The ICI Song

aka Process Man or Chemical Worker’s Song

Ron Angel
1964

Inspired by the same Imperial Chemical Industries plant in Billingham, UK that allegedly helped prompt Aldous Huxley to write Brave New World, Ron Angel’s 1964 song speaks to the conditions facing workers spinning nylon thread.  Angel muses on the juxtaposition of a well paying job that degrades the worker’s heath:

There’s overtime and bonus opportunities galore

The young men like their money and they all come back for more

But soon you’re knockin’ on and you look older than you should

For every bob made on the job, you pay with flesh and blood

And hints at the broader impact of plastics manufacturing in the Billingham community:

Well a Process Man am I and I’m tellin’ you no lie

I work and breathe among the fumes that trail across the sky