The Music

Top 5: Office Tunes

Music that speaks to the humdrum of the working day is nothing new, or even remotely cosmic. It’s as commonplace as songs about love and drinking. It’s by necessity part of the musical lexicon, inasmuch as there have been some great songs penned by hard-working songwriters, who then went on to subsequently not have to work too hard themselves.

Because music is such a big part of my day, I’ve been keeping my ears tuned for songs that reference the 9-5 slog.

 

“WORKING FOR THE MAN” – ROY ORBISON

With the Big O’s exhortation to “listen to me, every one of you”, this song grabs at all the reasons we put our nose to the grindstone or feel the – hopefully – metaphoric whip lashing at us. Sure, the Boss’s daughter is bringing Roy cold glasses of water while he toils at his thankless routine of daily yakka, he’s probably not out of the woods just yet. Back to work, you!

 

“SIXTEEN TONS” – TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD

This song almost had its author – one Merle Travis – up in front of the US senate at the height of McCarthy-ite inquisitions. It speculated that hard labour, like coal mining or forensic accounting in the service of a faceless, uncaring employer, was in fact tears, blood and sweat wasted. It packs a mean, bluesy wallop too.

 

“HEAVEN KNOWS I’M MISERABLE NOW” – THE SMITHS

Like plenty of other songwriters from the era of Thatcher’s Britain, Morrissey knew the pain and futility of dead end jobs without prospects, the absence of all employment certainty and in another song was even heard to enquire: “Do you have a vacancy for a back scrubber”? In “Heaven Knows…” he says “I was looking for a job and then I found a job/ and heaven knows I’m miserable now”.

 

“TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT” – BILLY BRAGG

You can rely on the big-nosed Bard of Barking (UK) to tell it how it is for the worker. In this installment, Billy relates the difficult choices facing a young man without extensive qualifications or family connections at the stock exchange: “With factories closing and the army’s full/ I don’t know what I’m going to do/ But I’ve come to see in the land of the free/ There’s only a future for the chosen few”. Bleak!

 

“IT’S NOT MY PLACE (IN THE 9 TO 5 WORLD)” – THE RAMONES

The kings of not having a job and being in a band took it to a whole other level with this obvious but enjoyable stomp-around on the topic of the day. You need not be a genius to divine that these loveable chaps didn’t have the ethic for mowing lawns or data entry. Nope – their genius lay in the fact that they articulated the crush of suburban boredom better than just about any band. Lousy jobs included.