The Finest Work Song

for reverie and frisson.

Publisher’s note: It’s Saturday morning, so it’s time for Earlywood. Every Saturday we publish an excerpt from one of the thousands of pieces I’ve written since 1996. Sometimes it’s from a book. Or a magazine article. Or (in this case) an old blog entry. This entry is from December 2011. Each entry has been updated or annotated with some modern context or point of view.

I’ve always been fascinated by work songs – generally a cappella performances where the tempo governs (or is governed by) the pace of the labor. I first encountered these songs after high school while I was working on factory lines at liquor plants, table-making factories and a door-building facility.

These were sung, or sometimes hummed, in pace with the machinery. It is mesmerizing to participate in these songs, and that reverie is much needed when you spend 10 hours doing the same crap over and again. These songs are trance-inducing, like the hum of a beehive or the roar of an interstate.