Fight Like Hell: Music for Labor Day

Written and curated by Kim Kelly

Music has always been used as a messenger by workers, organizers, and agitators, so to celebrate the holiday, I’ve pulled together some choice labor-themed gems from the Folkways catalogue (plus a couple of bonus tracks I couldn’t resist adding in).

Some of them are working songs. Some are union songs, or solidarity songs. Some are songs for living, and others are for dying. Some are joyous, some are filled with pride, and some will shatter your heart once you look up the lyrics. That’s the thing about working peoples’ history—it encompasses so much more than one era, or one movement. Work is as close to universal an experience as one can find outside of death and taxes (and as we all know, the latter isn’t really all that universal if your net worth is high enough). It is the story of our lives together, and the diverse array of artists on this playlist do a beautiful job of illustrating how working folks live, love, and sometimes, lose it all.

Fight Like Hell: Music for Labor Day - playlist by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings | Spotify