Works For Me!
Background: A handful of years ago, my dad started making mixes for various holidays: Thanksgiving, Halloween, The 4th of July (songs about states), and Labor Day. A while ago, I got to thinking about songs related to jobs and working, and thought it would be fun to talk about those in a blog, hopefully inspiring you to do the same.
“Working in a Coal Mine” by Lee Dorsey
Lyrically/Structurally: The verses are incredibly simple, and it’s designed this way to convey that the narrator in the song doesn’t have much time to talk, because he’s too busy working. He says in the first one that he has to be working at 5 AM and doesn’t know how much longer it can go on. In the second one, he talks about how hard he works and how he can’t have any fun on the weekend because he’s so burned out from working. There are technically four verses, but the 1st and 3rd ones are the same and the 2nd and 4th ones are the same, again, fitting with the monotony of what the narrator does. In between, it transitions into the fact that he’s “working in a coal mine, goin’ down, down, down.”
Melodically: I mentioned at the top of this blog that I wanted to bring this idea that I had to you, and in the same way, I want to bring you this tune I got stuck in my head every day for about a month back in 2022, because I’m just that generous. The intro and chorus use straight Bb, while the verses use Bb, F, and F7, alternating mainly between the Bb and F. With the song in Bb major, this is a I, V progression. It’s an interesting choice for a progression because the I to V creates a sort of suspense, while the V back to the I creates a resolve. Only having two chords works for the back and forth nature of the song, but there’s no end in sight, so having any sort of resolve within the melody to go with the lyrics is a terrific counterpoint. Instrumentally, the song contains piano, guitar, bass, and percussion, with the percussion including the drummer hitting a mic stand at some point in the recording.
2. “Manic Monday” by The Bangles
(Written by Prince, but credited to “Christopher” on the album, perhaps a nod to his character, Christopher Tracy, from that year’s Under the Cherry Moon movie.)
Lyrically: It’s hard for me to think of a lot of songs about people enjoying their jobs, but most of the “I hate my job” songs are about manual labor, while “Manic Monday” seems to be about someone who works an office job. She can’t believe it’s the morning already, because she was “Just in the middle of a dream” where she was “Kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream.” She’s running late, her bed isn’t made, and she wants to “blame it on the train, but the boss is already there.” (while also stating that even if she had an “aeroplane,” she couldn’t get there on time, because she has no idea what she’s gonna wear).Then in the chorus, she sums it up as “Just another manic Monday,” saying, “I wish it was Sunday, ‘cause that’s my fun day, my I don’t have to run day.” The bridge then sees the narrator questioning why she has to do it all, including keeping food on the table for both herself and her love interest, while also keeping the spark alive in their relationship, leading to her being tired the next day and it being “Another manic Monday.”
Melodically: The song is written in D major, and uses a D, G, A7, Dmaj7, and G pattern (which are the I, IV, V, I, and IV chords) in the intro. The verses use D, G, and A7, a I, IV, V pattern, played three times, before ending on D, G, A, and D, a I, IV, V, I pattern. The chorus uses a D, G, A7 pattern that gets played four times, except that pattern is bookended by an A and a D. This is a V, I, IV, V pattern, and the last chord is the I. The bridge uses Bm, E7, G, and A, a vi, II, IV, V pattern, followed by Bm, G, E, A7 (played 3 times), Em, and A7, a vi, IV, II, V pattern. Instrumentally, the song uses guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards.
Structurally: The song contains a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus format. The bridge in any song is designed to somehow take the song to a different place. This one is no different, but the first two verses discuss the narrator’s troubles at work, while the bridge describes her personal struggles. It serves as a “one more thing” type deal, but it’s not so much of one more thing I need you to know in the story, more of I can’t believe this is happening too. In other words, our empathy for the narrator was already there, but this was the nail in the coffin, the straw that broke the camel’s back for her. At least I, as the listener, always thought, “Oh, well her significant other can help her relax after a horrible day,” but upon analyzing it for this blog, it’s just another thing she has to worry about. Taking the tension of the V chord to the I chord resolution in the chorus is terrific, both thematically and melodically, but the resolution is more resignation than anything good happening to the narrator.
You can listen to “Manic Monday” below. This blog comes out every other Monday, so you know you can make time. What else could you possibly have going on?
3. “Shiftwork” by Kenny Chesney and George Strait
Background: My dedicated readers know by now that sometimes I’ll come up with a song I want to talk about and build a blog around it, while other times, I’ll come up with the idea for the blog as a whole and then build songs around that idea. I’ve been wanting to talk about “Shiftwork” for a long time, and of course when it came time to write this blog, I completely forgot about it. So shoutout to Google for the reminder!
