Recession Sessions is an album of economics-themed songs dedicated to the Great Recession. It’s pioneering the genre of “financial folk”, and raising money for the Somerville Homeless Coalition, a homelessness activism group in Massachusetts.
After all the seriousness on this blog, I’m glad to have some artistic commentary on the Great Recession. Often our tribal memories of events like this are stored in music rather than analysis–remember “Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?”:
They used to tell me I was building a dream
And so I followed the mob
When there was earth to plow or guns to bear
I was always there right on the job
They used to tell me I was building a dream
With peace and glory ahead
Why should I be standing in line
Just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run
Made it race against time
Once I built a railroad, now it’s done
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Or my personal favourite, “Sixteen Tons”:
Some people say a man is made out of mud
A poor man’s made out of muscle and blood
Muscle and blood and skin and bones
A mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong
You load sixteen tons what do you get
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don’t you call me ’cause I can’t go
I owe my soul to the company store
I can’t say whether Recession Sessions will burn into the consciousness as deeply as those classics, but it’s the first music for our times that has been brought to my attention. The trailer below explains where the idea came from, and gives a sample of some of the music. If you’d like to “try before you buy”, 6 of the 16 songs on the album are available for streaming.
W styczniu 2020 roku Wielka Brytania formalnie opuściła Unię Europejską. Oczekiwane korzyści z brexitu, poza odzyskaniem suwerenności w zakresie kształtowania prawa i zewnętrznych relacji gospodarczych, jednak się nie zmaterializowały. Widoczny jest natomiast spadek wydajności i konkurencyjności brytyjskiej gospodarki, co wpływa także na kondycję rynku pracy.
