So with the site up and running again, we’re back to work. What better way to kick things off than with a Daily Top Five of your favorite songs about work?
Here’s my list:
- Sawyer Brown, “Cafe on the Corner”
- Alabama, “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’)”
- Dolly Parton, “He’s a Go Getter”
- Martina McBride, “Goin’ to Work”
- Aaron Tippin, “I Got it Honest”
You’ve mentioned one of my favorites in “40 hour week” so i’ll go with:
1. “Letters From Home” by John Michael Montgomery, written by Tony Mac Lane and David Cory Lee. After reading his letter the soldier says “I pick up my gun and get back to work”.
2. “Cost of Living” by Ronnie Dunn, written by Phillip Coleman and Ronnie Dunn. The lyrics present the applicant’s side of a job interview. He’s an out of work veteran – served 18 months in the desert. “I got a strong back, steel toes, rarely call in sick …”. Costs are rising and his family is hurting. He’s realistic about his chances of getting hired. “I’m sure a hundred others have applied, rumor has it you’re only taking five”.
3. “Daddy’s Oldsmobile” by Hal Ketchum is another looking for work song, this one with a probable setting in the depression of the 1930’s. “Another mornin’ and we’re up and gone, daddy says there’s work in San Antone, two days of driving ain’t no big deal, here in my daddy’s Oldsmobile.” The song was written by Hal Ketchum and David Mallett.
4. In “Eat at Joe’s” by Suzy Bogguss, written by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, Suzy is a waitress at an all night diner, “I go to work at 10:30 til 6 am, raking up those dimes and quarters, slinging eggs and ham.”
5. “She’s Taken a Shine” by John Berry, written by Greg Barnhill and Richard Bach. The waitress “Rosie hardly ever missed a bit of work, never took vacation days, home or the diner was all the same to her, she didn’t know any other way”.
“Another Day, Another Dollar” by Wynn Stewart is my favorite song about work . Sums it up nicely
You don’t hear these songs too much nowadays on the radio. Doesn’t fit with the party fantasies.
My all time favorite song about work is Junior Brown’s “Highway Patrol”. It’s novelty, it’s silly and it’s cheesy but I just love it!
1. 9 to 5 – Dolly
2. Working Man’s Blues – Haggard
3. Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man – Travis Tritt
4. Take This Job and Shove It – J. Paycheck
5. Detroit City – Bobby Bare (although I am partial to the Pam Tillis or the Dolly Version)
Yes, this kind of sub-genre of C&W is something you absolutely do not get anymore, so…
1. ONEY–Johnny Cash
2. TRUCK-DRIVIN’ MAN–Buck Owens
3. WORKIN’ AT THE CAR WASH BLUES–Jim Croce
4. WILLING–Linda Ronstadt
5. BIG CITY–Merle Haggard
1. Alan Jackson – “Hard Hat And A Hammer”
2. Daily & Vincent – “Poor Boy Workin Blues”
3. Don Williams – “Working Man’s Son”
4. Justin Townes Earle – “Working For The MTA”
5. Marty Stuart – “Hard Working Man”
@Erik – Love “Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues”. Besides Ronstadt and the Eagles, Croce has always been a big favorite of mine. I enjoyed reading “I Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story” – written by the late singer-songwriter’s widow, Ingrid Croce, with her current husband, Jimmy Rock.
1. Kenny Chesney feat. George Strait, “Shiftwork”
2. Jason Isbell, “Something More Than Free”
3. Alan Jackson, “Job Description”
4. Brooks & Dunn, “Hard Workin’ Man”
5. Garth Brooks feat. Huey Lewis, “Workin’ for a Livin'”
BONUS: Glen Campbell, “Wichita Lineman”
1. Don Williams – Maggie’s Dream
2. Clint Black – One More Payment
3. Danielle Bradbury – Daughter of a Working Man
4. Eddy Raven – Joe Knows How To Live
5. Kacey Musgraves – Blowin’ Smoke
Let’s do five more!
1. John Conlee – Working Man
2. Eddie Rabbitt – Driving My Life Away
3. Joe Diffie – Down In a Ditch
4. Harry Chapin – Taxi
5. Tim McGraw – Do You Want Fries With That
BONUS: Take This Job and Shove It
Dolly- 9 to 5
Linda Ronstadt- Willing
Dierks-Down In The Mine
Ronnie Dunn-Cost Of Living
Will Hoge-Illegal Line
1. It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere – Alan Jackson
2. I Don’t Have to be Me Till Monday – Steve Azar
3. Cafe on the Corner – Sawyer Brown
4. Wichita Lineman – Glen Campbell
5. He Must Have Really Hurt You Bad – George Strait — This one might be a stretch, but it’s narrated by a bartender who’s on the job, so I’m gonna roll with it.
Working Man’s Ph.D-Aaron Tippin
She is His Only Need-Wynonna
American Soldier-Toby Keith
Can’t Cash My Checks-Jamey Johnson
On Down the Line-Patty Loveless
1. “I got it Honest”
2. “Workin Man’s Ph.D”
3. Hard Workin Man”
4. “Blowin Smoke”
5. Because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, “Honky Tonk Superman”
Shiftwork – Kenny Chesney & George Strait
Tim McGraw, “I’m Workin'”
Six More:
“Six Days On The Road” – Dave Dudley
“Last Day In The Mines” – Dave Dudley
“Looking At The World Through A Windshield” – Del Reeves
“Workin’ At The Carwash Blues” – Tony Booth (or Jim Croce)
“Richard And The Cadillac Kings” – Doyle Holly
“Oney” – Johnny Cash