Working for Henry

by Jawbone

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$1 USD or more

about

As a kid growing up in the Detroit area, my 5th grade teacher asked the class how many of us had family working in the auto industry. Every kid raised their hand.

The influence the car companies exerted over life in the city for the past 130 years can’t be overstated. And to the extent that they were controlled by any one man, that man would be Henry Ford. If you worked at the Ford Motor Company, you didn’t work at 'Ford', you worked at 'Ford’s', meaning, you worked in a factory owned by 'Henry Ford', the man.

With strict demands on his workers on the job and off, he didn’t make it easy. His utopian ideals, ambition, anti-Jewish propaganda, conspiracy theories, paranoia, spying, oddly peculiar morality and hygiene codes, union-busting tactics, and political influence make today’s billionaire megalomaniacs look like woke namby-pamby schoolboys.

Still, if you could stand the strains, the rules, the foreman, the noise, and the repetitive, mind-numbing tedium, the pay was decent. Maybe you couldn’t go to college, but you could do better than a lot of people who did. You just had to give up a little bit of your dreams. It was the deal with the devil that you made every day.

lyrics

LYRICS

Well Grandpa James and his brothers
They’re working for Henry
My tired old mother
She’s working for Henry
The newlywed lovers
They’re working for Henry
Working for Henry ‘til we die

Oh we're tired when they wake us
Working for Henry
But the old man make us
Working for Henry
Dreaming bout Vegas
Working for Henry
Working for Henry ‘til we die

He’s got the whole town on the payroll
Working for Henry
If you're breathing then you're able
Working for Henry
So grab ahold the cable
Working for Henry
Working for Henry ‘til we die

Oh clang bang hiss
Working for Henry
The super’s got a pistol
Working for Henry
You ain’t allowed to whistle
Working for Henry
Working for Henry ‘til we die

credits

released December 15, 2023
Bob Zabor: piano, guitar, banjo, vocals, drums, percussion, bass

license

about

Jawbone Detroit, Michigan

JAWBONE. IS OVER-DRIVEN, 12 VOLT. ENHANCED. NON-OSCILLATING. SIX STRING. HARMONICANIZED. SLIDE-BLUES. HOLLER STOMPS. OF 2- HEADED DOGS. HANDS WITH 6 FINGERS. TOMBSTONE CHEVYS. JAPANESE ZEROES. HOLY. COCA-COLA. DONKEY OIL. THE GERMAN. FLU. DEATHBED REDEMPTION. RUSSIAN. COAL MINES. AMEN. ... more

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Jawbone

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this track or account

Jawbone recommends:

Babylon Dodge
by Biker Priests

Biker Priests is starting as a collection of cassette 4-track demos that I recorded pre-Jawbone (so, mid-to-late 90s). Some rock and some blues and some plain old songs. The future is uwritten. Jawbone
go to album

If you like Jawbone, you may also like:

Sky Blue
by Townes Van Zandt

An intimate collection of previously-unreleased recordings from the Texan singer-songwriter: first drafts, alternate takes, covers and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 7, 2019
go to album
Jessie Mae Hemphill
by Jessie Mae Hemphill

featured on Bandcamp Radio Dec 6, 2016
go to album
The King's Blues Box
by B.B. King

Cleopatra Blues recently unleashed a barrage of reissued essentials from Bo Diddley, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells, etc. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 7, 2016
go to album
Down Rounder
by Cat Clyde

The Canadian singer marries the sound of classic folk and jazz with a modern-day spin. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 17, 2023
go to album
Rapscallion
by The Murlocs

A concept record about coming-of-age gleefully grifts from all types of rock music, from garage to glam to power pop. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 13, 2022
go to album