Lyrically: “Shiftwork” tells the story of exactly that. In the music video, it’s a bunch of car mechanics, but it could really apply to any blue collar, manual labor job. He sets the scene right away: He’s wearing “a blue collared shirt, a baseball cap, union made.” The tag at the end of each verse says he’s working “7-3, 3-11, 11-7.” The chorus reiterates that they’re working shiftwork, and emphasizes this with one of the most clever lines, “A big old pile of shiftwork.” The last two songs in this blog are out of Nashville, but what I like about them is they break the norm of what those songs sound like today, with the title not being repeated at the beginning and the end (though this chorus is very short), and having the hook be the hours the person works, rather than the word “shiftwork”. It’s a very clever song, but it’s fun and matter-of-fact without needing to prove toughness from this blue collar job.
Melodically: The song uses C, C7, and F, played twice, before ending on G, F, and C. With the song written in C major, this is a I, IV, V, IV, I pattern. The chorus then uses a C, F, C, G, F, C pattern. The key to all of these songs is resignation to what they have to do, so we once again see each part end on the I chord, with a fighting of some sort in the middle with the IV and V chords. Instrumentally, the song uses electric guitar, bass guitar, percussion (including steel drums), and harmonica.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus format, with instrumental interludes between verses. I forgot to mention this in the lyric section, but the narrative structure of this song is a clever one. In a song like “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” you have the concept stated right away: This person needs a break and they take one. But here, the third verse takes the narrator to the beach, thanks to the money he earned from working. The last hook, instead of having him work from 7-3, 3-11, and 11-7, he says, “We partied 7-3, 3-11, 11-7,” so when he sings about shiftwork in the last two choruses, his “shifts” are him drinking and having a good time for the same time he was working before. Seems like a fair trade off.
You can listen to “Shiftwork” from 7-3, 3-11, or 11-7, as it’s embedded below!
4. “Easy Money” by Brad Paisley
Background: Brad Paisley was an early influence for me as a songwriter, as he was one of three acts (the others being Steely Dan and Fountains of Wayne), who taught me it was okay to be goofy with your writing. The parent album of “Easy Money” was my introduction to Brad Paisley, and the song was a standout track on a terrific album. Of note, this is the only song out of the ones in this blog where the narrator actually enjoys their job!
Lyrically: The song tells about what a guy and his band were up to before they made it big as musicians. He opens by saying, “I remember working on a rooftop, the hot summer sun all day, now I work 3 hours a night, it feels a lot more like play.” Then he moves onto the other members of the band: “Before Kenny joined the band he used to hang drywall,” and in the second verse, he says, “Kevin sold records, Brent sold shoes, Gary was a garbage man.” Then, he says in the chorus, “Now we’re laughin’ all the way to the bank, ‘cause it all just seems so funny. A bunch of guys like us in a big tour bus makin’ that easy money.” Of course, like with any good song, you best detail is going to come last (either your best example or your best ending to the story), and this one has a last verse that says, “I used to have an ex-girlfriend that didn’t understand, she said, ‘boy you’re goin’ nowhere fast. You oughta get a real job, why don’t you quit that band?’ now she can kiss my backstage pass!” The charm of this song is the narrator’s cockeyed optimism after putting in all that hard work.
Melodically: The intro uses G, D, G, C, D, G. With the song written in G major, this is a I, V, I, IV, V, I pattern. This basic pattern is used throughout the song, including the instrumental sections that are played over those chords. I used to have a not-so-good habit of judging a song by its song title, thinking I knew what it was about based on the title of the song. With this tune, it’s not that hard to figure out, so the IV and V chords don’t cause all that much tension, and whatever tension or mystery they cause isn’t to keep us from the obvious fate of the main characters in the song, but rather to add to the wild life that they now lead, compared to the ones they had before – but the transition from the day job is seamless. Instrumentally, the song contains electric and slide guitar, as well as bass guitar and drums.
Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus format. This is somewhat of a hybrid song, as it quickly tells the story of the rise of the band members from their day jobs, but in the middle of that, he brings up Desperado’s humble beginnings and mixes them in with his band members. This isn’t just to fill space, it’s to humorously show that they can hang with the best of ‘em, adding a little punch we may not have expected. Then the kicker at the end about the ex-girlfriend and how she can kiss his backstage pass is, like I said earlier, perfectly timed to be the funniest anecdote from his life making that easy money. The song goes by quickly, so the three sets of examples in each verse (with the first verse being twice as long), isn’t overkill in the way you might think it would be–as most popular songs only have two verses.
You can listen to “Easy Money” on the way to the bank, as it’s embedded below.
