work song

noun

1. a folk song sung by workers, with a rhythm like that of their work.

Word History and Origins

Origin of work song¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Our engineer, Efim Shapiro, also made a completely original introduction to start each episode with a fun scan of work songs.

From Vox

It was Cooke’s long-player of work songs of a man working for change.

From The Daily Beast

In centuries past, the purpose of these call-and-response work songs was, of course, to maintain a ship crew’s focus on safely navigating often dangerous waters.

From Time

Contemporaneously with the work-song, the cult-song makes its appearance.

From Project Gutenberg