
[The Red Flag](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=ovAfRU2oF8g)- Jim McConnell
[The Internationale (Billy Bragg Version)](http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk69e1Vcmvg) - Billy Bragg
---
### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/2 "2009-01-22T02:17:43Z")
I think you’ll appreciate [this](http://www.sovmusic.ru/english/index.php) then!
CMC fnord!
---
### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/3 "2009-01-22T02:25:18Z")
Thank you Comrade!
---
### Author:  [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/4 "2009-01-22T02:31:28Z")
[Working Class Hero](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TL6uZMw7oQ)? Green Day apparently covering John Lennon. I should probably be more familiar with Lennon, eh?
---
### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/5 "2009-01-22T02:56:10Z")
[Joe Hill](http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/joe-hill.html) - Phil Ochs.
---
### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/6 "2009-01-22T03:07:50Z")
[Universal Soldier](http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=QLzUNDaF00U) sung by Donovan, written by Buffy Sainte-Marie
---
### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/7 "2009-01-22T03:33:12Z")
Pretty much anything by Pete Seeger and the [Almanac Singers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almanac_Singers) is going to be very pro-labor and especially pro-union. Check out _[Talking Union](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_Union)_ for specific examples.
Robin
---
### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/8 "2009-01-22T04:41:22Z")
To add to the Pete Seeger lovin -
[Which Side Are You On](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iAIM02kv0g)
[We Shall Overcome](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnPVP23rzo&feature=related)
Moorsoldaten (Peat Bog Soldiers) (I can’t find Pete’s version, here’s a nice [German version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpzZDxI0H9Y), though. Interesting [English version here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAVIL7AoAt0&feature=related).)
I’m also fond of Mary Black’s [My Youngest Son Came Home Today](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXXndDLWWPs), and the whole family of songs that came before it.
More closely linked to the OP’s request: her [Men of Worth](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kKtg9ZcH3w).
I’d also like to add Jimmy Buffet’s [The Missionary](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We3iKMMY1Xc)
---
### Author:  [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/9 "2009-01-22T04:56:18Z")
Um every song written in the 60s?
---
### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/10 "2009-01-22T05:27:06Z")
I can’t believe I forgot this one: [Sixteen Tons](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIfu2A0ezq0), performed here by Tennessee Ernie Ford.
---
### Author:  [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/11 "2009-01-22T05:51:17Z")
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 . . .”
---
### Author:  [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/12 "2009-01-22T05:56:29Z")
[Labor song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNTpOnZqeUo).
😉
---
### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/13 "2009-01-22T06:03:35Z")
[“Maggie’s Farm”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnO2jwvaB5c&feature=related) - Bob Dylan.
---
### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/14 "2009-01-22T06:12:44Z")
[Union Maid](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Union_Maid.htm) by Woody Guthrie
(of course there’s a fair amount of his catalog that would qualify)
---
### Author:  [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/15 "2009-01-22T07:03:38Z")
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.
---
### Author:  [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/16 "2009-01-22T08:14:08Z")
[Dropkick Murphys](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropkick_Murphys) have a lot of songs that are left wing. They sing about labor unions and stuff.
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/17 "2009-01-22T08:50:06Z")
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](http://www.newmodelarmy.org/Lyrics/Charge.htm) and [My Country](http://www.newmodelarmy.org/Lyrics/MyCountry.htm)
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/18 "2009-01-22T08:54:54Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#):
>
> Shit, every Billy Bragg song ever written. I mean that in a good way.
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_.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/19 "2009-01-22T09:08:50Z")
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
---
### Author:  [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2009, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393/20 "2009-01-22T09:35:40Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg3iUQxLxcM)
Lisa Simpson
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lefty-songs-labour-songs-ahoy/482393.md?page=2)