Songs about jobs
I was listening to The Toy Dolls' "Barry the Roofer" this afternoon, which got me thinking that babble needs a thread on songs about various occupations.
Here are a few I thought of:
[i]Night Nurse[/i] by Gregory Isaacs
[i]The Old Lamplighter[/i] by various artists
[i]Song of the Volga Boatmen[/i] ibid
[i]Rosie the Riveter[/i] ditto
[i]If I were a Carpenter[/i] Johnny Cash and June Carter
[i]The Bad Humour Man[/i] Kay Kyser
"When I'm Cleaning Windows" and Mr. Woo's a Window Cleaner Now", both by George Formby.
The Boxer - Simon and Garfunkel
Lovely Rita (Meter Maid) - The Beatles
Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan
Mr. Bass Man - Johnny Cymbal
Mr. Spaceman - The Byrds
Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes
Jazzman - Carole King
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves - Cher
Soldier Boy - The Shirelles
The Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters
Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
[i](Going To Work) In Tall Buildings[/i] - John Hartford
Takin Care of Business - BTO
Money for nothing - Dire Straits
Banana boat song(Day O) - Belafonte
16 Tons - T.E. Ford
Sheep - Pink Floyd
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig in our mine the whole day through
To dig dig dig dig dig dig dig is what we really like to do
It ain't no trick to get rich quick
If you dig dig dig with a shovel or a pick
In a mine! In a mine! In a mine! In a mine!
Where a million diamonds shine!
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig from early morn till night
We dig dig dig dig dig dig dig up everything in sight
We dig up diamonds by the score
A thousand rubies, sometimes more
But we don't know what we dig 'em for
We dig dig dig a-dig dig
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It's home from work we go
(Whistle)
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It's home from work we go
(Whistle)
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
(Whistle)
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
Heigh-ho hum
Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho
It's home from work we go
(Whistle)
Heigh-ho
You'll be hearing from Disney's IP lawyers in the morning.
[i]Workin' In A Coal Mine[/i] - Lee Dorsey
Here's just a few off the top of my head...
Michelle Shocked - The L and N Don't Stop Here Anymore
Bruce Springsteen - Working on the Highway
Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown
Billy Joel - Allentown
Billy Joel - Piano Man
Jackson Browne - Shaky Town
Jackson Browne - The Load Out
Rita MacNeil - Working Man
China Crisis - Working With Fire and Steel
Depeche Mode - Working On The Pipeline
John Mellencamp - Pink Houses
John Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow
John Mellencamp - Check It Out
quote:
Originally posted by Fidel:[b]16 Tons - T.E. Ford
[/b]
I'll see your "16 tons" and raise you a "Nine-Pound Hammer."
quote:
Workin' In A Coal Mine - Lee Dorsey
"Dark as a Dungeon Way Down in the Mine" -Johhny Cash
(I worked underground for two years; this tune nails it)
[ 03 November 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]
Buddy o mine was almost wiped out by a giant piece o loose. Came back from lunch, and his scaffold was a pancake. I was on surface one afternoon, and the man-yaks blew up the core shack from below. Crazy bastards everywhere on that job
I was once hit by a piece of loose, but since it fell from where the wall and the back meet it didn't do anything more that scrape the skin on my forearm.
A couple of guys on my crew (one the Dad of a former NHLer) just missed being flattened by a huge piece of loose right at the face. The ground is usually pretty safe and solid right after being cut, which makes this a strange case.
The miner operator was tramming to the face to cut first pass, and the belt operator had just pulled the exhaust tubing behind the brattice (on the left side of the conveyor) and jumped back over the belt to the right side when the back dropped, covering most of the left side of the belt.
Neither guy was touched, but the compression of the air blew the operator's gloves off. Both guys were so spooked that they just sat at the bottom of the shaft until the shift ended.
[ 04 November 2008: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]
quote:
"Dark as a Dungeon Way Down in the Mine" -Johhny Cash
I've never been down a mine, but I just knew this song "nailed it" when I first heard it on my brother's copy of "Folsom Prison Blues". And it was a "new release" at the time.
And you know what? It's one of the very few songs I can do justice to with my voice.
"Takin Care of Business" is actually about not working. A better BTO song about work is a personal anthem of mine, "Blue Collar". If you've ever worked night shift-- not swinging through but as a permanent thing-- it's your song.
"The air is clear under diamond skies and I'm glad to be alive."
"Little Black Fly" comes to mind as a song about both work and Nordern Hontario.
And, dealing in illicit substances can be a job, and a family business, as witnessed in Steve Earl's "Copperhead Road".
Stompin' Tom... it might be quicker to list the song he wrote that wern't about work.
