I Drink My Beer In A Tavern

Many country singers sing of heartaches and tribulation. In fact, along with pickup trucks and alcohol, they are at the core of country music subject matter. By and large, these songs are written just to fit the template which appeals to the targeted demographic.

When it comes to living the life chronicled in country music, Merle Haggard is the real deal.

He was actually born in a converted boxcar. At the tender age of 11 he began a sordid life of crime which he would follow for over a decade and would include a prison escape. Eventually he would land in one of California's more notorious houses of detention, San Quentin.

After his release in 1960 he decided to pursue a musical career and eventually earned himself the reputation of "Poet Of The Working Man."

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We'll Kiss By The Fax Machine

For those of you white-collar folk who are tired of listening to songs in which blue-collar workers gripe about their working conditions, Sam Bisbee has crafted a lovely, little ditty about the wonders of office romance.

Unfortunately, in today's climate of uber-political-correctness, one would be wise to refrain from serenading a co-worker of interest in the big conference room with a few verses from Cubicle Love Song. Yes, even if the parallels between the song's lyrics and your workplace tryst are just too similar to be a coincidence.

Sam used to work for me, though we've never had romantic feelings towards each other. It was during this time that Sam wrote Cubicle Love Song. In fact, I am pretty certain that he wrote it at his desk, among all of the other non-work related activities he was perpetually involved in.

Sam Bisbee (and his incredible band) performs regularly in New York City.

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I Ain't Working Here No More

There are many ways to tender your resignation. You're over-worked, the boss is a jerk and you just can't take it anymore. Now if you could only find the nerve to do it, to take off the apron, nametag and/or hairnet and say, Take This Job And Shove It!

The original version of the song was written by David Allen Coe and netted a number 1 spot on the country charts for Johnny Paycheck. It also inspired a 1981 film of the same title about a disgruntled brewery employee who finally gives his boss a piece of his mind.

The lyrics in this version by Dead Kennedys are a minor departure from the original, but the message is the same. Additionally, the musical arrangement more effectively brings forth the emotions required to really blow your top and go through with it.

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I've Become A Mental Case

Everybody's had one at some point in their lives, the job so boring, dreary and unchallenging that you actually feel as though it's eating away at your brain.

The Ramones, hailing from blue-collar Queens, New York, were perfect candidates for this type of labor.

In The Job That Ate My Brain this working-man's angst is further fueled by typical hard-driving Ramones music.

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The Working Man That Put His Point Across

Nashville songwriter Jerry Chestnut had once worked for the Florida East Coast Railroad under a foreman named Frank Oney who bordered on being a slave driver. When Chestnut was approached by Larry Butler, who was looking for a hit song to produce for Johnny Cash, he wrote Oney about his former boss and how he would have liked to avenge himself.

During the late sixties and early seventies Chestnut became well known as a versatile, productive, and independent hit songwriter. He licensed the release of more than 50 recordings per year several times. Once he had 5 songs in the Billboard national chart and 3 in the Top Ten in the same week.

Among his numerous awards, he has received the Songwriter of the Year 1972 and International Writer of the Year 1973. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Foundation Hall Of Fame (1996) alongside Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams, Sr. and into the International Songwriters Association Hall Of Fame (1999) joining Billy Joel, Carole King, Bono and Bruce Springsteen, to name but a few.

Other of Chestnut's songs have been recorded by great performers such as Faron Young, Brooke Benton, Elvis Presley, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton.

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