The Monday’s Music Moves Me theme today is focused on the holiday we’re celebrating in the US: Labor Day. And for most people, Labor Day marks the end of Summer. So I put together two separate playlists: one with songs that capture the essence of carefree summer days coming to an end, crowded beaches emptying and summer romances fading into bittersweet memories; the other features songs that celebrate the working man and woman, honoring the contributions American workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.
First up is my End of Summer Playlist. I started my last 4M post with a Sly & the Family Stone song and I’m kicking this playlist off with another great by the group known to have had significant impact on the development of funk music.
END OF SUMMER PLAYLIST track listing:
Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly & the Family Stone
Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams
Summer’s Almost Gone by The Doors
See You in September by The Happenings
Harvest Moon by Neil Young
Summer Nights by John Travolta and Olivia Newton John from the 1978 musical romantic comedy Grease
Cruel Summer by Bananarama
All Summer Long by the Beach Boys
Summer is Over by Jon McLaughlin with Sara Barielles
So Long Sweet Summer by Dashboard Confessional
Indian Summer by Al Stewart
Night Moves by Bob Seger
Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day
Tim McGraw by Taylor Swift
Summer Skin by Death Cab for Cutie
Boys of Summer by Don Henley
Famous Last Words by Billy Joel
Summer Rain by Johnny Rivers
Here’s my Labor Day Playlist, with songs celebrating American workers. And because I proudly come from this background, most of these songs focus on the blue-collar worker.
LABOR DAY PLAYLIST track listing:
Workin’ for a Livin’ by Huey Lewis and the News
9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
Car Wash by Rose Royce
Blue Collar Man by Styx
Working in a Coal Mine by Lee Dorsey (1966)
Wichita Lineman by Glen Campbell (1968 performance): RIP GLEN CAMPBELL
She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer
Manic Monday by The Bangles
Livin’ on a Prayer by Bon Jovi
Turn the Page by Bob Seger
Roll On (18-Wheeler) by Alabama
Working Man Blues by Merle Haggard
American Soldier by Toby Keith
40-Hour Week (For a Livin’) by Alabama
Allentown by Billy Joel
Factory by Bruce Springsteen
Working Man by Rush
Working in a Coal Mine by Devo (1981)
Coal Miner’s Daughter by Loretta Lynn
Working at the Car Wash Blues by Jim Croce
Working for the Man by Ray Orbison
Detroit City by Bobby Bare
Sixteen Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford
Sixteen Tons by ZZ Top with Jeff Beck
Chain Gang by Sam Cooke
Working for the Japanese by Ray Stevens
Working Day & Night by Michael Jackson
Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man by Travis Tritt
Takin’ Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Working Girl by Cher
Take This Job and Shove It by Johnny Paycheck
Whether you’re mourning the end of summer or reveling in Labor Day festivities, I hope you enjoy both of my playlists. Which is your favorite End of Summer song and why? What Labor Day song speaks to you most? Leave a comment below and share your favorite Summer/Labor Day songs.
Monday’s Music Moves Me (4M) is a blog hop hosted by X-Mas Dolly, and co-hosted by JAmerican Spice, Stacy Uncorked and Curious as a Cathy. Be sure to stop by the hosts and visit the other participants.
Angels Bark 
Hi, Michele!
You got this topic covered but good, ladyfriend! I appreciate your use of a play list because I had no problem at all with the page jumping up and down as it sometimes does when it contains a large number of embedded videos. These tandem play lists triggered a hundred memories and I enjoyed reviewing songs about the end of summer and the American worker.
In the late 60s I was still primarily a singles record collector. I didn’t own many albums and didn’t know many album tracks. I knew The Family Stone from their string of exciting singles. They were Mrs. S #1’s favorite band at the time. By the time “Hot Fun” was released, the funky band was on a roll with hit singles that boasted great A’s along with some killer B’s. The mid tempo number featured here, “Hot Fun,” followed their uptempo hits “Dance To The Music,” “Life” b/w “M’Lady” (the latter perhaps my favorite song by the band), another double-sider – “Everyday People” b/w “Sing A Simple Song,” and the monster 45 “Stand” b/w “I Want To Take You Higher.” This single, “Hot Fun,” was followed by another great two-sider, the rollicking “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin” b/w “Everybody Is A Star.” What a great run of hit sides for The Family Stone!
