Billy Bragg - Rich Men Earning North of a Million

[@jeremyspecce]

“We don’t punch down” is one of the most important lines of this song to me. The people below you struggling are not the enemy, and not the cause of your problems.

[@MercuryTheVexilliologyNerd]

Exactly, those who dont understand, attack on the basis of misunderstanding, believe that Unions will make us suffer, are mainly just confused and/or scared, it is important we keep an open mind, to not join them in hatred and yelling matches, but to try our best to help them understand our stance, to try and deprogram them from the neo-liberal/far-right garbage that has been forced down their throats their whole lives. Yes, it will be VERY taxing - and yes, some people will never be convinced, but so long as we are able to convince enough people, we will have our Union and more will follow.

[@AB-ec5qv]

Money trickles up - not down. “Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it by nightfall.” - Will Rogers. Signed, Proud Teamster.

[@piaonomata9220]

Don't forget the rest of that quote, either, because it's crucial to understanding what Rogers meant (and even this isn't the full quote): "Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow's hands."

[@LoriCurl]

Proud Teamster here too!

[@colinbrander3402]

Exactly, trickle up economics works. Trickle down is a fraud and is just a tax break for the people at the top.

[@David_K_pi]

I've never been a union member, due mainly to my profession. But I have always supported them. Afterall, they help me indirectly. A rising tide lifts all boats. Go unions!

[@colinbrander3402]

@David_K_pi weekends, paid vacations, better wages are things all employees have benefited from as a result of unions.

[@hillx021hill3]

I'm 3rd generation, Union raised. Billy came to our union rally 10 years ago at the drop of a hat and sang and testified about healthcare and solidarity . I got to get a hug from Billy Bragg! That's how solidarity works.

[@wadeh777]

Yeah billy wants you in a system that keeps you at the poverty level. Go work for yourself and stop paying union reps tons of money to do nothing at all for you and I was in the union 20 years as a 3rd generation drywall finisher

[@Madronaxyz]

Happy to hear this!

[@acovenofmany333]

Grew up as a Longshoreman and USPS Union granddaughter and daughter, who STILL believes #UnionStrong ✊🏼🇺🇸✊🏽🇬🇧✊🏻

[@BPTK162]

Coming back here after the NLRB ruled about Unfair Labor Practices in the run up to a Union Election. Steps in the right direction

[@bjdefilippo447]

Absolutely! Some really welcome news. Hopefully it'll make becoming unionized much easier.

[@turgid_member8717]

That was a big, big step.

[@nosuchperson284]

Did this framework just effectively put the union busting companies out of business? I would be so glad. I hear all this talk about how individuals need to stand up for themselves while the rich collude. Individually unionize and create a citizen force that can sit it's own self down at the table with business and government for us. It's time that between the two either / or controlling factors in our lives, we became a stable tripod with one entity outside of both representing the people themselves.

[@istankimjong-unbutcantstan3398]

Beau sent me here.

[@Mettle_DAD]

Best news we've gotten in a long time

[@hectorsmommy1717]

Never in a union (my field was not known for unionizing) but I have always supported them and my Mom was a unionized public school teacher. Unionized workers are what created the strong middle class this country needed and we need to get back to that.

[@bkoopa6464]

Sounds like you should join an industrial union.

[@hectorsmommy1717]

@@bkoopa6464 Retired now so the only work I do is volunteer.

[@thugpug4392]

There's no such thing as the middle class. There's workers and owners.

[@conradsurak6060]

Daily reminder that workers build everything including billionaires and it's time we take back what we've built

[@taiko1237]

'It was we who tamed the prairies, built the cities where they trade Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid Now we stand outcast and starving 'midst the wonders we have made But the union makes us strong.'

[@gregallen4272]

It time to tax the political powerful billionaires boys club back into being just millionaires and save democracy and sanity for everyone own both sides. Because all this hatred and divisiveness and violence is for only ONE Thing tax cuts for the ultra rich donor who have now bought up huge amounts of land and homes and are screwing the country and working people over

[@heynowls3058]

Right. Power to the people. Unions only way to power.

[@conradsurak6060]

@taiko1237 unions are a good start but we have capitalism has outlived its usefulness, we don't need the parasites

[@conradsurak6060]

@heynowls3058 if that's your thinking you should read Daniel DeLeon you'll love him

[@Sleepless_Sam]

Got my first union job this year and it took quite a bit of adjusting. You often times don't realize how much you're being abused until you can separate yourself from the abuser.

