Unfortunately, many modern songs tend to dwell on subjects like casual sex, hatred of God and Christians, hatred of self, and assorted left-wing politics. I would like it so much if the songs that celebrated the working man returned (along with the once-common working man), because the American worker, no matter what color, nationality, or religion he or she may be, is truly the backbone of our nation. Below are my top ten songs about the American worker. Many younger people may not recognize them, but they are worth researching, because the ode to the Working Man, like hard work itself, is indeed a lost art.
10) “Nothin’ But a Good Time” – Poison (1988) – This song is the most recent of my favorite working-class hymns. Written by glam-metal superstars Poison, the accompanying video featured a long-haired type working as a dishwasher, getting reamed by his boss for working at “two speeds: ‘slow’ and ‘stop’!” before angrily turning off his radio. The hero, who reminded me a lot of myself when I washed dishes at the Bel-Air Grill as a young man, ends up showing his boss-man up by washing every dish in the house by the end of the video, and leaving a squeaky-clean scullery to boot!
9) We Gotta Get Out of This Place” – Animals (1965) – Eric Burdon and the Animals made this song by Barry Mann and Cynthia Wiel a Top-20 (number 13) hit in the U.S., but the lament is purely British. See, many young blues-based rock bands from the British Invasion era of American music had the same dream; to escape the blue-collar drudgery of long hours, bad backs, and jaded sense of purpose. Their music was the pony they were betting on to carry them away from futures of bricklaying, factory work, military, civil service, and construction. The last words of the chorus express it best when Eric sings “Girl, there’s a better life for me and you.
8) “Money for Nothing” – Dire Straits (1985) – I have always loved this song, which satirized the working man’s jealousy of rich and famous pop stars. Unfortunately, many spaghetti-spined radio stations edited out the entire second stanza with the phrase “the little faggot”, which is a shame, because that’s exactly the word many of my co-workers used to express their envy towards all the pop stars of the era from Boy George to Michael Jackson to Prince (NOTE: Mark Knoppfler never meant for the line to be an attack on gay people, so everyone please conserve your precious hatred for some jake-leg backwoods preacher or somethin’, ok?). This number one hit started and ended with Sting singing the then-familiar jingle “I want my MTV”.
7) “Working Man” – Rush (1974) – This bluesy tune from their debut was co-written by guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee. As far as I know, only Geddy had a “real” job; as a teen, he worked at his mother’s hardware shop, and was “extremely dispirited” with the gig. Therefore, it can be accurately assumed that he wrote the lyrics. I love this seven-minute-plus groove, with its kick-ass guitar solo, and Zeppelin-style riffs. The hook says it all: “Seems to me I can live my life a lot better than I think I am/ That’s why they call me…call me the working man!.
6) “Working at the Car Wash Blues” – Jim Croce (1972) – This song is a tongue-in cheek story of a guy who just got sprung from the joint, and goes out in search of a high-level executive job, only to end up working as a rag man in a car wash. What I love so much about this song is the imagery he elicits; the crappy conditions, the lack of respect, the destitution (I spent a year working at a car wash as a teenager, so I can identify!). Jim Croce has worked as a welder, in construction, and many other hard labor jobs before getting his break. He was a minstrel for the Working man, and he never strayed from his blue-collar roots. He stayed true to his purpose until his death in a plane crash in September 1973.
5) “Take This Job and Shove It!” – Johnny Paycheck (1978) – how many times have we all thought about that song while slaving away for an unappreciative tyrant of a boss? Country star Johnny Paycheck (gimmicky name, no?) had a number one hit with this song originally written by David Allen Coe. He was a big hell-raiser, like many of the work-hardened rednecks I have had the privilege (horror?) of working with through the years. In 1982, there was even a movie based on the number 2 (on the country charts) working-class dog’s anthem. Paycheck was a rowdy, shit-kickin’, work-hardened outlaw right up until his death in 2003.
4) “Working for a Living” – Huey Lewis and the News (1982) – This song came out when I was 14, but I still gotta laugh at the line about the “$100 car note and the $200 rent” (gee, don’t I wish!). Lewis, unlike many of the other artists listed, never really had a “real” job; he made most of his money busking with his harmonica, which he learned to play while hitchhiking across the USA.
3) “Sixteen Tons” – “Tennessee” Ernie Ford (1960) – This is the archetypical lament of the coal miner, probably the hardest working Americans that ever drew breath! It also is a testament to how the Mining Companies often held the miners as indentured servants (“I owe my soul to the company store”). Ford made this Merle Travis classic the fastest selling single in the history of Capitol Records. Being a Southern Mountain man, he knew firsthand the hardships of working in Appalachia, even if he’d never even seen the inside of a coalmine himself!
2) “Five O’Clock World” – The Vogues (1966) – One of my favorites, this was once one of the themes for the Drew Carey show; Drew was a man who knew the pointless feeling of trudging away for no money and “living on money I ain’t made yet”. I still get teary-eyed whenever I hear it, because I realize why I still stay glued to the job in spite of the disrespect and disdain I receive; “cuz every time my baby smiles at me, I know that its all worthwhile”!
1) “Big Bad John” – Jimmy Dean (1961) – this song, in my opinion, is the ultimate ode to the American worker. I wish there were more like Big John around today; quiet, minds his own business, works hard, and cares enough for his fellow workers, that he would risk his own life to save them from death in a mine collapse. The song still makes me emotional, because in our selfish “me-first” society, there are no Big Johns left. Also, he displayed a heroism that is sorely lacking among the modern-day cowards in today’s America.
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