Then there's CCR's "The Workin' Man."
[url=http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/09/04/the-twenty-fi...'s a top 25 list from Rolling Stone Magazine. For the most part it's shite, as most lists of this nature are.[/url]
Earn Enough for Us - XTC
Lard Tunderin' Jezus!
You missed the obvious: I'se the B'y.
For shame, Lard, for shame.
[img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
Welcome to the Working Week -- Elvis Costello
Horses -- Rheostatics
Millworker-James Taylor
(From the stage musical based on Studs Terkel's WORKING: )
Now my grandfather was a sailor
He blew in off the water
My father was a farmer
And I, his only daughter
Took up with a no good millworking man
From Massachusetts
Who dies from too much whiskey
And leaves me these three faces to feed
Millwork ain't easy
Millwork ain't hard
Millwork it ain't nothing
But an awful boring job
I'm waiting (on) a daydream
To take me through the morning
And put me in my coffee break
Where I can have a sandwich
And remember
Then it's me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
(and) the rest of the afternoon
And the rest of my life
Now my mind begins to wander
To the days back on the farm
I can see my father smiling at me
Swinging on his arm
I can hear my granddad's stories
Of the storms out on Lake Eerie
Where vessels and cargos and fortunes
And sailors' lives were lost
(Yeah), but it's my life has been wasted
And I have been the fool
To let this manufacturer
Use my body for a tool
(I'll) ride home every evening
Staring at my hands
Swearing to my sorrow that a young girl
Ought to stand a better chance
So may I work your mills just as long as I am able
And never meet the man whose name is on the label
(it's still)me and my machine
For the rest of the morning
And the rest of the afternoon (and on and on and on...)
for the rest of my life
This song by Ewan MacColl, about a young person leaving school(as working-class kids did at age 15, like Ewan himself, did in Britain, in this case to go work in the mines)
Schoolday's over, come on then John
Time to be getting your pit boots on
On with your sack and moleskin trousers
It's time you were on your way
Time you were learning the pitman's job
And earning the pitman's pay
Come on then Jim, it's time to go
Time you were working down below
Time to be handling a pick and shovel
You'll start at the pits today
Time you were learning the collier's job
And earning the collier's pay
Come on then Dai, it's almost light
Time you were off to the anthracite
The morning mist is on the valley
It's time you were on your way
Time you were learning the miner's job
And earning the miner's pay
Schoolday's over, come on then John
Time to be getting your pit boots on
On with your sack and moleskin trousers
It's time you were on your way
Time you were learning the pitman's job
And earning the pitman's pay
We Work the Black Seam Together-Sting:
This place has changed for good
Your economic theory said it would
It's hard for us to understand
We can't give up our jobs the way we should
Our blood has stained the coal
We tunneled deep inside the nation's soul
We matter more than pounds and pence
Your economic theory makes no sense
One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
Deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
The seam lies underground
Three million years of pressure packed it down
We walk through ancient forest lands
And light a thousand cities with our hands
Your dark satanic mills
Have made redundant all our mining skills
You can't exchange a six inch band
For all the poisoned streams in Cumberland
One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
Deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
And should the children weep
The turning world will sing their souls to sleep
When you have sunk without a trace
The universe will suck me into place
One day in a nuclear age
They may understand our rage
They build machines that they can't control
And bury the waste in a great big hole
Power was to become cheap and clean
Grimy faces were never seen
Deadly for twelve thousand years is carbon fourteen
We work the black seam together
We work the black seam together
Oh, and while Tennessee Ernie Ford and Johnny Cash may have sung "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon", both of those songs were written by the great Merle Travis, who was also known as the inventor of "Travis-style" guitar picking.
quote:
Originally posted by Tommy_Paine:
[b]"Takin Care of Business" is actually about not working[/URL][/b]
[img]confused.gif" border="0[/img] I think the first ten lines of the song are about the daily grind of working nine to five. But then the song suggests if we're fed up with nine to five and think their jobs as musicians is a life of leisure, then we should give it a try. But I tend to think that the path to becoming a good musician might require dedication and some work.
I think "Taking care of business" is very much about working. It is also about popular perceptions about musicians and artists in general, lying about and not having "real" jobs. The rhythm and conclusion of the song "working overtime" makes it pretty clear that the musicians are working hard when the other working people are partying, late into the night, as in "Blue Collar".
I'm Gonna Be an Engineer, by Peggy Seeger.
I can't find the video that I know exists of her singing it, so here is Pete Seeger's version:
9 to 5, by Dolly Parton
Morning Train, by Sheena Easton, which is about her husband's job and how hard he works, and her job, which is apparently to greet him in Saran Wrap with a cocktail at the end of the day, after spending "all day thinking about him, dreaming of him constantly".