[@emfine100]

Well said Billy. 'No force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, but the union makes us strong!'

[@Bluesblue88]

ILWU Local 23 member here. Port of Tacoma Longshoremen. Lucky & Proud to be in a Union. Thanks for the great song! You really nailed it!

[@smash507]

Iron Workers local 771 Saskatchwan Canada

[@LoriCurl]

You go ILWU Local 23!! Port of Tacoma, I'm from Portland, A Proud Teamster here!! This song speaks volunes, just what I needed to hear today and everyday!! Going on the playlist!!

[@smash507]

@@LoriCurl ..Billy Braggs..Rich men earning north of a million..Another good one.

[@Nubblucy]

Thanks for your work on behalf of all of us, especially during the last few years. Stay strong. Turning it over and over in my brain, trying to figure out how to unionize my part of the work world.

[@wadejohnson3051]

AMWU - Australian Manufacturering Workers Union and Proud. We learnt a lot from the US now it's time we helped you back.

[@loriw2661]

Thank you to “Beau Of The Fifth Column” for sending me here!! Love this song and it should be used by all Unions as their theme song.

[@michelewalburn4376]

Amen. That's how I got here too.

[@doithimaceabhard7457]

​@@michelewalburn4376samsies

[@scottcallahan3470]

Me too. I am a proud IUOE member. I will be lucky enough to have a great pension when so many are given a few 401k bucks and told to figure it out for themselves. Second, only to meeting my wife, the union is absolutely the best thing to ever happen to me.

[@markkujii4247]

Howdy Internet people! Regs from Finland 🇫🇮

[@leperpens]

Please spread his link to your friends & family. We need more birds eye view, long term wisdom being spread to combat the noise that will inevitably be coming at us leading up to the next election.

[@leonino8838]

Unions are the only special interest group a working person has on their side

[@ZiggZagg11]

Sorry, but neither political party is on unions sides anymore... 😮

[@smkandmrr]

​@@ZiggZagg11isn't that what the OP said?

[@chrismiller5875]

​@@ZiggZagg11not true...the most unions are in bed with democrats especially in NY & Michigan....live in right to work state now and don't fight for the crumbs because so many more jobs and I can negotiate my own pay

[@leonino8838]

@@ZiggZagg11 That was my point. Unions ARE THE ONLY organization a working person has on our side.

[@leonino8838]

@@chrismiller5875 who do you think set the platform for your negotiable wage? A local union.

[@cangooner]

Two thumbs-up from a CAPE local 502 member. 👍👍

[@fractally]

BRAVO!!! Our city tenant union is changing the game for renters, and forcing billionaire developers to be accountable to WE THE PEOPLE. We need more musicians like Billy for today's organizing efforts.

[@ДавідБорґ]

than you should grab a guitar and get to buskin'

[@godspeed2939]

How do I find out if my city has a tenant union please. We need help in Ohio with severe gouging on rent fees!

[@jonnyhailey]

Been trying to do my bit for a couple of years but getting exposure for a protest song is very hard. Radio stations don't like to play them and the algorythems on spotify etc are gate keepers for these types of songs. Won't stop doing what I do though 😊

[@gregallen4272]

It time to tax the political powerful billionaires boys club back into being just millionaires and limit ownership of homes to 10 at a time max for corporations or private owners

[@omarelk194]

Congratulations.

[@BradColtrane]

Woody is applauding you somewhere, Billy.

[@wadeh777]

Woody would never stand for a pos like billy

[@TheRealMACA]

​@@wadeh777why do u say this? I truly don't know stuff so please be kind and enlighten me.

[@wadeh777]

Because Woody stood for people coming together to make a new system billy believes In leftist views and his answer is to keep liberal politicians in office. It's why Oliver Anthony song is so amazing and uniting the whole county cause many of us Americans can't stand the Republican or Democrat party they are both evil and greedy. And also Billy promotes unions which never work and forces a lot of people to do back breaking work and sign contracts limiting what there capable of earning and making the few people at the top wealthy. Billy is so out of touch with working class people woodie was one

[@JimHolder-pk2kk]

Yep Woody and his buddy Pete both.

[@OCCA]

Indeed he is, and so am I.

[@RJay207]

No one ever got rich by working hard. They got rich by exploiting those that were working hard.

[@johnwillis8223]

How did Billy get rich then?

