Labour & Pop Culture: The Factory

This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture of “The Factory” by Warren Zevon (yes, the Werewolf of London guy. Zevon has written a number of songs about class and labour; this one is from the late 1980s.

There are a lot of themes in this song. Zevon touches on the need to have a job (“We got a kid that's two, we got another one due”) and the hierarchical nature of employment in a factory (“Saying, ‘Yes sir, no sir, yes sir, no sir/Yes sir, no sir, work’”).

He also talks about the intergenerational nature of social class:

I was born in Mechanicsburg
My Daddy worked for Pontiac 'til he got hurt
Now he's on disability
And I got his old job in the factory

And he touches on the health effects of work—not just the risk of physical injury (which is presumably what happened to the singer’s father) but the more insidious health effects of chemical exposures (e.g., asbestos, polyvinyl chloride). Interestingly, Zevon was diagnosed (and died from) mesothelioma (an asbestos-related cancer) about 15 years after he wrote this song.

Kickin' asbestos in the factory
Punchin' out Chryslers in the factory
Breathin' that plastic in the factory
Makin' polyvinyl chloride in the factory

Finally, Zevon notes the grind of the factory regime: up early every day and long work weeks. Overall, the song is a teacher’s dream.

I was born in '63

Got a little job in the factory
I don't know much about Kennedy
I was too busy working in the factory

We got a kid that's two, we got another one due
We get by the best we can do
The factory's got a good medical plan
And cousin, I'm a union man
Saying, "Yes sir, no sir, yes sir, no sir
Yes sir, no sir, work"

I was born in Mechanicsburg
My Daddy worked for Pontiac 'til he got hurt
Now he's on disability
And I got his old job in the factory
Saying, "Yes sir, no sir, yes sir, no sir
Yes sir, no sir, work"

Early in the morning I feel a chill
The factory whistle blows loud and shrill
I'd kill my wife or she'd kill me
But we gotta go to work in the factory

Six days a week at the factory
Up early in the morning at the factory
I've been working in the factory
Johnny, I've been working in the factory

Kickin' asbestos in the factory
Punchin' out Chryslers in the factory
Breathin' that plastic in the factory
Makin' polyvinyl chloride in the factory

-- Bob Barnetson