“Summer of ’69” is a great one by Bryan Adams and I had the biggest crush on Lysette Anthony, the beautiful English actress and model who played “the girl” in three Bryan Adams videos – “Heaven”, “Run to You” and this one, “Summer of ’69.” “Summer Nights” from Grease reminds me that I recently read that Libby Newton-John has returned to performing after her latest medical setback. I was happy to hear it. The vid for “Cruel Summer” was a biggie on the MTV station where I worked at the time as was Henley’s vid for “Boys Of Summer.” “All Summer Long” reminds me of the distinctive closing credits of one of my favorite movies American Graffiti. “Summer Rain” is one of my very favorite songs by one of my very favorite artists – Johnny Rivers.
You rounded up some fine working man (and woman) anthems. “9 To 5” was a great movie and I always enjoy listening to Dolly’s theme song. For decades the only two Rose Royce songs I knew were “Car Wash” and “I Wanna Get Next To You.” Research for my Shady Train series changed that. I discovered several RR recordings that I like even more. Stay tuned. I enjoyed Lee Dorsey’s hit “Working in a Coal Mine” and the Devo cover. My Pick To Click for your entire post, however, is the exciting cover of “Sixteen Tons” by ZZ Top with Jeff Beck. The original you posted by Tennessee Ernie Ford was a 45 my parents owned. It played at our house many times when I was a child. I never heard this ZZ Top/Beck cover before and it is a killer! “Chain Gang’ is another great “hard labor” song. It was nice of you to remember the late, great Glen Campbell by posting a performance of his hit “Wichita Lineman.”
Thank you very much, dear friend Michele, and have a wonderful week!
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Hey Tom,
Thanks for your great comment. Hoping all is well with you and Kathryn out there in FL. Will hope to hear from you soon!
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I am always blown away by your posts but I think those playlists outdid any music post I’ve ever read from you. My absolute end of summer song is A Summer Song by Chad and Jeremy – I could listen to it, over and over, for ours. For working, so many – Car Wash Blues, 9 to 5, 16 Tons (Tennessee Ernie Ford) are some. Again, in awe of you!
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Aw, thanks Alana! You’re so sweet! I so appreciate you.
I’m so glad you featured Chad & Jeremy’s Summer Song in your post: what a great song. It’s so light and airy and summery.
Hope you’re having a great weekend…
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What great playlists! I’d have to think hard to come up with something you may have left out. That would be too much work, so I won’t. Happy Labor Day!
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Hey there Janet. Thanks for coming by to check out my Labor Day post. It seems like forever ago…it’s been one crazy week. Hope you had a good holiday and hope this here weekend was a great one for you too!
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Wow! What a play list. You sure out did yourself with great songs. I have a personal vendetta against Brian Adams and his nasty responses to a friend. Although he is a talented artist, I can’t stand him as a person.
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Really??? Oh Joyce, do tell! Sounds juicy! I remember when I first started getting into Bryan Adams: I was in college and it was his Cuts Like a Knife album. I listened to that over and over. You’re right: he is a talented artist but if he’s a jerk, all that talent doesn’t matter.
Thanks for coming by. And if you feel like sharing, I’d love to hear… 🙂
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How long have you been working on these playlists? You have about 2-3 hours of music here! Amazing… There are a lot of great songs here! Nice job!
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Oh thanks John! I appreciate that. Not sure how long it took me to put all that together but it was awhile. I haven’t even started on tomorrow’s 9-11 post so that will be a short one.
Thanks for coming by.
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Dang girl, you have rocked the house once again! I totally agree with John here because this is lot of listening for sure! Never a dull moment here that’s for sure & I say GREAT job!!! HAPPY LABOR DAY!
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Hey Marie! Thanks Sister! Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. I had a crazy week and am just now getting to respond to the comments. Hope you had a great holiday and another great weekend.
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Two excellent lists! “Summer of ’69” particular brought back memories–not the song so much as that actual time. That was my summer after I graduated from high school. Worked my first hard-work job to make money to pay for college later that fall. Somehow there seemed to always be time for fun even though I was working 8 hour days. Oh for that energy now!
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out
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Oh my gosh, I know what you mean. How I yearn for the energy I had back then! I don’t know how we did it. I was so busy with college and studying and projects, plus I worked THREE part-time jobs and STILL had time to party. I partied like crazy back then and still got a 3.6 gpa. I don’t know how. I must not have slept at all… Now I’m hitting the sack so early it’s often still daylight out! 🙂
Thanks for coming by.
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Michele,
You amaze me! How on earth do you do this? I mean two incredible playlists to fit either theme which blows me away. All I gotta do is hit play and enjoy. I so love that! I can leave your tunes playing while I do whatever floats my boat. Thanks for rockin’ the dance floor with goodbyes to summer and a great big hail to the working class. These are the folks who built this great country!! Have a tunetastic week, my friend1
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Thanks so much Cathy! I’m so glad that you liked my playlists. My 9-11 post isn’t going to be great though because I haven’t even started on it yet. I was going to skip it but I like the theme so I’m going to try to throw something together…
See ya tomorrow!
