work song

American  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of work song

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

It arrived as the music of dire necessity, the work song, the psalm, and was subsequently used to distract and entertain captors, or to scare them off with screams and moans they couldn’t decipher.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2023

A very old prison work song, “Water Boy” is stark, long-suffering and proud: “There ain’t no hammer that’s on this mountain/That ring like mine.”

From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2023

It’s a call-and-response work song, likely concocted spontaneously by overnight dockworkers cramming bunches of bananas onto ships, hot-footing it away from loose spiders, and fantasizing about rum.

From The New Yorker • Feb. 22, 2017

Strachwitz named Arhoolie after a type of work song, a field holler, that had deep roots in African-American musical culture.

From Reuters • Jan. 24, 2013

In fact, it was a famous work song with their own adapted lyrics: “Benifunani eRivonia?,” which means “What did you want at Rivonia?”

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela