White Collar Holler – Stan Rogers | Hacker News Reader

White Collar Holler – Stan Rogers

youtube.com

99 pointsPhithagoras39 comments

Being used to hear Stan Rogers' voice sing about privateers, whalers and other such things, at first this song felt odd.

After a bit of thought though, I realize there's no reason why that should be the case. Ours is a real life experience that, while not physically demanding or adventurous, isn't less worthy of being captured in song. We have our own experiences of drudgery, adversity, camaraderie that have gone mostly unsung. Thank God we at least had Stan Rogers.

Right on. A lot of sea shanty music in general (like Leave her Johnny) focuses on the hardships of life and difficulties with higher ups and martial relationships -- and what I love about this song is it takes the soul of a sea shanty and puts it to the "tune" of Office Space.

It's probably not surprising that there aren't more songs about white collar work. It's such unrewarding, safe, monotonous drivel. Maybe because we're all too embarrassed to try to romanticize it, and too depressed to make art out of it.

If you ask me about "songs about white collar work", first thing that comes to my mind is this[0] (it's a cover, but I like this one better). It isn't about white collar work, of course, but white collar work is all about that song, I feel. And blue collar and whatever else — it's all about that song. The difference is that "blue collar" is about that song and a little bit of something else — like, you know, "being out in the field under all weather conditions". That's where the romanticism comes from. While "white collar" is only about that song. And pretending you didn't hear it, daily.

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f3BmvVhtW4

I’ve had both white collar jobs and a blue collar job and I experienced more camaraderie while at the blue collar one.

I think it was created by an us vs them mentality (where “them” is management).

We would be out in the field under all weather conditions while management would call and give us orders over the phone from a comfy, climate-controlled office, and then go back to Skyping other office workers (or whatever app it was at the time).

With each of my white collar jobs I’ve had a boss but he sits down the hall from me and we both sit at desks and eat at the same places. There’s less separation, but there’s also less camaraderie among my team.

> I experienced more camaraderie while at the blue collar one.

I've never had blue collar jobs, but I've always suspected that was the case. I think there's less of a "class" consciousness among office workers. We feel like we're better, privileged - why, if we apply ourselves maybe one day we'll get to be bosses and billionaires too. We just have to meritocratically outcompete our peers...

Working folk know better...

I've had blue collar jobs and there is indeed a strong sense of camaraderie. However, if you're not included in this camaraderie for any reason (don't like sports, certain foods, views on certain topics, quiet type that doesn't react well to jokes) it can be hell. I've never felt included in any of my workplaces. I hated watching all of my coworkers jabber for hours on end without me. I hated not being included in after-work activities. With the few work friends I've had, any rift on either end made the relationship unbearable. But now working from home, my friends are friends and my coworkers are coworkers. I never want to two to meet again.

I have to warn you, though, that not all Stans Rogers are pleasant to listen to. I come from a family full of 'em. Might I suggest Garnet or Nathan as an alternative?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Wy7gRGgeA

code monkey think maybe manager wanna write goddamn login page himself

code monkey not say it / out loud

code monkey not crazy / just proud

That video is from a better time on the Internet. A simpler, warmer time. Not to say it was a good time..but a better, less terrible internet than todays.

JoCo's album "Solid State" deals with this topic, it's a great listen.

IMO this version better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W_wd9Qf0IE

That versions so good that I years ago head-canon'd it as the official video. I don't usually care for "AMV" stuff, but that one's perfect.

all hail the one true AMV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziR6oGCUnHQ

downloaded with painfully slow speed, on kazaa, in 2001, overnight.

Any love for Nerdy Boys?

https://youtu.be/QYRpgM5rILc

Nah, we're all bumping Nrrrd Grrrls instead.

https://youtu.be/gzt7jP5XOtM

Heh, this is pretty good. Can't help but notice this is 15 years old though

Barrett's Privateers is fantastic if you haven't heard it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwzRkjn86w

I've always thought of it as a good metaphor for joining a doomed startup

I was just debating with a friend whether that or the Northwest Passage was his more popular song. https://youtu.be/TVY8LoM47xI

We also learned there was a recent power metal cover by Unleash The Archers, which rather surprised me. https://youtu.be/XRD3vrSLPaw

A classic C Shanty.

ytcracker - the link (*bit nerdcore zelda dubstep)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhebl9oD5Lc

ytcracker - meganerd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6zuFDDvjVk

YTcracker - #Antisec (With Lyrics) | cc0de

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDyBIpqZcNI

ytcracker - Bitcoin Baron [Support Internet Freedom]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZfg1Gtcg08

YTCRACKER - IMPRISONED BY THE SYNDICATE + WELCOME TO SAN SECUESTRO (FULL COLOR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ot2FFc_Qq4

Epic Rap Battle: Nerd vs. Geek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tvy_Pbe5NA

Full Stack D - My CV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn4ZlbZZiUM

Crazy to see Stan Rogers on here. I know he had a large sphere of influence, but still wild.

