Post a song about working for a living
- Thread starter Kinnick.At.Night
- Start date
And a great recent cover by Albert Cummings:
A
anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r
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The album's title track, "Blue Sky Mine," tells the story of Wittenoom, in Western Australia. Now a ghost town, the area had found previous success as a major supplier of asbestos, even after companies had learned of the health risks associated with using the product.
If I work all day in the Blue Sky Mine, there'll be food on the table tonight.
In the 1960s, the mine boomed and the town was incorporated by the CSR Limited Corporation – Colonial Sugar Refining Company – and its subsidiary Australian Blue Asbestos. "If the sugar refining company won't save me, who's gonna save me?" However, soon tragedy struck.
Between the end of World War II and the late 1960s, thousands upon thousands of workers, government officials, and their families (as well as tourists) were exposed to lethal levels of asbestos and developed fatal diseases, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. CSR ignored the health department warnings and continued operating the mine until the lawsuits and court cases became more financially damaging than the mine was profitable.
And the company takes what the company wants.
The judge ruled against the company, claiming they acted with "continuing, conscious and contumelious" disregard for its workers' safety. The punitive rewards for the victims would be of little consolation.
By 2020, about 35 percent of all people who passed through the town during the mines' operation will be diagnosed with a fatal disease – approximately 2,000 cases. However, as of 1990, only about 300 workers had been compensated, a mere 11 percent of everyone affected. Wittenoom had become the single greatest industrial disaster ever to befall the land down under.
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Oops!
I see that drew_hawk came right out of the chute with a South Park version.
I am leaving it though because I love the ZZ Top version.
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Sixteen Tons ... updated here by ZZ Top:
Oops!
I see that drew_hawk came right out of the chute with a South Park version.
I am leaving it though because I love the ZZ Top version.
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Sixteen Tons ... updated here by ZZ Top:
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I think this old standard works. It's more about the lifestyle and required commitment to being a working man than about the actual physical toil.
From Robertt Burns:
From Robertt Burns:
