For Labor Day, I invoke James Taylor's "Millworker"

* * * * *

Now my grandfather was a sailor
He blew in off the water
My father was a farmer
And I, his only daughter,
Took up with a no-good millworking man
From Massachusetts
Who dies from too much whiskey
And leaves me these three faces to feed

Now millwork ain't easy
Millwork ain't hard
Millwork it ain't nothing
But an awful boring job
Now I'm waiting for a daydream
To take me through the morning
And put me in my coffee break
Where I can have a sandwich
And remember

And then it's me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
For the rest of the afternoon
For the rest of my life

Now my mind begins to wander
To the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me
Swinging on his arm
I can hear my granddad's stories
Of the storms out on Lake Erie
Where vessels and cargos and fortunes
And sailors' lives were lost

Yes, but it's my life has been wasted
And I have been the fool
To let this manufacturer
Use my body for a tool
I can ride home in the evening
Staring at my hands
Swearing by my sorrow that a young girl
Ought to stand a better chance

So may I work the mills just as long as I am able
And never meet the man whose name is on the label

And then it's me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
For the rest of the afternoon
Gone -- for the rest of my life

* * * * *

A WONDERFUL invocation, OC. Thank you!

weary but noble soul in that song.

We don't know her name exactly, but there are very likely many of her over the last 200-some years of our country.

The "Millworker" lives today, except she works at Burger King, making French fries in a 98-degree room.

all sides, a 2 or 3-transfer bus ride home to young ones. Same soul.

I haven't heard Midler's recording of it but have heard Bruce Springsteen's jarring, edgy recording. There's more (understandable) anger in the Springsteen recording than in the original.

I think Studs Terkel used the song in his play WORKING. It might even have been written for it, not sure.

it soothes me - his voice is something else.

Allentown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K62DdoFoNeg

Industrial Disease
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlAPDQdHqCY (TURN IT WAAAY UP !)

also, rent the video Matewan and read about the Ludlow Massacre too.

And you've put some mighty powerful stuff on the boards with those recs, too.

MATEWAN is an American masterwork.

Bravo.

Album Copperline has some good stuff on it remeniscent of that Millworker song too.

of the era and time of "Millworker," connecting to the line in "Millworker" that goes "...Now my grandfather was a sailor..."

A bit of a reach, but musically they seem like close cousins.

I've seen James Taylor in a handful of places -- Tanglewood and others -- but never in Berkeley as you have. My hunch is he played before a very appreciative audience.

:hi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXao04yBJ9I

someone guesses this is around 1978

:hi:

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfzJOASSMj8

:hi:

crack me up and I laugh til my skull rattles at the purple and green plutonium throbbing images you come up with of Bush and Rove and Rice and that whole crew.

Tonight you're stopping me cold with these images in these photographs. You are stopping me cold. Absolutely tremendous photographs. And that time was not all that long past, either.

My hat's off, sir.

Thank you.

Your post sparked my interest in the history child labor practices in the USA. When I was a boy, I used to stare at these and other photos for hours. I wondered about those other children and felt sad for them.





















... and of course, there are other parts of the world to consider regarding present day child labor:

these photographs.

Our country and in other places on the globe.

Yes.

The next U.S. president needs to be the kind of person like you who looked as a child into the faces in these pictures and let them strike way in, full force.

Because it would be that kind of president who would have rescued New Orleans citizens, who would have disallowed torture.

We don't have a president like that now. We need a president like that soon.

When I hear people say things like that, I can only think:

How dare they?

10- and 12-year old daughters and sons home with them, they might want to re-evaluate their consideration for organized labor.