'This Ain't No Picnic:' Best Labor Tune Ever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzyzVZZfUfHappy Labor day, Americans! Originally created in 1882 as a “a day off for the working citizens,” the holiday has also come to be known as summertime’s hangover. Either one suits The Minutemen’s immortal burner “This Ain’t No Picnic” fine, thanks. But is it the best track about the stress and toil of labor ever […]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzyzVZZfUf
Happy Labor day, Americans! Originally created in 1882 as a "a day off for the working citizens," the holiday has also come to be known as summertime's hangover. Either one suits The Minutemen's immortal burner "This Ain't No Picnic" fine, thanks.

But is it the best track about the stress and toil of labor ever made? That is for you to decide.

It certainly has all the ingredients. Three blue-collar heroes descended from naval families who became punk icons. A power trio that used the art of noise to rail against the economic policies of Reaganism, whose figurehead was derided in Detroit as the "beast" or "Ronald Wilson Reagan 666." A hilarious mashup video featuring its unkempt San Pedro protagonists ducking gunfire from an airborne Reagan, spliced, like the president's memory itself, from one of his old war films.

In fact, "This Ain't No Picnic" grew out of a labor dispute. D. Boon wanted to listen to a jazz and soul station while working at an auto parts store, but his boss first called it "nigger shit" and then said no way. Instant inspiration. And then there are the lyrics:

Working on the edge
losing my self-respect
for a man who presides over me
the principles of his creed
punch in punch out
8 hours 5 days a week
sweat pain and agony
on Friday I'll get paid
This ain't no picnic

Hey mister don't look down on me
for what I believe
I got my bills and the rent
I should go pitch a tent
but our land is not free
so I'll work my youth away
in the place of a machine
I refuse to be a slave
This ain't no picnic

Throw in the facts that D. Boon died while touring, and that his best friend and bassist Mike Watt has never stopped touring, and you are most likely left with the hardest-working labor heroes in not just punk but music overall.

this audio or video is no longer availableNot your choice for the best labor tune ever? Are you a fan of Allen Toussaint's "Working in a Coal Mine," Leadbelly's "Whoa Back, Buck" or another tune? State your case below. We can work it out, as McCartney sang.

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