Friday Tunes: Part of the Union

This week’s installment of labour themes in popular culture is the Strawbs 1973 hit “Part of the Union”. The Strawbs is a long-standing UK folk-prog rock band that has been on the go for nearly 50 years. Like many other long-standing bands, (e.g., April Wine) they have had up to 40 different members.

Part of the Union was their biggest hit, rising to number two on the UK singles chart. On the surface, it seems like a pro-union song, hitting on themes of resistance to company demands and the wisdom found in collective action.

Us union men are wise
To the lies of the company spies
And I don't get fooled by the factory rules
'Cause I always read between the lines

Particularly interesting is this verse:

And I always get my way
If I strike for higher pay
When I show my card to the Scotland Yard
And this is what I say:

Not a lot of labour songs talk about the strained relationship between unions, workers and the police.

Some commentators suggest the song was intended as a parody of unions. This verse, for example, touches on the rotating power shortages and reduced work weeks caused by strikes.

Before the union did appear
My life was half as clear
Now I've got the power to the working hour
And every other day of the year

More generally, the guileless union boosterism of the lyrics do kind of read like satire. The peril of satire is, however, that your target doesn’t get it and you are stuck singing the song straight to the roaring approval of the group you were disrespecting for the rest of your career (think Springsteen and "Born in the USA"). In this case, the song was adopted by the trade union movement in Britain as an anthem. Enjoy the 70s fashions and crazy piano solo!



Now I'm a union man
Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, that the company stinks
Yes I'm a union man

When we meet in the local hall
I'll be voting with them all
With a hell of a shout, it's "Out brothers, out!"
And the rise of the factory's fall

[chorus]
Oh, you don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Til the day I die
Til the day I die

Us union men are wise
To the lies of the company spies
And I don't get fooled by the factory rules
'Cause I always read between the lines

And I always get my way
If I strike for higher pay
When I show my card to the Scotland Yard
And this is what I say:

[chorus]

Before the union did appear
My life was half as clear
Now I've got the power to the working hour
And every other day of the year

So though I'm a working man
I can ruin the government's plan
And though I'm not hard, the sight of my card
Makes me some kind of superman

[chorus]

You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
You don't get me, I'm part of the union
Til the day I die
Til the day I die

-- Bob Barnetson