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Michele, as much as I never want to forget that horrible day, I hate the deep sorrow surrounding it. I’d rather dance to happier mewsic, but like I said I don’t want to forget it. None of us should! I’m sure what ever you share will be purrfect.
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Your playlists put mine to shame! Such great songs and right on topic. I hope your holiday weekend was good. Mine wasn’t too bad. Worked on Saturday, and then slept in on Monday. I’m regretting that sleeping in, though as it’s taking me forever to get caught up! But I will admit – it did feel good! Have a great week, Michele! Hope you stop by and visit my Thursday post 🙂
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Hey Mary, Thanks! I love sleeping in. I did that today in fact. I needed it. Didn’t get up til noon. It has been a crazy week and I’m just not getting to respond to the comments from Labor Day. I haven’t made it over to your Thursday post yet but I’ll head there now! See you over there…
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Seriously you are on point girl! How do you get it all done like this! I love it. Great selections! Thank you.
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Thanks Colette! It was fun putting it together. When I like a theme I enjoy immersing myself in it so I’m really happy when others like it. So thank you! My post for tomorrow is going to be lame though. Haven’t even started it. Been a crazy long week…
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What awesome playlists. My favorites are there: See you in September and Wichita Lineman. How we will miss Glen Campbell!
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Hey Paula! Good to see you. I need to get over to your place. I’ve been so outrageously busy getting my Mom settled. She just moved here and it’s been a lot getting everything set up for her. She’s stressed, I’m stressed but I told her last night that everything should settle down and in about a month, all will be in place and we can relax finally. I’ll be sure to come by and visit this week.
And you’re right about Glen Campbell. Was such a shame what he went through these last few years. But he sure did leave a musical legacy. Wichita Lineman is one of my absolute favorites by him…
Thanks for coming by! I’ll look forward to checking out what you’ve been up to lately…
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So many great song choices! Thanks so much for sharing – and for the dance! 🙂
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Hey Stacy. Thanks for coming by! Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you had a good weekend…. See ya on the dance floor!
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A lot of excellent songs there, MICHELE.
Growing up in “Dogtown” (Santa Monica / Venice, California) every Summer was spent at the beach. We probably went to the beach 5 out of 7 days a week during each Summer.
But later, when I started having to work 40-hours a week to support myself, all the charm and playfulness of Summer went out the window. From then on I just found it long and hot, and I looked forward to Fall, which is now my favorite time of year.
But back in the day, the words Summer, Fun, and Innocence almost seemed synonymous, and that’s the reason I chose my favorite Sly And The Family Stone song to lead off [Link:) This Blog Bit.
In the early 1980s, Summer was still magic. I was working for a living, but I was doing it in Hollywood (the film industry), where the money was so good that I only needed to work 2 or 3 days a week to more than “get by”.
Those were my serious partying years with my drinking buddies, The League Of Soul Crusaders. We spent many nights at a dance club called The Music Machine, and the house band always closed their last set of the night with [Link:) SEALED WITH A KISS, a cover of Brian Hyland’s original. That song always makes me reminisce in bittersweet nostalgia.
And here’s a more recent song about “Summer’s Sundown” by one of my all-time, very favorite groups, The Beach Boys:
[Link:) SUMMER’S GONE
Great music, M!
~ D-FensDogG
Ferret-Faced Fascist Friends
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Hey Stephen, Happy Sunday! Thanks for coming by and checking out my playlists. And thanks for adding links to some awesome songs. Sealed with a Kiss is a great song to end the final set …when it started, that was the Last Call for Alcohol sign, eh? It is a great song. I hadn’t heard it in so long.
And thanks for the intro to Summer’s Gone by the Beach Boys. Never heard it before.
And your post: my Mom and I were just talking about that End of Times topic this morning as we were discussing Irma. Definitely something to think long and hard about…
Hope you had a good weekend. Can’t believe it’s almost over already…Have a good week. talk soon. Signing off listening to Hot Fun in the Summertime again. That’s one I can play over and over…
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Fantastic list!
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Hi, Michele! I’m still catching up on my blog reading. You have a great list of songs. I think my favorite is “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Green Day is excellent. My daughter saw their stage show of American Idiot when it was in previews in Berkeley (it went on to Broadway). She sat with Billie Joe Armstrong’s mom and son.
Love,
Janie
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