Songs about unions and workers you can learn with Fret Zealot

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May 1 is International Workers’ Day, a celebration of laborers and the working class around the world. 

Musicians and bands throughout time have shown their support for unions and working people through their songs. Here are some songs about workers that you can find tabs for in the Fret Zealot app. 

 

“Working Class Hero” – John Lennon 

John Lennon released this anthem about the differences between social classes in 1970 on his first album following the breakup of The Beatles. The song has been covered many times, including by Green Day, Ozzy Osbourne, and Marianne Faithful. 

 

“9 to 5” – Dolly Parton 

Country music legend Dolly Parton “poured herself a cup of ambition” with this late 1980 track, written for the film 9 to 5  starring Parton in her film debut. The film follows three working women taking on their company’s sexist vice president. The name of the song and the film come from the 9to5 organization, which was created in 1973 to advocate for fair pay for working women. 

 

“There is Power in a Union” –  Street Dogs 

Originally written and released by singer/songwriter and activist Billy Bragg in 1986, Street Dogs covered this pro-union song in 2006. 

 

“Working Man” – Rush 

Canadian band Rush’s 1974 song “Working Man” helped put them on the map in the United States, as the pro-working class song resonated with audiences in Cleveland, Ohio after getting radio play there. 

 

“Workin’ Man Blues” – Merle Haggard 

Released in 1969, “Workin’ Man Blues” pays tribute to the American blue collar worker, who made up a significant part of his fanbase in the late 1960s. 

 

 

“Sixteen Tons” – Johnny Cash 

Johnny Cash released his version of “Sixteen Tons” – a song about a Kentucky coal miner – in 1987. It was written by Merle Travis and recorded in 1946. 

Famous protest songs that you can learn with Fret Zealot

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Music has been used for protest for centuries – especially in America. According to the First Amendment Museum, some of the earliest protest songs in the United States were popular songs with altered lyrics to reflect the sentiments of the time, since there was no recording technology available. 

When radio, records, and other recording technology in the early 20th century helped bring popular music to the forefront of culture, music became an outlet for expressing protest against racism, sexism, war, pollution, and other systems. 

Here are some famous protest songs you can learn with Fret Zealot. 

 

Blowin’ in the Wind

One of legendary American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s best-known songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind” became one of the signature tracks of the 1960s and cultural revolution taking place among young people, including the protest against the Vietnam War. The music was derived from the African-American spiritual song, “No More Auction Block.” 

 

Sunday Bloody Sunday

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” is one of iconic Irish rock band U2’s signature songs, and it’s one of their most political songs. The lyrics are from the point of view of “the Troubles” in Northern Ireland, focusing on the “Bloody Sunday” event of 1972 when British military shot and killed unarmed protesters in Derry. 

 

Another Brick in the Wall, pt. 2 

Part of a three-part composition on Pink Floyd’s 1979 album The Wall, “Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2” is a a protest song against corporal punishment and rigid and abusive schooling. The song was used by Black students in South Africa to protest their education under apartheid, leading to the song and its album to be banned there in 1980. 

 

Buffalo Soldier

The term “Buffalo Soldier” refers to a member of the Black U.S. cavalry regiment known as the “Buffalo Soldiers, who fought in the Native American Wars (expanding American territories) after 1866. Those soldiers were given less than optimal supplies and even less recognition for their work. Bob Marley linked the fight of those soldiers to a fight for survival, and cast them as a symbol of Black resistance. 

 

Crazy Train 

While not a traditional protest song, the lyrics of “Crazy Train” reflect the Cold War and the pervasive fear of nuclear annihilation that defined that time period.