I am NOT looking for communist propaganda marches/songs.

I am looking for songs that about the problems and conditions.

Thank you.

8 comments

  1. Tuomari Nurmio’s song [Aavaa preeriaa](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDl8LpNl0So) is one of my favourite Finnish songs and happens to be on this subject matter. The title means “open prairie”, but it’s in a partitive case which doesn’t unfortunately translate to English. Basically “an unspecified amount of open prairie”.

    But nevertheless, the verses tell a story about workers who live at a construction site, away from their homes, and work and sleep in poor conditions. IIRC Tuomari Nurmio wrote this after visiting the Porvoo oil refinery a bit east from Helsinki. The lyrics paint a really sorry picture of these workers and their conditions, and how they have no escape or freedom.

    Apart from the refrain, which is just a sentence that repeats at the end of every verse: “only at night do Indians ride the open prairie”. Native Americans were forced to live in their reservations, robbed of the land they rode, robbed of the freedom they once had. That freedom they have only in their dreams now, and this the Native Americans and these working class people have in common with each other.

    We did poetry analysis in literature class in school, and the lyrics of Aavaa preeria was one of the poems we once did. I’ve loved it from that day on, it is so finely crafted and the metaphor is really elegant. I’m sure I’m not doing it justice here. It’s unfortunate that Finnish is such a small language, because if you were to ask me, Tuomari Nurmio is world class as a lyricist.

  2. [Manic Street Preachers – a Design For Life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfEoVxy7VDQ&ab_channel=ManicStPreachersVEVO) (Wales; the song is supposed to be a critique of the working class culture they came from)

    [Pulp – Common People](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM&ab_channel=PulpVEVO) (England; the song is about “class tourism” and class politics in the 90s)

    [The Jam – A Town Called Malice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfpRm-p7qlY&ab_channel=TheJamVEVO) (England; it’s about the signer Paul Weller’s frustration with the place he grew up in in the 60s and 70s)

    These are songs about culture (feeling stuck in deprivation, living for the weekend because you have no opportunities etc) rather than explicitly about politics.

  3. We had a movement we called [*progg*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progg) (with two Gs) in the 60s and 70s, which had a musical component. Being very left leaning, while not (usually) straight up communist propaganda, it’s very often about the class struggle or anti-capitalist. It also produced some famous songs:

    * [*Den ena handen vet vad den andra gör*](https://youtu.be/sTAvm_Fk09M)/[*Staten och kapitalet*](https://youtu.be/P5vvrUrBuQQ) (by [*Blå tåget*](https://en.m?wikipedia.org/wiki/Bl%C3%A5_T%C3%A5get) (and a cover by [*Ebba Grön*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebba_Gr%C3%B6n))) Anti-capitalist about how the state and the “industry” cooperate to take advantage of the working man (or woman).
    * [*Kung Keops pyramid*]( https://youtu.be/gXoyIdlaDF8) (by [Hoola Bandoola Band](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoola_Bandoola_Band)) Again, about how those in power abuse the people below them, this time using the building of the great pyramid of Giza as an allegory (I believe that the common interpretation about this have since changed, but this was from the early 70s at least).
    * [*En kungens man*](https://youtu.be/owWRIPo07L0) (by [ Björn Afzelius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Afzelius)) About how the people in power are above the law.

    That’s just three of the more famous ones. There are loads more, some of which might fit the topic better, but I’m no progg-expert.

    > Så det verkar som om det i varje tid och i alla sorters folk, finns några som vill skapa pyramider. Där de själva sitter överst och har makten i sin hand medan de som lever nedanför de lyder.

  5. Then I can’t think of many from the top of my head. Most songs on that topic will almost inevitably be political to at least some degree.

    But maybe something like Kim Larsens [“Midt Om Natten”](https://youtu.be/_rBeni3L7Gg) could fit. It’s about a collective of misfits that have found a spot to call their own that are now being cleared away from their little sanctuary by the police

  6. I don’t like that guy because he’s an anti-intellectualist reactionary and I don’t like his music because it’s sentimental rock music for housewives. Naturally, these things mean that he’s a super-famous rockstar here, but only part-time because he’s also a construction worker. At least he’s authentic and generally a good person.

    Anyway, here’s [Gölä with *Büetzer* “Drudge”](https://youtu.be/ds8KZiEMjng).

    Lyrics (translated from Swiss German):

    They’re looking at me in the pub /
    Because I’m wearing dirty rags /
    Nobody says “Hi, how are ya?” /
    And nobody asks me what I did today //

    They’re glancing shyly at me /
    From top to bottom /
    Wondering what kind of guy I am /
    And what I’m here looking for //

    Chorus:
    I’ve always got some dust on my lungs /
    Some dirt on my tongue /
    Picking away doesn’t hurt anymore /
    Some dirt on my tongue /
    I’m outside in sun and snow /
    ’cause I’m a drudge, ’cause I’m a drudge. //

    I’m not as polished as you /
    My perfume is sweat-scented /
    You don’t know nothing about me /
    So I’m tellin’ ya: //

    I don’t give a hoot about office and stuff /
    That’s why it’s good that you are here /
    And because you can’t shovel and pick /
    You gotta say: good that I’m here //

    Chorus again.

  7. [morten jørgensen og spekkhoggerne – det er bedre å suge pikk enn å jobbe på fabrikk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9KNYg1Q4mY8) is a story about a mother warning her daughters about the hazards of working inha factory, and how it’s better to suck dick than to work there. 10/10 lyricism

  8. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVDonstRMVY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVDonstRMVY)

    It is saturday and he smells the beatiful flowers growing and sees children playing.He wishes all his life would be that way cause from monday he has to get back to work.People used to work in hard labor those times like construction etc

    We used to have a ton of songs about immigration in 60″s but i dunno if that qualifies.

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