Jason Isbell: "Something More Than Free" I don't think on why I'm here or where it hurts I'm just lucky to have the work Sunday morning I'm too tired to go to church But I thank God for the work I thank God for the work When I get my reward my work will all be done And I will sit back in my chair beside the father and the son No more holes to fill and no more rocks to break And no more loading boxes on the trucks for someone else's sake
Wind Up Working’ In a Gas Station — Zappa Dedicated to everyone paying off massive student loan debts working a minimum wage job.
Off Workingman's Dead Robert Hunter tune Easy Wind I been balling a shiny black steel jack-hammer Been chippin' up rocks for the great highway Live five years if I take my time Ballin' that jack and a drinkin' my wine I been chippin' them rocks from dawn till doom While my rider hide my bottle in the other room Doctor say better stop ballin' that jack If I live five years I gonna bust my back, yes I will Easy wind cross the Bayou today Cause there's a whole lotta women, mama Out in red on the streets today And the rivers keep a talkin' But you never heard a word it said
Rick Springfield, "Love is Alright Tonite" (1981): I'm working hard, I don't know why I'm like a working-class dog and I just get by
" I was born one morning ' when the sun didn't shine / I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine / I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal / The straw boss said : ' Well , bless his soul ' "
It's never made clear what exactly this guy does for a living, but the sound of a hammer hitting an anvil as percussion certainly gives a hint: The Reflections / Poor Man's Son
I'm not sure what the job is, but the Hullabaloo dancers certainly hint at it: The Vogues / Five O'clock World
John Fogerty(CCR): "proud Mary" Left a good job in the city Workin' for the man ev'ry night and day And I never lost one minute of sleepin' Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been Big wheel keep on turnin' Proud Mary keep on burnin' Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis Pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans But I never saw the good side of the city 'Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen
And yet another record where it is not made clear what the job is, but it sounds like something blue collar: Cat Stevens / Matthew & Son
Loretta sure was proud of her daddy . . . Loretta Lynn: "Coal Miner's Daughter" Well, I was borned a coal miner's daughter In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler We were poor but we had love, That's the one thing that daddy made sure of He shoveled coal to make a poor man's dollar My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mines All day long in the field a hoein' corn Mommy rocked the babies at night And read the Bible by the coal oil light And ever' thing would start all over come break of morn