[@NeirinCedric]

Bit extreme

[@Anygodwilldo]

I'm doing pretty well through hard work 💪

[@o0misfit006]

Much love Billy! With love from 701

[@ladyjatheist2763]

Beau sent me I'm glad of it! Well done!

[@tombrown4683]

Me too !! IATSE Local 78

[@kimthomas781]

Same here!!!!!!

[@bjdefilippo447]

Well said! Healthy unions can help people with some of the biggest issues we have. So glad to have been unionized since the 90s.

[@DLMaston1]

A healthy union has not existed in the US since the 1950s.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

Well done! Not just the spirit of Guthrie, but of Pete Seeger. Perhaps with this workers today have their own modern “Which Side Are You On?”

[@moxiebombshell]

he's been putting out such amazing music for decades, too. Absolutely love Billy Bragg ❤❤❤

[@bodyer2120]

I'm not on the side of a millionaire telling the working class that all they need is a union. Such a crass response to a real working class piece of art which affect the whole of the working class. But like Bragg it's all about division. Socialism in the UK ditched the working class 40 years ago and that's when I ditched socialism. It's all about identity politics now for Bragg and his Champaign sipping ilk.

[@trinawhitener7753]

@@bodyer2120you’re a goddamn moron. Do you enjoy safety standards? 8 hour workdays? Getting paid for every minute you work? Child labor being illegal? You can thank Unions for that, not scab shitheads like Anthony Oliver. That motherfucker is a SALESMAN. You think he really understands he suffering of the poor and the blue collar? He doesn’t. He has an idea what it’s like, but not the experience.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

@@bodyer2120you think unions aren’t the working class taking back their autonomy? Lol! Oliver’s song is so feared by the establishment they used it in the GOP debate and it’s being promoted by every opponent of welfare. Rage Against the Machine it’s not. If Bragg’s a class traitor then good for him. He himself is a worker that doesn’t own the music production company (means of production). Conservatives pretending they’re mad at success and wealth is the funniest thing. The only thing I disagree with is the working classes don’t need government or standard labor unions, return to libertarian socialism and anarchist-syndicalism like in the days of the IWW. Anarchism is the future of leftism and labor politics. With Rojava and EZLN leading the charge. Till then join a labor union and a tenant union, abolish the state!

[@yourewrongabouteverything]

​@@blackflagsnroses6013unions are complete scams 😂

[@blakpoet]

Thanks brother Billy Bragg. This is Woody Guthrie meets Eugene Debs. This is how you spark dialogue and action. Join a Union! CWA2336 Represent!

[@YTsupportsZionaziGenocide]

i have no idea who billy bragg is , but i like and endorse this song.... beau (of the fifth column) linked to this song in his most recent video on unions.

[@tombrown4683]

That's what brought me here IATSE Local 78 !

[@bjdefilippo447]

Beau doesn't share much, but he's always on the money when he does!

[@tombrown4683]

@@bjdefilippo447 💯🎯 !!

[@HedgeWitch-st3yy]

Billy has a long history of supporting unions and left causes in the UK and internationally. His back catalogue is worth checking out.

[@periculumesse1525]

He is a carpet bagger, millionaire criticizing billionaires. Billy stop. I support Unions, but find you frustrating, dividing, profiting from someone else. Why do wannabe liberals always need to find fault, show how smart they are - and not listen.

[@jaxthome3930]

Beau sent me here... glad I came 💜

[@johnsteiner3417]

Beau of the Fifth Column sent us here. #UnionStrong ✊

[@NessBarzan]

Bedankt Billy , De enige manier voor ons arbeiders en gepensioneerden om gehoord te worden en onze verworvenheden te behouden is een sterke vakbond . Woody in zijn tijd wist het al .

[@alumpyhorse]

goed gezegd 💪

[@HerbaSanitas-zq1su]

Precies!

[@rj7411]

Outstanding!

[@Alepfi5599]

Solidarity forever, my sisters and brothers.

[@DavidLindes]

Solidarity forever, comrade!

[@bodyer2120]

With the millionaire Bragg leading us.

[@cowboyjoefrommexico-elsete3434]

Free dem shrooms for everyone!!

[@scothammond5736]

What union are you in?

[@zoolhert3535]

​@@DavidLindescomrade 😂

[@rogy1969]

Nice ... Beau sent me here

[@ashtonsgotsauce]

This is what we need to be blowing up. I'll share every damn day if need be.

[@dphilly179]

Why? Dude's trying to rip off a song that's blowing up now to try and steal some of it's clicks while trying to pull the virtue card

[@ashtonsgotsauce]

@@dphilly179 cry more about fudge rounds, see how far that gets you

[@RAREFORMDESIGNS]

100% correct@@dphilly179

[@bwm_72]

@@dphilly179 I think you weren't listening. Mr. Bragg is right- Mr. Anthony and his fans would do well to take heed.

[@wadeh777]

Billy Bragg and his Epstein island loving ways is a socialist scum bag

[@sauce1101]

Solidarity from the AFT

[@lenninyberg4064]

Woody Guthrie is smiling at you Billy. Thank you. 💙

[@3asyprint]

surely Guthrie as an artist would wonder what this negative response song is for

[@bodyer2120]

Laughing more likely.

[@thehouseoflight]

I suspect more like Guthrie was a bit bored with this appropriation & is whispering his advice directly to Anthony.

[@lieutenantlascivious1992]

Why because he stole a real American folk song and rewrote it to fit his cult?

[@lenninyberg4064]

@@bodyer2120 No. Woody loved unions and thus the working class. 💙

[@acovenofmany333]

Union Strong ✊🏼🇺🇸✊🏽🇬🇧✊🏻 Our governments must start to #TAXBillionaires Granddaughter of a Longshoreman and daughter of USPS Union workers. And currently a retired Teacher, that was proud to join my Union! Unions DO give the 98% a fighting chance! Stop letting anti-workers corporations, and Billionaires gaslight those of Us that built Our Nations FFS!

[@berrybluebird3842]

Not only is this a better song, it is also one of my favorite current releases as of December 23, 2023, literally just two days from Christmas, this song is not only good to listen to, but it actually speaks the truth without demonizing people on assisted living. Thank you, Billy Bragg. You're a saint.

[@englishguy9680]

You have no taste 😂

[@benthomas4544]

I don't think it's better. They're both good. I've been a Bragg fan for almost 40 years, but don't sleep on Anthony's version. He's speaking for a contemporary frustration that us on the left disregard to our own shame. If you don't get what he's talking about, you don't understand. Stand aside or sit down.

[@cryptofacts4u]

Was part of a union for 4 years 10 years later and I've still got the union card in my wallet to remind me

[@elwoodbluesmorris2120]

To remind you of what, how shit they are? My first job, joined the union, out on strike every other month, factory closed down and went overseas. Never joined one again.

[@wadeh777]

Well the fact you only stayed in 4 years speaks volumes

[@cryptofacts4u]

@@wadeh777 yeah really speaks to how bad the grocery store Union was that I would leave to go do sales because I apparently was good at it, I mean if the union was really good then I would totally staving a grocery worker instead of going into sales and making three times as much 🤷🤦‍♂️ You know that saying about assuming? Cuz you've officially made you and me a behind

[@wadeh777]

@@cryptofacts4u exactly you left for more money unions keep everyone just at poverty level was a union member for 20 years in drywall started my own shop non union make way more pay my guys way better all my crew is the hardest working guys the union had that turned there back on them when they got hurt and ruled in favor of the owners. So the screw the union screw the union reps they only out for themselves

[@cryptofacts4u]

@@wadeh777 not really 🤷 I was a young 20-year-old and it was a grocery store I moved on to a higher paying career in sales. We made more than the non-union grocery store employees, and we actually got breaks and lunches, and our schedules were protected, no last minute changes by mgmt. But if you think me leaving the grocery store Union speaks volumes then does the fact that I'm going into plumbing now and entering the plumbers union also speak volumes? Or is that one quieter since it doesn't make a point for you?

[@kb-eu8pz]

Billy never disappoints! WORKING CLASS OF THE WORLD, OF ALL COLORS, UNITE!!!

[@tommycoopersmagiccarpetwea817]

. . . and join a union. . . Zzzzzzz!

[@saltdoll5288]

Huh. And yet, I’m disappointed.

[@crabapples1995]

Jahh😂

[@berndgruner8510]

Danke für den Song ❤❤❤❤Danke

[@johnosullivan675]

Beau sent me.

[@Neojoe20]

LOL who dislikes a song about getting what your worth? Is there really 7,000 CEOs watching this vid?

[@matthewbelcik843]

Naw its more about an ignorant privileged bob dylan wannabe from a different country appropriating a song from a destitute mill worker from a community suffering via both anti-union capitalist and pro-union exploitation while the cover singer accuses a dude living out of a mobile home of punching down and says he can correct his message, so he can cash in on a man who's actually suffered and a wrote a song millions can relate to- knowing upper-middle class faux elitists will eat it up and act like they aren't part of the problem impoverishing then gentrifying rural communities.

