Jobie Reviews Music 36: I Will Win: Song of the Wobblies. Requested by F63,
- ChemicalSkylines
- Mar 9, 2021
- 2 min read
I Will Win: Songs of the Wobblies is a 1977 folk(?) album by Joe Glazer. The album contains 12 tracks, lasting a total of 38 minutes. The album’s main focus is the values of the Industrial Workers of the World, an international labor union that was founded in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. The group was mainly known for its heavy usage of songs to spread its messages, and is described by some as using “revolutionary industrial unionism”.
With that out of the way, the album contains tracks that pertain to their ideals. For example, in the track “The Rebel Girl”, the singer sings about there needing to be more women in the workforce (at the time the IWW was active, this would’ve been a very hot take to say), which was one of the things that IWW believed in. Another example is in “Boom Went the Boom”, which talks of the consequences of not “organizing” in order to spread a message.
The album also highlights the many things workers back in the days of the IWW went through, including countless hours of work and organizing for their cause. The album’s second to last track, “Ralph Chaplin Speaks”, is just that. Ralph Chaplin talks of many things the album had already spoken of, including the need for women in the workforce, and how it’s better today, how much suffering workers went through during that time, and generally his speech recaps all of the album’s main themes. It is the only track to include a speech of this sort, but it doesn’t feel out of place. In fact, it fits right in with the themes established by the album by this point in it.
Another thing of note is that the IWW is often linked to anarcho-syndicalism (you can look that one up online, or else this review won’t even be talking about the music anymore), along with socialist ideas. Their motto was “An Injury to One is an Injury to All”, which highlighted their goals.
Some of the best tracks of the album include “Boom Went the Boom”, “The Rebel Girl”, “Joe Hill”, and “Solidarity Forever”.
Overall, this album was interesting to listen to just for the subject matter alone. As for the music? It’s reminiscent of artists like Tennessee Ernie Ford, who had a very similar style of recounting stories with his songs. While I did not enjoy this album as much as some of Ford’s, it’s still a good album to listen to in order to pass the time.
Overall rating:
8.3/10
LINK TO ALBUM:
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