Secretary Solis will be spinning work-related songs on SIRIUS through Labor Day.

DOL's Solis Celebrates Labor Day with Devo, Dylan and...Dopey?

  • Sep 04, 2009

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis began making waves on Friday--air waves, that is--as a special weekend guest DJ on SIRIUS XM's The Spectrum. The idea behind the gig was to have the nation's top workplace enforcer spinning songs about work and workers in observance of Labor Day, the one day set aside specifically to honor the nation's working men and women.

In advance of Solis's show, DOL released a hint of what to expect on the secretary's playlist, which included Bruce Springsteen's "Working on the Highway," The Clash's "Career Opportunities," Bob Marley's "Work," Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," and even something by The Seven Dwarves (presumably the "Heigh-ho" song?). The set got us at OH&S thinking about what other tunes might make the list.

In a poll run on the OH&S Web site at the end of last year asking which of five work songs best described 2008 for the voters, "Sixteen Tons" won. That song was first done in 1946 by Merle Travis, and it will be interesting to hear if it makes Solis's list. Others we'll be listening for and think should make the list:

  • "Helpless Automaton" by Men at Work
  • "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon
  • "Casey Jones" by The Grateful Dead (from the album Workingman's Dead)
  • "Workin' Man Blues" by Merle Haggard
  • "Blue Collar Man" by Styx
  • "Working Man's Blues" by Johnny Copeland
  • "Nice Work If You Can Get It" by George/Ira Gershwin
  • "Work Hard" by Depeche Mode
  • "She Works Hard for the Money" by Donna Summer
  • "Don't Talk To Me About Work" by Lou Reed
  • "Working Stiff" by Slaid Cleaves
  • "The Work Song" by Butterfield Blue Band
  • "Slave Driver" by Bob Marley and the Wailers
  • "Working In A Coal Mine" -- both Lee Dorsey and Devo versions
  • "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton
  • "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash
  • "Work n' Play" by The Zombies
  • "Why Don't You Get a Job?" by The Offspring
  • "We Work the Black Seam" by Sting
  • "Just Got Paid" by John Kemp
  • "Workin' for the Weekend" by Huey Lewis & the News
  • "Big Boss Man" by B.B. King
  • "Just Got Paid Today" by ZZ Top
  • "Finally Friday" by George Jones
  • "Take This Job and Shove It" by Johnny Paycheck
  • and (truly hopefully) "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles

To tune in to "The Spectrum's Labor Day Weekend with the Secretary of Labor" and see if we're right with any of those selections, turn the dial to SIRIUS channel 18 and XM channel 45. DOL says Solis's show began airing at 3 p.m. EDT today and will continue through Labor Day Monday, Sept. 7, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. For more details, visit www.dol.gov/_sec/newsletter/.

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