I moved down to his old stomping grounds in Dundas, Ontario at the start of the year and if anyone ever visits you’ll quickly understand how the area could be a great inspiration for folk (and other) artists.

If you’re in Ontario and you enjoy hiking, it’s a worthy stop.

(Maybe off topic, But while I’m here… a couple of other Dundas musical staples: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tVvQUAcf4

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Snaith )

Thought I should add that his son is also a performer. I think he may still live in the area, but I’m not sure. Never met him.

Also of Dundas as of late is John Ellison (Some Kind of Wonderful)

Stan Rogers has a knack for writing songs that sound older than himself, this song shows he doesn't need nautical themes to do it.

Some other programming and math songs Kill -9

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0rG74rG_ubs

Find the longest path

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a3ww0gwEszo

"had" and "didn't". Poor guy died in an airliner taxiway fire in the 1980s. Anyways, Stan Rogers on HN? Who knew?

This is on my "SW Dev songlist" ever since my CS professors (Robin Dawes and James Cordy) ran a singalong event in CISC 200/210.

Others include "Under the wings of a transistor"[1] and "The Privacy Song"[2]. Also "The System Administrator Song"[3]

Also codemonkey, but others have mentioned that one already.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfpYgts-18o [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eIUOUfhoJ8 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIhKBYjTXA

Some nice Unix synthy indie-pop:

Barcelona - I Have The Password To Your Shell Account

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWVGdMPuwVo

From the album "Zero, One, Infinity".

Nice song. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this and in case anyone else is interested, here is the NTSB report on the airplane fire "of undetermined origin" that killed Stan Rogers at the age of 33: https://web.archive.org/web/20060322014736/http://www.airdis....

I love Stan Rogers, but it's worth pointing out this particular song was actually written by Nigel Russell. (Source: liner notes from Between the Breaks... Live!)

VDT Blues by Tom Juravich[0]. "It's a hell to earn a livin' on a [video display terminal]." This album made me the way I am, I think. More so "One Day More" by Elaine Purkey[1]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1HnsbW3WVg

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohBUT8FKh3g

If you're into rap/hip-hop:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=psw9G9Lp7ac

The entire channel is a gold mine

https://youtube.com/c/stdout/videos

On this particular Friday, I feel this could have been written personally for me...

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Stan-rogers-white-collar-holler-lyrics

A true classic. If you like this, his other music is also great. Sadly he died in 1983 in Ohio of all places in a plane..on the ground, in a fire.

Legend has it he actually escaped the fire, but died running back in to save people. He seems like the kind of figure that lends himself to larger than life tales, however, so I've never bothered to confirm or debunk that story.

If you also felt sad after listening to this, I recommend "Dear Old Stan" by The Dreadnoughts. It's a nice homage.

I've never listened to Stan Rogers... Thank you for sharing this. Enjoyed it much and gave me a new rabbit hole to explore.

Song is surprisingly relevant. Lyrics left in a comment:

  Well, I rise up every morning at a quarter to eight
 
  Some woman who's my wife tells me not to be late
 
  I kiss the kids goodbye, I can't remember their names
 
  And week after week, it's always the same
 
  And it's Ho, boys, can't you code it, and program it right
 
  Nothing ever happens in the life of mine
 
  I'm hauling up the data on the Xerox line
 
  Then it's code in the data, give the keyboard a punch
 
  Then cross-correlate and break for some lunch
 
  Correlate, tabulate, process and screen
 
  Program, printout, regress to the mean
 
  Then it's home again, eat again, watch some TV
 
  Make love to my woman at ten-fifty-three
 
  I dream the same dream when I'm sleeping at night
 
  I'm soaring over hills like an eagle in flight
 
  Someday I'm gonna give up all the buttons and things
 
  I'll punch that time clock till it can't ring
 
  Burn up my necktie and set myself free
 
  Cause no'one's gonna fold, bend or mutilate me

What a good holler!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com