Back in 2005, on Canada day, I heard a song on CBC called the "Steveston Salmon Cannery Song". FYI, Steveston is a former village on the lower fraser river, and is now a part of Richmond. Fishing, and the salmon cannery, are the main industries in Steveston. The Steveston Salmon Cannery is the last working salmon cannery left in BC. The song was written in the 1970s.
I don't remember the words to the whole song, and it's not available online, but here's the words to the chorus:
"High is the smell, low is the pay
Long are the hours, why do we stay
Somewher outside a whole summer slips away
While we're stuck in here canning salmon"
Hallelujah! I'm a Bum
1. Oh, why don't you work
Like other men do?
How the hell can I work
When the skies are so blue?
Chorus:
Hallelujah! I'm a bum,
Hallelujah bum again,
Hallelujah! give us a handout
To revive us again.
2. Oh, I love my boss
And my boss loves me,
And that is the reason
I'm so hungry.
3. Well, springtime has come
And I'm just out of jail,
Without any money,
Without any bail.
4. Oh why don't you save all
The money you earn?
Well if I didn't eat,
I'd have money to burn.
5. Oh, I like my boss,
He's a good friend of mine,
And that's why I'm standing
Out in the breadline.
6. I can't buy a job
'cause I ain't got the dough
So I ride in a boxcar
'cause I'm a hobo.
7. I went to a house and
I knocked on the door,
The lady said, "Scram, bum,
You've been here before!"
8. I went to a house, and
I asked for some bread;
A lady came out, says,
"The baker is dead."
9. I went to a bar and
I asked for a drink,
They gave me a glass
And they showed me the sink.
10. Oh why don't you work
Like other folks do?
How can I get a job
When you're holding down two?
11. Whenever I get all
The money I earn,
The boss will be broke
And to work he must turn.
12. When springtime does come,
Oh won't we have fun,
We'll throw up our jobs
And we'll go on the bum.
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOscaTfHLFs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Westray, by Weeping Tile.
And Murray McLaughlin wrote many classics, such as Hard Rock Town and The Farmer Song. But my favorite is On The Boulevard, about the quiet desperation of city dwellers
quote:
Sellin' shoes in the afternoon
Makin' french-fries in a greasy spoon
The assembly line keeps turnin'
Until they make you swoon
And it always won't be long
'Til somethin' better comes alomgDid you see them on the Boulevard
Did you see them on the Promenade
When the lights come on
They can forget
That they ever had to work so hard
Some business to take care of, apparently.
quote:
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day
Now, it can be said that the previous two stanza's above those lines describe work, or more specifically, the commute to work and work associated behaviors.
As far as the song being about the "work" of being a musician, I have no doubt Randy Bachman "worked" and continues to "work" at music. However, in my mind, the last two stanza's aren't about that kind of musician. I think-- understanding that being a sucessfull musician requires a level of activity most of us would consider "work", the line about picking up a second hand guitar (listeners to Bachman's CBC radio show know how Bachman reveres quality guitars) was tongue in cheek. The guitar being a prop for a poser who just love lyin'in the sun all day, taking care of business, which is, nothing.
[b]If it were easy as fishin'
You could be a musician[/b]
What do you make of this stanza, Tommy? Personally, I think I might not starve as a fisherman, if I had to choose.
quote:
[url=http://www.randybachman.com/index.php?ch=1]Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Randy Bachman[/url] has become a legendary figure in the rock and roll world through his talents as a guitarist, songwriter, performer and producer. He has earned over 120 Gold and Platinum album/singles awards . . .Randy's career has been built upon his unstoppable drive to work at creating music. He has released numerous solo albums throughout his career, and has simultaneously worked at producing for other artists. His production/writing work with Canadian rock band Trooper generated gold and platinum record in the 1970's.
aHA! I didn't realize it all those times hearing it played, but I realize only now they were fuckin' with us. [img]biggrin.gif" border="0[/img]
[ 06 November 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]
Here's a song about walking off the job:
[url=http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=111310&content=music&... Wage Strike -- David Rovics[/url]
quote:
When I awoke one morning
There was a feeling in the air
Everything was quiet
Things were different everywhere
The Wobblies were back again
With Joe Hill at the mike
When all the minimum-wage workers went on strikeThere was no one flipping burgers
All the grills were cold
Onion rings were in their bags
Fries were growing mold
There were no baristas at Starbucks
Asking, "how many shots would you like?"