[@wadeh777]

No the most popular song in America is rich men north of Richmond it touched so many of us and this stupid POS billy wants to diss that song, Billy is grasping for straws to make money and using Oliver's song to be relevant so all the dislikes are people that see through billy and his charade

[@TomorrowWeLive]

Nope, just sane people who know history and understand reality

[@elliothill3953]

@@TomorrowWeLivebro is using a Nazi bootlicker as a pfp and thinks he “knows” history. Go back to your bunker

[@varialad]

@@TomorrowWeLive explain what you mean? no hate, just interested in your perspective.

[@janechantler6936]

Great song, Billy. There's a union for everyone. Strength in unity.

[@ДавідБорґ]

Member of Unite Here 11 here, proud union member. The path ahead is daunting but our grandmothers and grandfathers have proven that with great struggle comes a great change.

[@davidgiordano802]

Word. See you in Sacramento. Love you Billy! Thanks for adding the show!

[@StudioGREGORIO]

The People United will never be defeated.

[@wadeh777]

With clowns like billy Bragg around they will never unite that POS is nothing out a corporate sell out

[@jamesbrand7075]

Never. ✊🚩

[@alma175w]

Always right for the moment - Billy Bragg doesn’t disappoint.

[@3asyprint]

umm I think the Oliver Anthonys song is right for the moment no idea why it needed a rebuttal

[@SkyrimFanForever1]

@@3asyprintbecause many people disagreed with its message. It has a negative conception in it if welfare and doesn’t offer any significant solutions. Notice how it get people say how much rich people such but not what to do in response. There’s something missing in the song and it has flawed messaging in many peoples eyes. You might disagree but notice how many people find there to be something lacking in Anthony’s song

[@sweatt4237]

@@SkyrimFanForever1 You are like an abused wife that doesn't know why she is always covered in bruises.

[@christiancamlin13]

Oliver Anthony's song expresses something genuine. The problem is it offers no solutions. Worse it encourages poor people to blame other poor people for their problems. Billy Bragg offers a way to actually do something constructive and doesn't blame other victims of the rich for their problems. Doesn't it seem a little ironic that Mr Anthony criticized 300 pounds.pound welfare mothers when he himself appears to weigh about 300 pounds? Joining a union won't solve everything. That said if the working class and poor can unite and hold the upper crust accountable some of these problems can me solved.

[@crabapples1995]

@@SkyrimFanForever1 a lot of pathetic naive idiots.

[@DonJorgeRM]

Wish more folks would listen ti this. The distractions we're given are exactly that, distractions while we're kept down. People ask why nothing ever changes? It's because we've never focused on the things that actually matter. Unionize.

[@thesentientcarrot9409]

I would say the opposite. Unionizing is a distraction, its just directing revolutionary energy into accepting longer chains and bigger cages.

[@barbaralee6410]

Solidarity Forever!

[@matelot22]

Thanks for the song Billy. 'There's power in a factory, power in the land. Power in the hand of the worker.'

[@bernburn11]

'But it all amounts to nothing If together we don't stand There is power in a Union'

[@heynowls3058]

Unions!

[@rommadsen6443]

I just heard Ken Burns saying how important to history the dawn of the US was/is. I wonder if guilds and unions aren't almost as important. I'm just mulling this over.

[@themechkid5704]

Fantastic!

[@OneOopsimath]

Appreciate the contribution

[@BeauoftheFifthColumn]

Love it

[@JoshuaShepherd]

August 24, 2023: Lockheed Martin, Stratford, CT was awarded a $2.7 Billion-with-a-B taxpayer dollar contract for war helicopters. A separate $315M contract goes to Lockheed’s Littleton, CO facility for missile flight tests. Jingo reactionaries shalt not utter a disparaging word about their war daddies.

[@BeardOfRiker]

Who’s here because of Beau Of The Fifth Column?

[@marcoitalico7424]

good call, bet i'm not the only one!

[@nicoleurbach2861]

Here!

[@tommypotteiger135]

Here.

[@davepushka8513]

Here

[@Pumpeduse]

❤❤❤ Billy 4-ever ! Looking forward to seeing him in Antwerp!

[@tombohler6349]

It’s interesting how many comments parrot the focus-group refined talking points of America’s billionaire oligarchy.

