History Main / WorkingClassAnthem

''Knows I got this man, cause I'm on the case''\\

* "Proletariat Blues" by Blue Scholars discusses inequality between employer and employee regardless of whatever job you find, using HipHop and {{Rap}} as a form of escapism.

* “[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnmi35AjOow Stan Rogers’ White Collar Holler]]” presents a semi-satirical song from the point of view of a computer coder.

''Yeah, after all these years, I'm still burning on this road''\\

''Yeah, after all these years, I'm still burning on this road
I'm willing, ready, rock solid, I keep steady
This big chip on my shoulder, and this grin upon my face
Knows I got this man, cause I'm on the case''

* "Working Man" by Music/Rush qualifies.

* The TropeCodifier is "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis (made popular with the Music/TennesseeErnieFord version), a song about the day-to-day of a working class man who's laborious job is a constant cycle of paying of debts and feeding back into the very business they give their lives to.

* "Proletariat Blues" by Blue Scholars discusses inequality between employer and employee regardless of whatever ob you find, using HipHop and {{Rap}} as a form of escapism.
* Music/BonJovi's "Living on a Prayer" offers a sort-of optimism to folks in a similar situation (Bon Jovi also being from New Jersey):

-->Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living\\
Barely gettin' by, it's all taking and no giving\\
They just use your mind and they never give you credit\\
It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it!\\
9 to 5, for service and devotion\\
You would think that I would deserve a fair promotion\\
Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me\\
I swear sometimes that man is out to get me!

* [[Music/DollyParton Dolly Parton's]] "9 to 5" is basically an ode about thankless dead end jobs:

Much like the EarthSong, the Working Class Anthem is the type of song with a political agenda. In this case, it criticizes the economic conditions of the time, usually written and sung for and by the working class at the expense of the rich and powerful. Such topics mentions include: low-wages, terrible working conditions, {{Bad Boss}}es that either abuse or are apathetic to the very laborers that give them their fortune, environmental degradation caused by big industry, wage-slavery, debt, the Military-Industrial Complex, private prisons, no bathroom breaks and a whole host of other problems caused by an exploitative system.

* ''Theatre/SweetCharity'': "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" shows Charity and her friends resolving to find a way out of their dead-end taxi dancer jobs. [[spoiler: Charity is the only one who comes close to succeeding by marrying up, but her fiance breaks up with her when he realizes he can't handle her past.]]

[[folder: Theatre]]

->''We work. To earn the right to work''
->''To earn the right to work''
->''To earn the right to work''
->''To earn the right to work''
->''To earn the right to give''
->''Ourselves the rights to buy''
->''Ourselves the right to live''
->''To earn the right to die.''

* ''Film/Newsies'': In contrast to the JobSong "Carrying the Banner" that starts the film, "Seize the Day" and "The World Will Know" depict the newsboys resolving to strike against Pulitzer and Hearst for fairer treatment.
-->''When you got a hundred voices singin'\
Who can hear a lousy whistle blow?''

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Parodied on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' with "[[https://youtu.be/lK0Lp43a8z0 Corporate Nightmare Song]]", where four {{Emo}} employees in an office job start out complaining about the "working stiff" lifestyle, until one by one they're all won over by it.

[folder:Theatre]]
* ''

--> ''All the customers are buying.''
--> ''(How ba-a-a-ad can I be?) And the money's multiplying.''
--> ''(How ba-a-a-ad can I be?) And the PR people are lying.''
--> ''(How ba-a-a-ad can I be?) And the lawyers are denying.''
--> ''(How ba-a-a-ad can I be?) Who cares if a few trees are dying?''
--> ''(How ba-a-a-ad can I be?) This is all so gratifying.''
--> ''How bad.''
--> ''How bad can this possibly be!?''

-->''The next place of employment's no better than this''
-->''My first day thinking this some fuckin' "Office Space" shit''
-->''But not me boss, these conditions ain't suitable''
-->''Hide the pen and pad, writing rhymes in a cubicle''
-->''Automated phone click, dial tone, phone calling''
-->''Hoping for some gullible folks to take the offer''
-->''A mission for commission, tuition for college''
-->''"Please put our number on your do not call list"''
-->''Half the whole staff graduated with honors''
-->''And you're trying to tell me telemarketing's your best job option?''

-->''Tommy used to work on the docks, union's been on strike''
-->''He's down on his luck, it's tough, so tough''
-->''Gina works the diner all day working for her man''
-->''She brings home her pay, for love, for love''

--> ''All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.''
--> ''We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.''
--> ''It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.''
--> ''While the union makes us strong.''

-->''A big ol' pile of shiiiii...ft work''

-->''Now I got them''
-->''[=Steadily depressin'=]''
-->''[=Low-down mind messin'=]''
-->''Working at the car wash blues.''

--> ''Your desire for free will is unproductive''
--> ''Your frustration with your life is irrelevant''
--> ''Work yourself down to the bone to produce nothing''
--> ''Give yourself unto the system till you die''

-->''Well, I've worked among the spinners, and I breathe the oily smoke.''
-->''I've shovelled up the gypsum and it nigh on makes you choke.''
-->''I've stood knee deep in cyanide, got sick with a caustic burn.''
-->''Been workin' rough, I've seen enough to make your stomach turn!''
-->''And it's go boys, go,''
-->''They'll time your every breath,''
-->''And every day you're in this place''
-->''You're two days nearer death,''
-->''But you go...''

--> ''Most of my Latino and black people who are struggling to get food''
--> ''Clothes and shelter in the hood, are so concerned with that''
--> ''That philosophising about freedom and socialist democracy''
--> ''Is usually unfortunately beyond their rationale''
--> ''They don't realize that America can't exist''
--> ''Without separating them from their identity''
--> ''Because if we had some sense of who we really are''
--> ''There's no way in hell we'd allow this country to push''
--> ''It's genocidal consensus on our homelands''
--> ''This ignorance exists, but it can be destroyed''

--> ''To be poor is a crime, whoa well''
--> ''Woman haffi know dat inna dis ya time''
--> ''I'm tired of be pushed around''
--> ''Won't Jah help me to get off the ground''
--> ''They want to see me go down''
--> ''It's really hard for some of us to stay around''

--> ''Well, that foreman, he's a regular dog''
--> ''The line boss, he's a fool''
--> ''He got a brand new flat top haircut''
--> ''Lord, he thinks he's cool''
--> ''One of these days I'm gonna blow my top''
--> ''And that sucker, he's gonna pay''
--> ''Lord, I can't wait to see their faces''
--> ''When I get the nerve to say''
--> ''Take this job and shove it''
--> ''I ain't workin' here no more.''

-->''My paycheck's not big enough to wipe my tears...''

-->''9 to 5, for service and devotion''
-->''You would think that I would deserve a fair promotion''
-->''Want to move ahead but the boss won't seem to let me''
-->''I swear sometimes that man is out to get me''

-->''Baby there's nights when I dream of a better world''
-->''But I wake up so downhearted girl''
-->''I see you feeling so tired and confused''
-->''I wonder what it's worth to me or you''

-->''Be faithful and pray''
-->''We'll repay what you invest''
-->''Behave as you slave''
-->''For humanity's interest''

--> ''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.''

-->''We are the working dead''
-->''And we lurch for minimum wage''
-->''But I'd really rather be''
-->''Eating your brain!''