When all the minimum-wage workers went on strikeThere was no one pumping gasoline
No one driving from town to town
No one at the registers
All the highways were shut down
The cars were stuck in their garage
Businessmen on bikes
When all the minimum-wage workers went on strikeThe fruit was falling off the trees
No one to load the trucks
Corn was rotting on the stalk
No farm hands to shuck
The workfare workers were hanging at home
Spending the day with their tykes
When all the minimum-wage workers went on strikeYuppie parents were housebound
Their nannies left the job
Wal-Mart workers said enough
Of our labor has been robbed
The Foot Locker was locked up
The boss had to take a hike
When all the minimum-wage workers went on strike(Repeat first verse)
Frankly, Mr. Shankly by The Smiths (deadend job)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-O665wmJhQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Telegraph Road by Dire Straights (no work)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgYzzJWW4nY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Daysleeper by REM (for the night shift)
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dciDcRZovP4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"The sun shall not smite I by day,
Nor the moon by night"
A song for forklift operators, called "Night Shift," by the Tuff Gong,
chemical workers song - great big sea
work song - nina simone
the next big thing - ani difranco
Dancer With Bruised Knees - kate , anna mcgarrigle
quote:
What do you make of this stanza, Tommy?
Well, it's rock and roll, not a work by Milton where every word is painstakingly sellected to convey a certain meaning, mood, and depressing mindset until you just wish your English Teacher's head would explode and splatter the classroom walls with gore.
I mean, sometimes mountains come out of the sky and stand there. Which is a [i]roundabout[/i] way of saying that it doesn't have to be perfect, Yes?
[img]wink.gif" border="0[/img]
Anywho, I just went looking for an interview I found years ago where Bachman told the story around the recording of "Taking Care of Business". Sadly, I can no longer find it. I did find a synopsis written by someone else, but it's not as good as story.
Pizza delivery guy plays piano. Piano works, have to trace down Pizza guy so they can use it on the album.
See? Bachman tells it better.
The English language traditional repertoire is largely concerned with work. One of my favourites has the words [url=http://www.dickgaughan.co.uk/songs/texts/minerslife.html]here[/url]
Chorus:
Union miners, stand together
Do not heed the owner's tale
Keep your hand upon your wages
And your eye upon the scale
I enjoyed singing that to the Miner's Wives Association (that's wives of the brass). Lot's of clenched teeth in that audience.
I sing with a crowd that does a lot of these, especially chanties.
Lot's of coal mining ones "The Coal Town Road", "Blackleg Miner" (not sure how much that is sung in Yellowknife these days).
"Prospect, Providence" about mill work by Keith Marsden
Chorus
Prospect, Providence, Perseverance, Albert, Valley and Crank,
I've spent my time in the dust and grime, with never a word of thanks,
Though the wages were low and the hours were long,
And the gaffers were hard lads, hard
But the last time's coming, thank god, coming soon,
When I'll walk up the damn mill yard.
There are lots.
quote:
I mean, sometimes mountains come out of the sky and stand there.
Yeah, sorta like Frank Zappa's "Billy the Mountain." Billy did more than just stand around though, unlike the hero of Zappa's "Wind Up Workin' in a Gas Station."
quote:
Westray, by Weeping Tile.
That song is fabulous; I used to play it on my morning show all the time.
I had a gander at the Westray lyrics, and recognized the borrowing from Robert Service. Which reminded me that Gordon Lighfoot used the same rhyme scheme for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
Which, like Westray, is a song about tragedy at work.
"Real Jobs" by Kris Demeanor which features this tongue in cheek chorus about his job as a songwriter...
