There's plenty of songs from people thinking there's a romance in the rough odd jobs, but sometimes you have to hear the banal reality from the people actually doing the work. Case in point: an unsigned IWW poem about being an itinerant logger.
It's up the raft to the
lumber campWith a sick and aching head;
I've blowed another winter's stake,
And got the
jims instead.
It seems I'll never learn the truth
That's written plain as day,
The more they try to welcome you
The more they
make it pay.
And it's "blanket-stiff" and "jungle-hound,"
And "pitch him out the door,"
"Howdy, Jack, old-timer,"
When you've got the price for more.
Oh, the boat is gettin' rocky,
And I ain't got a bunk
Not a rare of cheering likker,
Just a turkey full of junk.
And it's all of my possessions,
Is what I can carry 'round,
I've blowed the rest on
skid-roads,
Of a hundred gyppo towns.
And it's "lumberjack" and "timber-beast,"
And "Give these bums a ride,"
"Have one on the house, old boy,"
When you're stepping with the tide.
And the chokers will be heavy,
Just as heavy, just as cold,
When the hooker gives the high-ball,
And we start to
dig for gold.
And I'll curse the skid-road up and down,
With its rotten, drunken tune,
But then, of course, I'll up and make
Another trip next June.
And it's "blanket-stiff" and "jungle-hound,"
And "pitch him out the door,"
"Howdy, Jack, old-timer,"
When you've got the price for more.
Supposedly the tune was collected by George Milburne for the
Hobo's Hornbook, and is included in the recordings of the
Smithsonian Folkways. But the
only covers I can find for this one are all from
Utah Philips. Well, that's how it goes for a lot of these IWW songs. There'd be less remembered of the original Wobblies without him.