Brother, Can You Spare a Job? – column by William Zinsser (author of the classic book, On Writing Well):
The black cloud of unemployment hanging over the land got me thinking of the lyricist E. Y. (Yip) Harburg and his anthem of the Great Depression, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” It was written by Harburg and the composer Jay Gorney in 1932 for a musical, Americana, about “the forgotten man” and his betrayal by greedy capitalism.
I’ve always resented messages in musicals and movies and other works of art. But as I watch the Occupy Wall Street movement struggling to be born, needing a Pete Seeger or a Bob Dylan to glorify its cause with a unifying anthem, I sometimes miss Yip Harburg and his nagging insistence that the American promise has gone badly askew.
