Zevon Song of the Week #19
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Social Commentary
Tomorrow is Labor Day in the U.S. and Canada, so what better song for
today and this week than The Factory, Warren's anti-paean to the life
of the working man and woman.
According to Wikipedia (my new Internet best friend along with Google),
Labor Day can be traced back to a parade organized by the Knights of
Labor on September 5, 1882 in New York City. The Knights were inspired
by an annual labor parade held in Toronto (Canada's socialist
tendencies apparently manifested themselves shortly after
Confederation). Unlike the relatively activist May Day holiday, Labor
Day has evolved into a simple day of rest, replete with picnics and
barbecues and water activities. It also marks the boundary for
school-age kids between summer vacation and the (usually) dreaded
return to the classroom.
However, there are no picnics in Warren's song. The title might just
as easily have been the same as that of the Dickens novel, Bleak House.
I don't know where Warren got the idea, whether he was inspired by
one of Springsteen's songs as some have suggested, but he paints a
picture of the life of a wage slave that almost reminds us of Charlton
Heston being scourged while pulling the oars in of the Roman ship in
the film version of Ben-Hur.
The song's hero is in his early twenties, married with one child and
another on the way, working six days a week, from sunrise to sunset, in
the factory. There may be other stuff going on his life, but it's
transcended by the demands of his job. No mushy-headed notions of
"job satisfaction" for this poor guy (and his wife), just the
endless demands of the bosses ("Yes sir! No sir! WORK!!"),
signified by the shrill cry of the factory whistle heard every morning.
The musicians backing Warren on the song are the three R.E.M. boys,
doing their usual excellent job. A case can be made that Sentimental
Hygiene is Warren's most musically upbeat album; if so, Buck, Mills,
and Berry are a major part of that. On most of the songs, with the
obvious exceptions of Reconsider Me and The Heartache, Warren seems to
be almost jumping out of his skin with enthusiasm for what he's
singing about. Perhaps he was just happy to be back in the studio after
his time in Detox Mansion.
Regardless, in my opinion the song is made truly special by the only
studio collaboration with Warren by a pretty good singer-songwriter
himself, one Bob Dylan. For those of you who don't take to Dylan's
unique singing style (I am NOT in that group), this is your song,
because what he contributes here is the sterling harmonica work that
provides the bluesy underpinnings to the factory workers' plight. The
atmosphere is stark, achingly so, and Dylan's harmonica really
captures it.
Some interesting trivia about The Factory:
- Warren has the song's hero address us twice, once as "cousin"
and once as "Johnny". No trace of the ubiquitous Jim.
- In the song's final verse, Warren enumerates various products that
factory workers might be churning out, e.g., cars, polyvinyl chloride,
whatever. One of the products he mentions is asbestos. One has to
wonder if fifteen years before his mesothelioma diagnosis Warren knew
about what asbestos could do.
- In one of the most hilarious bits in the song, Warren's hero says
he and his wife would kill each other if only they weren't rushing to
work!
It's not all gloom, though-at least the factory has a good medical
plan.
Now, all of you, have a great Labor Day weekend, what's left of it.
Then, back to WORK!!
Categories to date
--------------------------
Addiction and Recovery: 2
Cover: 1
Family: 1
Geopolitical: 1
Law and Order: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 3
Mortality: 2
Satire: 2
Social Commentary: 5
Sports: 1
susan
of the Week posts, even if I don't always say so publicly.
I think The Factory qualifies as Satire maybe as much as it fits in the
Social Commentary category.
a couple days ago, I was telling my oldest son how infinitely cool it
was that Bob Dylan played harmonica, only, on this song. I'll be
taking another one of my sons to see Dylan in Denver next month, the
one who also likes Zevon quite a bit.
I thought you might be interested in one of the spoken intros to
Springsteen's Factory that he delivered in 1978. Now, that was a
commentary on a very personal socio-economic reality:
25.08.78 New Haven, CT, intro to ´Factory´
´´I grew up in this small town, it was about 10,000
people....uh....and I used to see my old man twice a day....once was at
night when I´d come in....he´d be sitting in the dark at the kitchen
table with a six-pack of beer, smoking a cigarette....and I always
remember in the morning, my bedroom was out over the backyard
and....I´d hear him at 6 a.m....popping the hood of one of those
200-dollar junk cars he used to buy....trying to get it started laying
on the cold ground trying to get to work.....and he did that for a real
long time....I wrote this song for him....."
thanks again,
susan
Howard Roseman
Social Commentary category.
Susan,
What category the song fits into is tough to determine, principally because
we can be fairly sure that Warren never spent an hour working for wages, in
a factory or otherwise.
Thanks for your feedback.
susan
I commend you for attempting to organize these songs in some fashion,
because it's an interesting way to see the diversity of topics that WZ
covered. With Bruce it's always just been Work, Cars and Girls! :)
that's a good point about WZ's experience with the working life, and
makes me think again of Bruce, and the huge difference between his
childhood and Warren's. WZ didn't see "normal" as a kid-Bruce saw way
too much of it. Jackson Browne, also, had a fairly unusual upbringing,
with a very musical Dad and Grandfather, growing up overseas partly,
and in a mini-castle his Grandfather built surrounded by many artistic
and musical influences.
It's one significant way that rock music differs from folk maybe, in
that many rock artists struck out in their musical professions fairly
young, and the day in/day out grind of the 8 to 5 wage job was
something they experienced only as innocent bystanders.
enjoying one of my 8 or 9 paid holidays today in the capitalist
paradise,
susan
Zevonista
Ah ! Finally ! My "Prefab Sprout"-moment has come... at last !
In 1988 Prefab Sprout recorded a song called "Cars and Girls" with a direct
and explicit reference to the boss himself. For those who don't know who or
what PF is/was.
From Wikipedia : Prefab Sprout is an English pop band from Witton Gilbert,
County Durham, which rose to moderate fame during the 1980s. Though
critically acclaimed, and considered by many to have released some of the
best pop albums of the decade, the band never broke through to the
mainstream, and had only moderate commercial success.
From Allmusic.com : One of the most beloved British pop bands of the '80s
and '90s, Prefab Sprout has had a minimum of chart success in the United
States, where they're all but unknown outside of their devoted cult
following.
Moderate commercial success, devoted cult following...sounds familiar no ?
Mark
Look for yourself :
Brucie Dreams Life's A Highway Too Many Roads Bypass My Way
Or They Never Begin. Innocence Coming To Grief
At The Hands Of Life - Stinkin' Car Thief, That's My Concept Of Sin
Does Heaven Wait All Heavenly Over The Next Horizon ?
But Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt More Much More Than Cars
And Girls.
Just Look At Us Now, Start Counting, What Adds Up The Way It Did When We
Were Young ?
Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt Much More Than Cars And
Girls.
Life's A Drive Through A Dust Bowl, What's It Do, Do To A Young Soul
We Are Deeply Concerned, Someone Stops For Directions,
Something Responds Deep In Our Engines, We Have All Been Burned
Will Heaven Wait All Heavenly Over The Next Horizon ?
But Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt More Much More Than Cars
And Girls.
Just Look At Us Now, Start Counting, What Adds Up The Way It Did When We
Were Young ?
Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt Much More Than Cars And
Girls.
Little Boy Got A Hot Rod, Thinks It Makes Him Some Kind Of New God
Well This Is One Race He Won't Win,
'cos Life's No Cruise With A Cool Chick
Too Many Folks Feelin' Car Sick, But It Never Pulls In.
Brucie's Thoughts - Pretty Streamers
- Guess This World Needs Its Dreamers May They Never Wake Up.
But Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt More Much More Than Cars
And Girls.
Just Look At Us Now, Start Counting, What Adds Up The Way It Did When We
Were Young ?
Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt Much More Than Cars And
Girls.
But Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt More Much More Than Cars
And Girls.
Just Look At Us Now, Start Counting, What Adds Up The Way It Did When We
Were Young ?
Look At Us Now, Quit Driving, Some Things Hurt Much More Than Cars And
Girls.
Joanne Corsano
>Ah ! Finally ! My "Prefab Sprout"-moment has come... at last !
Hmm, Prefab Sprout .... are THEY still around?
-Joanne
................................................................
Posted via TITANnews - Uncensored Newsgroups Access
>>>> at http://www.TitanNews.com <<<<
-=Every Newsgroup - Anonymous, UNCENSORED, BROADBAND Downloads=-
Zevonista
>
> -Joanne
Hmmm..i don't your tone Joanne....i don't like it at all ! ;-)
Mark
Joanne Corsano
>> Hmm, Prefab Sprout .... are THEY still around?
>>
>> -Joanne
>
>Hmmm..i don't your tone Joanne....i don't like it at all ! ;-)
LOL! No *tone* intended, Mark. Just asking for information. They
were one of those interesting bands that I never really got to hear.