Labor Movement Love songs

labor movement AND THE SONGS WITHIN

Here is a pretty great website I used in my last paper written on Billy Joel's "Allentown". The song was written in response to the labor crisis and the economic desparity of the 70's and 80's. The song had always been a favorite of mine.

Well were living here in Allentown

And they’re closing all the factories down

Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time

Filling out forms

Standing in line
Well our fathers fought the second world war

Spent their weekends on the jersey shore

Met our mothers in the U.S.O.

Asked them to dance

Danced with them slow
And were living here in Allentown

But the restlessness was handed down

And its getting very hard to stay

Well were waiting here in Allentown

For the Pennsylvania we never found

For the promises our teachers gave

If we worked hard

If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall

But they never really helped us at all

No they never taught us what was real

Iron and coke

And chromium steel

And were waiting here in Allentown

But they’ve taken all the coal from the ground

And the union people crawled away
Every child had a pretty good shot

To get at least as far as their old man go

tBut something happened on the way to that place

They threw an American flag in our face

Well I’m living here in Allentown

And its hard to keep a good man down

But I won’t be getting up today

And its getting very hard to stay

And were living here in Allentown
(Here is a link to youtube to see the video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aqApW2Rrbhk)

I thought the site was great about it's analyzation and dissection of protest songs. It details the history of the protest song and it's uses and metamorphasis through time.
And, although this is a pop song, at the time it was considered and historically it is still, a protest song. Albeit a a popular one.
Here is the site, I am sure you will see how profound it is: http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/lsf/richm23.htm