Work Songs & Opinions on Phish and Vivian Girls

Celebrate Labor Day with Jim and Greg’s favorite Songs About Work.

Rosie the Riveter
Download Subscribe via iTunes

Work Songs

Despite the fact that most musicians spend their lives avoiding a "real job," there are a number of great songs about the drudgery and the glory of hard work. For this Labor Day episode Jim and Greg play their favorite Songs About Work.

Lou Reed

Greg

  • The Animals, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
  • Van Morrison, "Cleaning Windows"
  • Bob Marley, "Night Shift"
  • The Jam, "Smithers-Jones"

Jim

  • John Lennon, "Working Class Hero"
  • The Clash, "Career Opportunities"
  • Lou Reed, "Don’t Talk to Me About Work"
  • The Flaming Lips, "Bad Days"

Joy Phish

Joy (Deluxe Version)

For two decades the jam band Phish has held a massive fan base. But, as Jim and Greg explain, most of these "Phish Heads" aren't all that interested in the band's studio records; it's all about the live experience. Now, after a five-year hiatus during which lead singer Trey Anastasio battled drug addiction, the band is back with a new record called Joy. As always, the goal is to create songs that are successful on record and stage. With the exception of a couple of tracks, Greg doesn't think the songwriting holds up. He can only give Joy a Try It. Jim wishes the band would abandon its efforts at jazz and funk  fusion and go back to its progressive roots. He loves the 13-minute suite "Time Turns Elastic," but gives the rest of the album a Try It.

Everything Goes Wrong Vivian Girls

Everything Goes Wrong

Vivian Girls also have a new release called Everything Goes Wrong. The title might be referring to the year the band had following their successful self-titled debut. Not only did they lose their drummer, but guitarist/songwriter Cassie Ramone also went through a bad breakup. As Greg states, their pain is our pleasure. He loves this follow-up and hears a lot of musical growth. Jim agrees, adding that the Vivians' take on female sexuality is much needed in our culture. Everything Goes Wrong gets a double Buy It.

Dear Listeners,

For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!