Songs for the Great Recession

CEO Can You Spare a Job
("Brother Can You Spare a Dime" butchered by the Misanthrope with apologies to Yip Harburg)

They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there were cars to build or computers to assemble
I was always there right on the job

They used to tell me I was building a dream
With gold and riches ahead
Why should I be sleeping in my car
Just gonna end up dead?

Once I built houses, I made them strong
Made them stand against the rain
Once I built homes, now they’re empty
CEO, can you spare a job, I have a brain

Once I invested on Wall Street
401s, stocks and bonds
Once I invested, now they are bailed out
Hey Hank Paulson, I failed too?

Once in three-piece suits, gee we looked cool
Full of hopes for the American dream
Now half a million dollars in debt
I was the loyal serf, now it’s me and Jim Beam

Say, don't you remember, they called me "valuable"
I was MVP all the time
Why don't you remember, I‘m expendable now
Say boss, can you spare a job

There may be hope on the horizon, but in the meantime, we watch unemployment benefits try up and wait for the home foreclosure bomb to hit here are a few songs contemporary and from the Great Depression to accompany us through the rough times.

1. The Poorhouse – Boxmasters
2. Help the Poor – Eric Clapton & B.B. King
3. Foreclosure Blues – Jerry Raven & Tom Naples
4. Pay Me My Money Down – Bruce Springsteen
5. Busted by Ray Charles from Ray Sings, Basie Swings
6. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime – Dave Brubeck
7. Low Budget -- The Kinks
   
8. Land of Broken Promises – Elvis Costello & Allen Toussain
9. God’s Away on Business – Tom Waits
10. We Can’t Make it Here – James McMurtry
11. Detroit Moan -- Victoria Spivey
12. Money – Pink Floyd
    
13. If You Have the Money, I Have the Time – Willie Nelson
14. It's Money That I Love --Randy Newman
15. It's Money That Matters -- Randy Newman
16. Money (That's What I Want) -- John Lennon
17. How Can a Poor Man Stand such Time and Live -- Bruce Springsteen
18. Poorhouse – Traveling Wilburys (Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, Roy Obison)
19. Are You Making Any Money? -- Chick Bullock And His Levee Loungers
20. Gloomy Sunday – Billie Holiday