RAMBLIN: 'Merle Haggard, 'Workin' Man Blues' and more songs about work

Sep. 4—When it comes to songs about working, some musicians and singers seem to empathize more than others when it comes to toiling for our daily bread.

Country music artists perform a number of songs about working. Maybe that's because many of the classic country singers came up knowing a lot about physical labor before they ever began to earn a living through their musical abilities. Whether they grew up on farms or a simply a piece of land that amounted to little more than a homestead, many grew up with a garden to help the family get by in those lean months, even if their fathers were involved in a different kind of work, such as coal mining, for example.

With the long Labor Day weekend ahead, here are some of the best country songs about working.

Singer Merle Haggard proved to be one of the working man's best friends, even writing and performing one of his biggest hits around the subject with "Workin' Man Blues."

Haggard had already topped the country music charts with his first single release from his album "A Portrait of Merle Haggard" with his song "Mama's Hungry Eyes." Two months later, Haggard released a second single, "Workin' Man Blues," from the same album.

"Workin' Man Blues" served as the album's opening track and it soon became one of his most popular songs — and one he continued to perform throughout his career. Apparently lots of workers around the nation could identify with Haggard's lyrics about the song's protagonist and his weekly grind.

"I'll keep workin', long as my two hands are fit to use," Haggard sings. "I'll drink a little beer in a tavern, and sing a little bit of these workin' man blues."

Haggard sings about quitting his job, throwing his bills in the air and doing "a little bummin' around" — but he's not going to quit because he's got a family — nine kids and wife — and, as he says in the song: "I've got to buy my kids a brand new pair of shoes."

He alsoo sings about looking forward to his weekend breaks.

"But I keep my nose to the grindstone, I work hard every day. Get tired on the weekend, after I draw my pay," Haggard sings. But by the time the weekend ends, he's ready to hit it again: "But I'll go back workin,' come Monday morning, I'm right back with the crew."

During his live performances of the song, a member of Haggard's band, The Strangers, would sometimes contribute a saxophone solo — and least anyone think a saxophone would sound out of place on a Merle Haggard song, remember Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, who often included horns in the mix.

Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues" has a rolling beat, with lead guitar solos from Haggard himself, with a little assist on the recording session from musician James Burton, the Louisiana guitarist who first became well known as the lead guitarist on many of Rickey Nelson's hits and became a regular member of Nelson's backing band. He also went on to become of member of the famed group Los Angeles musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, and later on performed as a member of Elvis Presley's backing band in the late 1960s and early '70s.

If Haggard's working man isn't about quit his job, the same can't be said for the character in Johnny Paycheck's hit record "Take This job and Shove It."

It's a song that anyone who's pondering quitting a job could likely identify with — with the singer not only singing about quitting his job but also about being alone, singing "My woman left and took all the reasons I was working for."

Country music outlaw David Allan Coe wrote the song — which has left me wondering why he didn't release it as a single himself, instead of watching Paycheck have a hit record with it — and not just a routine, run-of-the-mill hit either, if there is such a thing.

"Take This Job and Shove It" hit #1 on the Billboard Country Music Charts and held the top spot for two weeks. Paycheck had other hits, before and after "Take This Job and Shove It," but it would prove to be the only #1 single of his career.

Another of country music's memorable work song is "Sixteen Tons" — written by Merle Travis, who grew up in Kentucky, but later lived in Oklahoma, dying in Tahlequah in 1983.

Tennessee Ernie Ford had the big hit with "Sixteen Tons," but the words and music about the hard life of a coal miner came from from Travis, who had seen some of the miners' travails firsthand.

He continued to mine the theme, so to speak, with his songs "Nine Pound Hammer" and "Dark as a Dungeon" — with one of the most memorable versions of "Dark as a Dungeon" recorded by Johnny Cash and included on his massive live hit album "John Cash At Folsom Prison."

It's harrowing lyrics about life as a coal miner begins as a warning to young men who may have been considering that line of work — a life many chose in Pittsburg County.

"Come all you young fellows, so fair and so fine, seek not your fortune in the dark dreary mine," Cash sings. "It'll form as a habit and seep in your soul, till the stream of your blood runs as black as the coal."

In remembering writers of various songs, it can sometimes get a bit confusing when thinking of an artist who typically writes his own songs, such as David Allan Coe, watching as another artist gets a #1 hit with his or her song.

Coe though, also benefitted from the reverse process, when he recorded his friend singer-songwriter Steve Goodman's song, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" — which Coe admitted was "The perfect county-western song."

Giving all due credit to Goodman, a brilliant songwriter and guitarist in his own right, I recently gained a little more insight into the cleverness of the song's lyrics, when I learned he had an uncredited assist from master songwriter John Prine on "You Never Even Called Me By My Name."

Prine had no problem with his uncredited role, apparently considering it a way to help out a friend. Now, there was a guy who liked to work!

Contact James Beaty at [email protected].