Hi There 😊
Weekend's here and it could be an extra long one, thanks to Labour day on Tuesday. Especially if you took Monday off (yes I did), that's 4 days!! In some countries like America and Canada, Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. However, in over 80 countries including Malaysia, Labour Day or International Workers' Day is celebrated on May 1st.
Back in the day, people worked 12 hours a day. Then one day in 1886, they decided enough is enough. So on May 1st, also known as May Day, around 400,000 workers went on strike in Chicago. They were picketing for work hours to be reduced to 8. The protest lasted 4 days and even turned violent. Eventually May 1st was declared a public holiday. A tribute to labourers, to spread awareness and to recognise contributions of the working class.
So today in FourPlay, the songs are dedicated to every one of us who works "hard" for a living.
She Works Hard - Donna Summer
Summer wrote this song in just 20 minutes. She was inspired by a waitress she walked in on, taking a nap in a restaurant toilet. The waitress told her that she was really tired working two jobs and Summer remembers thinking, "She works hard for the money". This video was one of the first to break the colour barrier on MTV. In fact, she was the first black woman to have this video on hight rotation. After Michael Jackson's Billie Jean had it's fair share on high rotation.
9 - 5 - Dolly Parton
I would be surprised if you didn't know this song... An anthem for those clocking in and out of office when it first came out way back then, and it still represents the office life. The song was written for a movie with the same title and was also used when it was staged as a musical. The title was inspired by an organisation that aimed to bring better treatment for women in the workplace back in the 1970s.
The Banana Boat Song - Harry Belafonte
This is a song that was actually sung by the dock workers all through the night as they loaded bananas onto the boat. Belafonte was not the first to sing it, but he injected the calypso beat that was the craze back then in the 50's and made this song very popular. In fact, because of this song. the album Calypso was the first album that hit the 1 million mark. I was torn between using this video and the scene from Beetlejuice
Hey Mama - David Guetta ft Nicki Minaj, Bebe Rexha & Afrojack
This too is a song that sampled an actual song that workers used to sing while slogging in the sun. The original is called Rosie by C.B. 88 Cook. A song written in 1948 at Parchman Farm state prison. It was a chant of sorts which the prisoners used to coordinate hard work. Of course David Guetta EDM-fied it and Nicki Minaj rapped the part of the woman who would do anything for that man who works so hard.
And there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did compiling it. Please do add songs that you think should be on this list.....Wishing you a fantastic weekend!!
’Til we meet again over text, pics, videos, maybe even coffee - Steem On!!