[@sheavague7058]

People will read your comment to assert their own opinion.

[@idontagree9658]

Interesting or obviously bad AI comment bot programming?

[@richardgraham7055]

Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed): “The oppressed, having internalized the image of the oppressor and adopted his guidelines, are fearful of freedom.” Frantz Fanon: “A government or a party gets the people it deserves and sooner or later a people gets the government it deserves.” Aldous Huxley ‘After Many a Summer Dies the Swan’: “…you can’t help if they persist in the course of behaviour which originally got them into their trouble. For example, you can’t preserve people from the horrors of war if they won’t give up the pleasures of nationalism. You can’t save them from slumps and depressions so long as they go on thinking exclusively in terms of money and regarding money as the supreme good. You can’t avert revolution and enslavement if they will identify progress with the increase of centralization and prosperity with the intensifying of mass production. You can’t preserve them from their collective madness and suicide if they persist in paying divine honours to ideals which are merely projections of their own personalities - in other words, if they insist on worshiping themselves…” H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956): “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents… the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

[@amaresmom4249]

So glad someone said it out loud. BTW I don't like this song

[@joshlitman8310]

@@idontagree9658 you are a bot. A left leaning one I’m sure

[@Lockettlovely]

Beau sent me and im glad😊

[@earlw33]

Workers are what makes everything possible! Together we have strength in making our lives better! In solidarity with all my brothers and sisters!

[@CARLMILLER-fu4ic]

“Workers” is the key word. Damn all the unemployed stealing my tax dollars. There are jobs out there. Get a job

[@WillGriffith7654]

@@CARLMILLER-fu4ic You are laying blame on the wrong side. They are not the ones stealing your tax dollars, and don't let the billionaires convince you otherwise. Fight to make the rich pay their fair share, not to make the downtrodden feel worse for trying to survive with what little scraps they are given.

[@CARLMILLER-fu4ic]

I think you’re wrong my friend. How can we even mention fair share when your so called “down trodden” get by for free? Welfare is expensive - and provided too freely. The unemployed on welfare are in no way downtrodden. They have more benefits than me from this society. Unions take your money a provide it to political campaigns without asking which campaign you’d like the money to go to. That’s corruption. Once a company unionizes, if you don’t pay your dues they fire you. They take you money and buy politicians - and if you don’t want to be part of it you get fired. That’s tyranny

[@idontagree9658]

Is "unemployed" a euphenism for investor who does no work, just pokes buy/sell/trade buttons? Nil on the Head, Carl! They do waste a border wall full of tax dollars...

[@CARLMILLER-fu4ic]

If that investor is receiving a welfare check - sure. Otherwise no. Border is a separate problem that I’m not sure how to fix. However, it is strange that fans of Unions would want to bring in more workers. More workers in the pool of labor drives down wages through more lower class competition for jobs. Open borders empower the upper class. It makes it more profitable for a guy to get welfare than to do construction. We don’t need more workers. We need to make it more profitable to work than to sit on your butt with a government check coming monthly. You want wages to go up? Stop the flow of cheap labor coming in from outside the US. Then business will have no choice but to pay workers more.

[@psychicbyinternet]

Nice reworking. I agree, unions are good. They're the whole reason we have things like breaks, weekends, holidays, 40 hour weeks instead of 80 hour weeks and benefits.

[@nonnyena4267]

Who else came here from _Beau of the Fifth Column's_ 8/26/23 3p.m. post & recommendation? Hey from MO Bootheel!

[@BeauoftheFifthColumn]

I did. 😆 🤣

[@nonnyena4267]

Thanks for that! 😂 [i always tell folk when they've been a Goddess-wink for me. This was definitely one & i sorely needed it: so thanks, too, for the unintended... _dividend.]_

[@littlebitofhope1489]

[@claireduston5177]

Howdy there, Beau Peeps. 👋🏻

[@anotherkenlon]

Together we bargain, alone we beg.

[@Gamingderpmonglers]

Look at all the sad business owners disliking this amazing song that heard the new NLRB news 😂😂

[@tombrown4683]

Poor babies ! Maybe they need to get back on the job - remember what it was like, IF they ever knew !

[@sirbarnabyst.johntoffingto9017]

Tis so, but I still prefer the impassioned Anthony Oliver delivery.

[@bubabubu6088]

Sam Seder was talking about this. I follow Billy Bragg for quite some time now but this one i missed. Classic! Thanks Billy!

