# Songs about poverty
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 25, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126 "2006-05-25T02:54:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/21 "2006-05-25T06:20:55Z")
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me 'cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
---
### Author:  [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/22 "2006-05-25T06:33:28Z")
_Streets Of London_ by Ralph McTell.
“Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of london
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She’s no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags”
---
### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/23 "2006-05-25T07:05:34Z")
Any number of songs by Woody Guthrie including:
-[“Pastures of Plenty”](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Pastures_Of_Plenty.htm)
-[“Tom Joad”](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Tom_Joad.htm)
-[“Dust Can’t Kill Me”](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Dust_Cant_Kill_Me.htm)
-[“I Ain’t Got No Home”](http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/I_Aint_Got_No_Home.htm)
Also, along the same lines, is “The Ghost of Tom Joad” by Bruce Springsteen and covered by Rage Against the Machine.
---
### Author:  [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/24 "2006-05-25T07:13:34Z")
“Coal Miner’s Daughter” by Loretta Lynn. (Actually, a few of her songs would work).
“Eat the Rich” by Krokus (I think; some 80s metal band in any case).
---
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/25 "2006-05-25T07:32:31Z")
[Molly Malone](http://ingeb.org/songs/indublin.html) (though it’s hard to get an accordion into the shower).
---
### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/26 "2006-05-25T07:51:27Z")
“Sleeping on the Sidewalk” by Queen. More like a “rags to riches to rags” song.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/27 "2006-05-25T07:53:38Z")
She was poor, but she was honest
Pure unstained was her name
Till the local squire came courting
And the poor girl lost her name
It’s the same the ‘ole world over
It’s the poor what gets the blame
And the rich what gets the gravy
Ain’t it all a cryin’ shame
---
### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/28 "2006-05-25T08:20:54Z")
“The theatre” by the Pet Shop Boys:
_And then pretend not to notice
All the years we’ve been here
We’re the bums you step over
As you leave the theatre
In the end you pretend
Because it’s so much easier
We’re the bums you step over
As you leave the theatre_
---
### Author:  [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/29 "2006-05-25T08:40:23Z")
“Father Christmas” by The Kinks.
---
### Author:  [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/30 "2006-05-25T09:04:56Z")
“What It’s Like” by Everlast
> [@](#):
>
> We’ve all seen a man at the liquor store beggin’ for your change
> The hair on his face is dirty, dread-locked, and full of mange
> He asks the man for what he could spare, with shame in his eyes
> “Get a job you fucking slob,” is all he replies
> God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
> 'Cause then you really might know what it’s like to sing the blues
---
### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/31 "2006-05-25T09:58:49Z")
She calls out to the man on the street, sir, can you help me?
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep, is there somewhere you can tell me
He walks on, doesn’t look back, he pretends he can’t hear her
He starts to whistle as he crosses the street, seems embarassed to be there
Oh, think twice, it’s just another day for you and me in paradise
---
### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/32 "2006-05-25T11:04:41Z")
Dolly Parton’s **Coat of Many Colors** fits the bill.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slip\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slip_1)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/33 "2006-05-25T11:57:37Z")
Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
[la da dee la da da](http://www.top40db.net/Lyrics/?SongID=91045&By=Title&Match=Gypsy+Woman+(She's+Homeless))
---
### Author:  [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/34 "2006-05-25T12:36:00Z")
_100 Years_ by Blues Traveler. First verse + chorus:
The sun is warm as the day is long
I just got the feeling I can do no wrong
I’ve got a long way to walk
Can’t afford my next meal
I tell a few lies but my hunger is real
And it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years
No, it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years
Gorgeous song, too, btw.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/35 "2006-05-25T12:49:32Z")
“Skid Row” from **Little Shop of Horrors**
“How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live” and “One Meat Ball” (“You gets no bread with one meatball!”), both covered by Ry Cooder
“When the Levee Breaks,” more the older Memphis Minnie version than Led Zep.
“Canned Heat Blues” and a lot of the songs on [this site](http://www.publicdomain4u.com/index.html)
---
### Author:  [@Twotwofive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twotwofive)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/36 "2006-05-25T12:56:15Z")
_I Got You Babe_ - Sonny & Cher (“they say our love won’t pay the rent, etc”)
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/37 "2006-05-25T13:23:34Z")
**"Money Honey" - Elvis Presley** :
\*You know, the landlord rang my front door bell.
I let it ring for a long, long spell.
I went to the window,
I peeped through the blind,
And asked him to tell me what’s on his mind.
He said,
Money, honey.
Money, honey.
Money, honey, if you want to get along with me.\*
---
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/38 "2006-05-25T13:25:53Z")
Times are bum and getting bummer,
Still, [we got fun](http://www.341stbombgroup.org/music/aint-we-got-fun.htm)!
---
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/39 "2006-05-25T13:26:36Z")
**"Everything’s OK" - Hank Williams:**
\*The hogs took the cholera and they’ve all done died
The bees got mad - and they left the hive
The weevils got the corn and the rain rotted the hay
But - we’re still a-livin’ - so EVER’THING’S Okay.
The porch rotted down - that’s more expense
The durned old mule - he tore down the fence
The mortgage is due and - I can’t pay
But - we’re still a-livin’ - so EVER’THING’S Okay.\*
---
### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-poverty/358126/40 "2006-05-25T13:34:30Z")
**Country Death Song** - Violent Femmes. Okay, more about death than poverty, but it was motivated by poverty.
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