Too Old to Work: Joe Glazer, Labour Music, and Occupational Pensions

Abstract

From the 1940s to 2000s, musician and union educator Joe Glazer earned the moniker ‘Labor’s Troubadour’ by composing, performing, studying, and recording work and union songs. Although less well known outside of labour circles than Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger, Glazer’s music told the history of, and provided a soundtrack for, many struggles of the twentieth century US labour movement. In 1950, Glazer wrote ‘Too Old to Work,’ a protest song inspired by the United Automobile Workers’ campaign for occupational pensions. Four days after the song was adopted by striking Chrysler workers in Michigan, the manufacturer gave in to the union’s demands. The song was soon picked up by an array of organisers, educators, politicians, and musicians, becoming arguably the most significant ‘pension song’ in the US labor movement. Drawing analytical tools from age studies, labour studies, and folklore studies, this interdisciplinary study examines the genealogy, aesthetic, impact, and legacy of ‘Too Old to Work’ in the US and beyond. As well as re-evaluating Glazer’s influential, if underappreciated career, this article unpacks some of the complexities of autoworkers’ post-war pension campaign, draws attention to autoworker music, and outlines a remarkably rich transatlantic tradition of pension- and age-related labour music.

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