1. The Hand-Weaver and the Factory Maid
traditional English, early 1800s
A hand-weaver leaves his independent life traveling from job to job to follow his beloved into the mill and weave by steam. His father questions his choice but the weaver declares he and his beloved will keep their shuttles in play as they work side by side.
2. Home, Sweet HomeThis theme song of the 1800s was extremely popular, evoking the ideal of home as a sanctuary where wives and mothers made their families happy. Many women had a less romantic view of home as they struggled to maintain their families, working without compensation at arduous, never-ending tasks. Millwork paid better than anything else a woman could do, but it took over your life with bells ringing the start of the workday at 5 am. The shifts were 14 hours long, six days a week.
3. Doffin' Mistress
trad. English and American.
The name of the woman in charge of the youngest workers was swapped out as this song traveled from mill to mill. She oversaw those who removed, or "doffed," full bobbins and put in empty ones, a simple task often done by children. Anne Jane was apparently both good at her work and a kind mistress.
4. Song of the Spinners The Lowell Offering, 1841.These two songs appeared in a magazine created by millworkers that was published from 1840 to 1845 in Lowell. They are the only pieces of music in the magazine. The sweet, simple harmonies are so very Victorian.
6. A Silver Dagger
trad. English.
In a song surely known and sung by millworkers, a mother takes drastic action to prevent her daughter from being betrayed, as she herself was by the girl's father.
7. The Blue-Tail FlyA popular minstrel-show song. Its subversive joy at the master’s demise surely appealed to millworkers suffering under oppressive bosses.
8. You Might Easy Know a DofferDoffers tended to be young and fresh, whereas your average weaver was quite worn out. Thanks to Pixabay for the sound effects recreating a street in Belfast.
9. The Old Folks at HomeRemoving racist lyrics lifts this song above its time and place, so that it becomes a universal longing for beloved family left behind. Some millworkers had family back on the farm, while others yearned for loved ones far across the ocean.
10. The Four-Loom WeaverThe U.S. Civil War blockade stopped Southern cotton shipments to English mills, which depended on them. Mills closed, throwing thousands out of work. A four-loom weaver held the top job and made good money, but this one fears that he and his family will clem, or starve. "Waterloo soup" was mostly water.
11. Hard Times Come Again No MoreMillworkers' gains were constantly undone by economic slowdowns, and an endless stream of immigrants were willing to work for very little. The Irish, fleeing the potato famine, were grateful just to not be starving to death.
12. The Factory Girl's Come-All-YeI love it when a song tells you where it's from in the very first line! A shaker was a hat, and the overseer is always worth complaining about, along with the food.
13. MillworkerThis masterpiece makes me think of my grandmother, Cecelia, who fed her children with millwork after my grandfather abandoned the family.
14. Bread and RosesStriking Lowell workers carried signs that read, "We want bread and roses, too," inspired by the words of activist Rose Schneiderman. Their action became known as the Bread and Roses Strike.
15. Raisin PieIn the 1930s my mother would visit her grandparents in Charlton, Massachusetts, where an uncle played the fiddle for dancing. She was just four or five and watched as her relatives danced up and down the kitchen, which was the longest room in the house. Many in that household worked in the Charlton Woolen mill, and my father's family also spent years working there. May they never be forgotten.