[@allisonpharr7230]

Love it, thank you Billy Bragg. "We ain't going to punch down on those who need a bit of understanding and some solidarity." In solidarity with union workers and low income people everywhere!

[@SydneyBristow0788]

I would totally punch down on someone milking a system - living off someone else's wages when the person that earned the money in the first place can't afford what they are buying the person on welfare. By the very nature of stealing this song from a poor man - Billy is the one punching down..

[@AJ-ii6fu]

@@SydneyBristow0788Most welfare recipients are working. They’re simply making too little to avoid needing subsidies. You’re not subsidizing the working poor; your subsidizing the wage theft by those signing the paychecks. It’s misdirected anger.

[@idontagree9658]

Imagine your company reporting your debts, alongside their own. Before whats called "profits". What would that look like? You know, just one ledger.

[@SydneyBristow0788]

@@AJ-ii6fu it's directed at people milking the system, not people needing actual assistance who also get hurt by people milking thr system.

[@Eatinbritches]

​​@@SydneyBristow0788 This is called a "scapegoat", and it's designed to direct your ire away from the people and the system truly responsible for your grievances. ...unless you're genuinely prejudiced, and want a social hierarchy so you have the opportunity to step on people you perceive as beneath you... in which case you can pound salt.

[@spruce381]

Man, can’t believe how much Union hate there appears to be in US reactions to this z Billy. Union gives me sick pay, holidays, good payrise and safe working conditions.

[@Davesknd]

50 years of constant indroctrination. Reagan and Thatcher did a horrifyingly terrific job

[@edcolton8385]

Solidarity 👏

[@albertcapley6894]

This warms my Wobbly heart.

[@standinstann]

This is the best rejoinder to anything I've ever heard. Thank you Billy. 😊

[@unmanageable68]

Thank you!

[@michellem2892]

THANK YOU BILLY BRAGG! PERFECT SONG! YOU AND WOODY GUTHRIE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT WE ALL NEEDED! (And for what it’s worth, I’m a sister who’s a TEAMSTER, proud member of Local 695 in Madison, Wisconsin : D

[@DrHotWarLove]

‘Like’ if Beau of the Fifth Column directed you here.

[@s.m.9803]

Great response to Oliver Anthony's song with lot of empathy. It's unfortunate that the young singer is caught between Republican-Democrat shadowboxing, when both these parties have failed their people miserably.

[@Degee5585]

UAW Local 12 member and I approve this song!

[@casperkasparov302]

Humanity Thanks You

[@TravelingHat]

Howdy there internet people ;)

[@TheDivayenta]

You just got my subscription on this alone!!!

[@noelmayeske2480]

Really strong song - one that espouses themes Billy Bragg's been singing about for a long time before the current hit song it responds to. Well done.

[@justinallen4903]

Hell yeah!

[@ellegaunt]

Aw Billy Bragg. Thank you for adding your comments and art to the discourse.

[@glanmiregal6513]

Listening from Oz thanks to Hamish. You still roaring and we hear. Mighty .

[@WayneJetski_]

This is his interpretation of Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony in case anyone hasn't heard the inspiration. It's worth a listen.

[@arsenicjones9125]

Yeah. It’s credited in the video description.

[@WayneJetski_]

@@arsenicjones9125 Nice. I should read those more often.

[@Vipre-]

The actual term is an "Answer Song" rather than interpretation. First example that came to mind for me was "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" performed by Kitty Wells in 1952

[@mariag.8242]

Oliver is an angry worker and he was mad at politicians but also those who have to live on government benefits and victims in other countries (obese people on SNAP and Epstein’s trafficked girls.) Bragg is reminding us who our real opponents are, and where our strength lies.

[@Vipre-]

@@mariag.8242 He's not mad AT the people who have to live on benefits, he's mad at how underfunded and mismanaged the programs are as a method to KEEP people stuck there.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

Celebrating the new NLRB ruling!!! 🔨 ⚙️ 🧑🏽‍🌾💪🏽

[@DeborahLagutaris]

As a longtime labor activist this song makes me cry. It's beautiful.

[@elwoodbluesmorris2120]

Try watching and listening to the original song, the one he has sh*t on.

[@fredh1720]

​@@elwoodbluesmorris2120the one that blames poor people for living badly and getting themselves in their situation in the first place? Or the one blaming the rich? I know which I'll go for

[@elwoodbluesmorris2120]

@@fredh1720 One that sings about his own feelings, and one that criticises that same person and rips his song off for the fun of it.

