Labor of Love: the finale
We end our honoring Labor Day with another little-known song about unions and labor, but one that is not from a musical. And while it's little-known today (bordering on unknown...), it was very well known in its day. Which in this case is 1981. (There was an earlier version a few years before, in 1978.)
It's a TV commercial for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
"Quaint" and "endearing" may be the best way to describe it, but impactful, as well. The fact that they actually made a second version is testament to that.
And as a bonus, just to show that I'm not a-lying, here is 14-time MAC Award-winner Natalie Douglas singing a medley of "labor anthems" from her cabaret show "Freedom Songs," which she leads off with -- yes, really -- "Look for the Union Label," but first explaining how she feels like she heard the song every day of her life growing up (though noting it only aired 60 times. Which is still a lot.)
(A MAC Award stands for the Music Awards Ceremony, which is given for cabaret, comedy and jazz.)
This was performed on October 22, 2012, at the Birdland Jazz Club in New York City. And to give full credit, the song was written by Paula Green & Malcolm Dodds. (And "If I Had a Hammer" was written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger of The Weavers.)
And as final bonus, just for those who really, really need convincing -- here's a parody of the song and commercial that Saturday Night Live did, in its early days.
Comments