There's hardly been a better outlaw song embraced by the masses than "Take This Job and Shove It," which was No. 1 on Billboard's country chart on this date in 1978. Who hasn't sung a few bars or muttered the title during a bad day at work. David Allan Coe's blue collar anthem was a perfect fit for Johnny Paycheck, a troubled and tortured artist who had a dozen Top 10 singles during his career but never came close to duplicating the success of this gem.
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
My woman done left
and took all the reasons
I was working for
You better not try to stand in
my way as I'm walking out the door
Take this job and shove it
I ain't working here no more
Paycheck kept plugging along despite health problems and a jail stint late in his career. He died in 2003 at age 65.
On "The Outlaw's Prayer," a minor hit in 1979, he sang "This is Paycheck signing off. I'll see you Lord -- I hope." We hope so too, Johnny. We surely do.
Paycheck was an amazing singer and it's a good song, but David Allen Coe is an unrepentant racist as some of his other material makes perfectly clear.
ReplyDeleteBy the way Jimbo you should check out the new Jeff Bridges movie, "Crazy Heart." It's about a brokedown country singer.