[@fredh1720]

​@@elwoodbluesmorris2120He wrote an article in the Guardian about doing this. If you think he's ripping it off, you're either being stupid or deliberately obtuse. Those are the options. You choose. If your union song is finding fans in the right wing, then it's clearly not good enough!

[@dalilahrambo6826]

@@fredh1720 Deliberately obtuse, obviously.

[@Gurkha73able]

Never listen to a billionaire who says that he's "Just like you"

[@kimberlybrungardt2714]

I actually worked for a company that gave us a fair shake because they were afraid of their workforce unionizing.

[@th3jerseydevil189]

And that when you thank the union.

[@jonnyhailey]

No nonsense lyrics, clear message. Love it Billy ❤

[@tommycoopersmagiccarpetwea817]

But 2 out of 10 for originality, eh?

[@tommycoopersmagiccarpetwea817]

@flwrfan1752 was thinking more about the lyrical content . . . Join a union. Fight for better pay. Etc

[@flwrfan1752]

@@tommycoopersmagiccarpetwea817-No different than the Anthony song in that way.Both songs talk about universal ideas.

[@tylerbeller9025]

@@flwrfan1752well except this one is correct and that one is stupid as hell.

[@flwrfan1752]

@@tylerbeller9025 -Please tell more people that.There are people crying in reaction videos to Anthony’s song.on KZbin.Some people want it to be our National Anthem( the Anthony song).That Anthony song upset me so much I couldn’t eat my fudge rounds!Just using some humor there.

[@Brian-bw3uu]

Billy Bragg with the elbow from the sky! Didn't see that coming. Anyway I hope Billy sees Anthony's video condemning the embrace of his song by the far-right and Republican politicians. My reaction to the song was the same as Billy's but dude may be redeemable lol

[@njw_williams]

Local28 representing!!!

[@elisebryant6595]

Woo hoo! Thank you, Billy! Woody, Pete, and Florence are singing your praises in union heaven!!

[@vraifille]

Bwahahah.

[@flwrfan1752]

@@vraifille-Ignorant ass

[@JimHolder-pk2kk]

Yep, so many good people have passed on before NLRB finally made the new rule to stop union busting employers!

[@casperkasparov302]

So True. Vote Blue. Unionize!

[@kimthomas781]

❤❤❤

[@FernandoDenise2558]

Blues don’t work for you. They’re in billionaire pockets too.

[@lindabuzgheia5762]

My Union just got me an 18% raise and more money for health benefits. Thank you CSEA!!

[@jizburg]

There is power in a union

[@asimovstarling8806]

Finally. The unionized America That my parents and grandparents Used to Sell the American Dream to me might actually return.

[@joshuamilar2636]

Didn’t see anything from my somewhat brief scroll through the comments, but this is what people should be listening to instead of that other song that just came out.

[@TUSK1157]

🐂💩

[@terriwindling8999]

Love you, Billy. Thank you for this.

[@tommurphy5199]

Right on point. Thank you.

[@ryanfoxsongs]

Bang on the money once again Billy ❤

[@orenashkenazi9813]

Thankyou for this, it was really good to hear after some of the, shall we say poorly conceived lines in the original song.

[@stardropkru5700]

Right? The original had so much potential. It's like, he was so close and then just... missed the point totally

[@agluebottle]

Our only options are to organize or lick boots.

[@northuniverse]

Lots of boot lickers angry here.

[@spintax1639]

Or you could develop some skill that is useful to society. Start by shaving off that scraggly beard and taking a shower, ya filthy commie.

[@Peach-f4h]

How do you organize people who hate one another?

[@lindabergman3127]

Keep speaking truths to lies🎉🎉🎉

[@lindabergman3127]

@@Peach-f4hspeaking truths to lies🔥🔥🔥

[@kevindevine5102]

Thanks Billy

[@erinlyndalmartin9225]

We are so lucky to have you. Thank you!

[@timothymorrison5918]

Hey there, Internet People.

[@sensorycircuits1338]

At a certain point wealth is not about money & the things you can buy, it's about power & access to it.

[@trathmutters1144]

Which is how and why Capitalism is destroying a habitable planet.

[@seanhurley9216]

Great observation

[@MoDonJon]

Unions are democracy in the workplace. Anyone who fights them is fighting against democracy for working people. LOVE this SONG! You done Woddy proud.

[@SydneyBristow0788]

Oliver Anthony's original is much much better.