Some people have real jobs
I wonder what's it like I can only imagine
I have an imaginary boss, punch imaginary clocks
Bring home turkey bacon from a fake occupation
Half embroiled in virtual toil
Going on a mission that is completely artificial
The Worker's Song by the Dropkick Murphys
Junk Man by Mildred Bailey
I'm gonna give that junk man my broken heart
The broken heart I got from you
I'm gonna give that junk man my broken heart
For a loaded thirty-twoI'm gonna give that junk man my old gladrags
I'm gonna wear a gown of black
Better pack your trunk man, pack your bags
Cause I'm gettin' on your trackNow I ain't braggin'
You can't throw me down
I'm gonna fix your wagon
So you can't go to townI'm gonna do you right cause you done me wrong
I'm gonna do you black and blue
And then I'll tell that junk man to come along
And pick up what's left of you
And for CanCom,
Summer Wages by Ian and Sylvia
Never hit seventeen
When you play against the dealer
You know that the odds
Won't ride with you
And never leave your woman alone
With your friends around to steal her
She'll be gambled and gone
Like summer wagesAnd we'll keep rollin' on
'Til we get to Vancouver
And the woman that I love
She's living there
It's been six long months
And more since I've seen her
Years have gambled and gone
Like summer wagesIn all the beer parlors
All down along Main Street
The dreams of the seasons
Get all spilled down on the floor
All the big stands of timber
Just waiting for the falling
And the hookers stand watchfully
Waiting by the doorSo I'll work on the towboats
With my slippery city shoes
Which lord I swore I would never do again
Through the the gray fog-bound straits
Where the cedars stand watching
I'll be far off and gone
Like summer wagesNever hit seventeen
When you play against the dealer
You know that the odds
Won't ride with you
And never leave your woman alone
With your friends around to steal her
She'll be gambled and gone
Like summer wages
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyIXGAP7tI
The Knack (British band from the 60s-(Man From The) Marriage Guidance & Advice Bureau
Billy J. Kramer-Town Of Tuxley Toymaker
Keith West-Excerpt From A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)
Keith West-Sam (about a train conductor)
Pretty Things-Photographer
Kinks-Session Man
Kinks-Mr.Reporter
Rolling Stones-The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra-Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman
Dead Kennedys-Police Truck
Dave Dudley-Six Days On The Road
Lonnie Donegan-My Old Man's A Dustman
You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Anyplace is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
But me myself I got nothing to prove
You got a fast car
And I got a plan to get us out of here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
We won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living
You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so we can fly away
We gotta make a decision
We leave tonight or live and die this way
I remember we were driving driving in your car
The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
And I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car
And we go cruising to entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in a market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a big house and live in the suburbs
You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orv_F2HV4gk
jobs and love and life-beautiful
There are far too many work-related songs by Woody Guthrie to list them all. Here are the lyrics. By the way, Woody's social partisanship was rather obvious; his guitar read "This machine kills fascists".
Vladimir Vysotsky, aka "Hamlet with a guitar", wrote many songs about underdogs and those with difficult jobs and lives. He sang about outlaws, about those in the Gulags, about "prisoner soldiers" who had to advance or be shot by KGB troops, about ordinary people, about soldiers, about anyone.
My Mama drives a cab
For the Star Cab company
And when she's on a call
I'm in my own custody
Don't throw the meter, mama
She drives me into town
Every Sunday morn
Where I wash and dry the clothes
And mend or patch what's torn
Don't throw the meter, mama
My daddy's now long gone
He didn't like the married life
But he's tied the knot again
With a younger and smaller wife
Don't throw the meter, mama
Don't throw the meter, mama
My daddy's legacy
Was an old Dodge with a flat
A mountain of loose change
And a taxi driver's hat
Don't throw the meter, mama
My mama drives a cab
For the Star Cab Company
Kate & Anna
For the shovel ready crowd:
"Take this job and shove it" by Johnny Paycheck
Take This Job and Shove It
I ain't working here no more
My woman done left
and took all the reasons
I was working for
You better not try to stand in
my way as I'm walking out the door
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
I've been working in this factory
For nigh on fifteen years
All this time I watched my woman
Drowning in a pool of tears
And I've seen a lot of good folks die
That had a lot of bills to pay
I'd give the shirt right off my back
If I had the guts to say
Take This Job and Shove It
I ain't working here no more
My woman done left
and took all the reasons
I was working for
You better not try to stand in
my way as I'm walking out the door
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
Well that foreman he's a riggity dog
The lineboss He's a fool
Got brand new flattop hair cut
looorrdd he thinks he's cool
One of these days I'll blow my top
And That Sucker he's gonna pay
lord I can't wait to see their faces
When I get the nerve to say
Take This Job and Shove It
I ain't working here no more
My woman done left
and took all the reasons
I was working for
You better not try to stand in
my way as I'm walking out the door
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more,
Take this job and shove it
(harmonica fade out)
I hope no one has mentioned this yet. Though the lyricist seems to have had a lot of condescension, this is in appreciation for some people who don't get much in Toronto at present. It was composed before the time of dustpersons.
MY OLD MAN'S A DUSTMAN
(Buchanan / Donegan / Thorne)
Lonnie Donegan - 1960
Now here's a little story
To tell it is a must
About an unsung hero
That moves away your dust.
Some people make a fortune,
Others earn a mint;
My old man don't earn much:
In fact he's flippin' skint.
Oh, my old man's a dustman,
He wears a dustman's hat,
He wears cor-blimey trousers
And he lives in a council flat
etc
If we count "astronaut" as a job, then David Bowie's Space Oddity and Elton John's Rocket Man. (OK, this is a stretch...) More in line with the above ... Tina Turner's Private Dancer. And for housewives we have The Ballad of Lucy Jordan and Mother's Little Helper.