Work and Sing: A History of Occupational and Labor Union Songs in the United States
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.11 (698 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0974412481 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 208 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-09-03 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
In this wide-ranging and accessible survey of American labor songs, Ronald D. Cohen chronicles the history behind the work songs of cowboys, sailors, hoboes, and others, as well as the singing culture of groups ranging from the Industrial Workers of the World to Pete Seeger's "People's Songs." He discusses protest songs, the links between labor songs and the Left, the importance of labor song leaders such as Joe Glazer, labor musicals and songsters, and the folk music movement from Lead Belly and the Al
"Recommended."--Choice
An excellent narrative on the history of collecting labor songs The Bible tells us to encourage ourselves with the signing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Workers have, if nothing else, been following that dictum ever since. Richard Cohen, in his essay, attempts to walk the reader through the stories of a collection of various groups of songs, and in doing so, gives us glimpses of America's past while in many ways, lamenting our current state.His focus is not on the origins of the songs but on the collection of them; however, even in doing this he provides a narrative of how those songs came to be and what role t