Labor songs have long pervaded workers’ culture in the United States, beginning in the colonial period and running into the 21st century. Labor unions published songbooks, labor schools encouraged singing, and radical organizations used songs about unions in political organizing, while scholars collected and published numerous books about work songs. Work and Sing documents the publication and collecting of occupational and labor union songs, and attempts to understand their use by workers and their supporters. It is not clear how many songs were actually sung at labor rallies and on picket lines, or while at work, and by how many; but the fact of their being recorded in print or sound indicates some sort of popularity, however brief or limited. There are also numerous illustrations and a bibliography of labor songbooks.

About the Author
Ronald D. Cohen is the author of numerous books on folk music, including RAINBOW QUEST: THE FOLK MUSIC REVIVAL AND AMERICAN SOCIETY, 1940-1970, FOLK MUSIC: THE BASICS, A HISTORY OF FOLK MUSIC FESTIVALS IN THE UNITED STATES, as well as (with Bob Riesman) CHICAGO FOLK: IMAGES OF THE SIXTIES SCENE—THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF RAEBURN FLERLAGE. He is Emeritus Professor of History, Indiana University Northwest.