Well, I hope everyone else is having a great, sunny labor day, because down here in South Florida we're getting hit by a tropical storm. Lots of rain and wind, no real danger but it somewhat limits my options today. So here I am, staying in on my day off, presenting you some tunes. Today's theme is that of labor, what keeps the world turning. 

First up I wanted to find a metal song about working a day job, but to my surprise and frustration, there's not really a lot of those, at least not a lot of good ones. So here's a song whose lyrics are malleable and vague enough to interpret as an indictment of 9-5 jobs: In Flames' "Superhero of the Computer Rage." 

Next is a song that everyone has certainly heard hundreds of times, but which should not be any more worn out for that. You've likely also heard the (arguably better) Tina Turner cover, but when I searched the song, the CCR version came up first, so I'm going with that. This is "Proud Mary" by Credence Clearwater Revival. 

Next is a song from one of my favorite rappers, Aesop Rock. This hit came from perhaps his best album ("Labor Days"), one dedicated entirely to the American worker. This is "Labor." 

And last up is a song whose lyrics anyone can relate to. "Custom Concern" by Modest Mouse features such lines as "I get up / just about noon / my head sends a message for me to reach for my shoes / and then walk / gotta go to work gotta go to work gotta have a job" that cut right to the tedium of ordinary life, and combined with a somber guitar track makes for a song that's wistful, sad, and somehow inspiring as well, with other lines like "message read on the bathroom wall / it says / I don't feel / at all like I fall" (meaning: I don't feel down, even though I keep falling)