70s-era Black Lung PSAs from the Department of Labor
Below are some mp3s which are of historical/novelty interest.
I pulled these on September 11, 2013 from an eBay auction for a 45 containing these songs. The seller was kind enough to upload the songs and provided the following description:
“1970s Public Service Announcement 45 rpm record from the U.S. Department Of Labor that employs country celebrities Jimmy Dean, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Diana Trask and James Drury in an effort to show how the government cares about miners and Black Lung D[i]sease … found in a radio station in North Carolina, where it should have received a lot more airplay than it probably did.”
The contents of the auction description and the image of the 45 and the sleeve are archived on the Roots Vinyl Guide auction tracking site, but the mp3s are not.
The only other information about the record is an ID number: AAVP # 72676.
Track #1: “Someone Cares About You” – Combines industrial sounds with the saccharine sweetness of the theme melody which tells miners that someone cares about them.
Track #2: Tennessee Ernie Ford – Ford tells how he encountered miners with black lung on his travels and urges folks to sign up for benefits
Track #3: Roger Miller – Miller sympathizes with the disabled miners and describes what black lung benefits are
One of the striking things from the PSAs is the simplicity of the address to seek info about black lung benefits. I wonder what would happen today if a disabled miner sent a letter to “Black Lung/U.S. Department of Labor/Washington, D.C. 20210.”