The Workers Song Community Project | The Longest Johns

This video is a tribute to all the key workers who keep our countries running and who are all too often forgotten and left behind.

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The Longest Johns

[ChrisJones-qwbn]

As a guy who has spent a Lifetime doing the backbreaking labors no one else wanted to do. For LONG Days and HARD working conditions. I am so MOVED by this project I can't help but shed a few tears. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! And for all my Brothers and Sisters Still out there pushing HARD. And for all the brethren I have lost to time and conditions....THANK YOU!! You ARE appreciated!!

[johnny--guitar]

I love that there's a few shots of teachers and restaurant staff and retail workers. Modern labor isn't just the factoryman anymore and we all deserve a better world.

[chloebjarkan]

I'm not crying, you're crying!
My family has sailors, soldiers, miners, factory workers, gardeners, trade workers, teachers, and more. Often working multiple jobs at once to pay the bills. My grandfather worked the mines for years and we recently discovered he was claustrophobic...
Working class pride for life, thank you for such a beautiful video x

[Cry_Havoc]

People are angry. We have every right to be. This expresses that perfectly. Thank you!
Edited to add: Thank you to Abbie for all of your hard work!

[Famdoc]

Thinking about the exploited nurses here in NYC striking for safer working conditions, the Johns dropped this at just the right moment!

[eliquate]

The lyrics are important, no doubt. There is a certain resolute tone to the melody. It’s not defeated, or full of self pity. It’s a fight song. It’s an anthem. It’s as timeless as the struggle itself. Remember this feeling, as you listen to it. I believe you are feeling the souls of our brothers and sisters who built this world we live in. Know your worth!! You are a human being, god damn it! Don’t ever forget that.

[nathanharmon]

As a blue collar worker, I love this song. It has such deep pride. It says, “you may not know what we do for you, but we know what we do for you.”
There are few things with more pride deserved than an honest days work.

[brotherpanda]

“It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.”

Said all by those who truly wish for a better world.

[ccaagg]

Between the announcement of this and the final release, I've actually become involved in protest and direct action for this cause. Couldn't be happier with how you've presented this. Hopefully the movement for change continues silently gathering momentum at the rate that it is and people learn more of just how precedented this is in our history. Solidarity from an old mill town of Lancashire.

[randomman]

"You let one ant stand up to us, then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us 100 to 1, and if they ever figure that out; there goes our way of life! It's not about food, it's about keeping those ants in line." From Hopper's speech in the Pixar-movie A Bug's Life.

Stay strong, band together, keep the unions together. Speak up and work as a unit. They need us, a lot more than we need them.

[rh-gmxp]

As someone who has spent the last 3years organizing union and getting a contract, this brought a tear to my eye

[grimwriter]

That's my shot of Thornrose Graveyard at 0:20--how thrilling to see the dear old place in this! I decided to send that in because when I walk there, it makes me think of the many generations of hard-working little folks who've gone before, and laid the way for me, unremembered.
This whole thing is just too lovely. Thank you, Johns, from all us workers. Here's a health to this whole company, and let's up and take another, even when it's hard! God bless us all, and here's a to a better year in 2023.

[recless]

This song means more to me every time I buy groceries.
Every time I watch a paycheck disappear the same day it's deposited.
Every time I worry about my job security.
Every time I yearn to own a small homestead on land surrounded by a community that provides most necessities for itself.

[Robin_Goodfellow]

Glad I wore my high-vis shirt, makes me easy to find. Also great to see so many other high-vis shirts in the crowd!
I work a desk job now, but I hope I never forget the lessons I learned from working with my hands in the sun, the rain, and whatever else Nature graced me with. Hard hats off to the workers!

[jasontruttmann]

For those who don't know, when the video is paused you can move it frame by frame with ", " (Comma) for the previous frame, and "." (Period) for the next frame.

"J" will jump backward 10 seconds, "K" will Pause/Play (so will the Space Bar), and "L" will jump forward 10 seconds. "🡰" (Left Arrow) will jump backward 5 seconds, and "🡲" (Right Arrow) will jump forward 5 seconds.

Good luck in your searches!

(You can find other keyboard shortcuts by holding "Shift" plus "?".)

[toddellner]

It was pure truth when Pickford wrote it over 300 years ago and still is today. We must do better. Thank you for doing this

[AstroBlakeD]

LYRICS:

O' Come all of you workers
Who toil night and day
By hand and by brain
To earn your pay
Who for centuries long past
For no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries
And counted your dead

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

In the factories and mills,
In the shipyards and mines
We've often been told
To keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed,
They've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch
Our pride they have robbed

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

But when the sky darkens
And the prospect is war
Who's given a gun
And then pushed to the fore
And expected to die
For the land of our birth
Though we've never owned
One lousy handful of earth

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

And all of these things
The worker has done
From tilling the fields
To carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough
Since time first began
And always expected
To carry the can

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

We're the first ones to starve
The first ones to die
The first ones in line
For that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last
When the cream is shared out
For the worker is working
When the fat cat's about

[Jessie_Helms]

This song helped radicalize so many people, and rightfully so.
It speaks a deep truth that the powerful from local warlords to slavers to presidents to CEOs are terrified of workers understanding.
That WE are the ones who do all the work and COULD hold all the power if we worked together.

[Killerator]

"Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth" - that line always gives me chills!

[wrenlittle]

As an 'elderly' lady, cook on many a freighter and an active member of 'The Seamans Union' in Denmark for years, I applaud you boys.
This puts me in tears of gratitude and renews the almost faded courage in my heart to know that the young ones are picking up the torch.
Hold it high make it burn with your passion for those who hold up our world, with their sweat and blood, tears and pain, frowned upon and ignored because we are only manual labor.
The chorus has me sobbing. Thank you. ❤❤