Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1977
Take This Job and Shove It
Buy Take This Job and Shove It now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
"'Take This Job and Shove It'" is a 1977 country music song written by David Allan Coe and popularized by Johnny Paycheck, about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard with no apparent reward. The song was first recorded by Paycheck on his album also titled 'Take This Job and Shove It'. The recording hit number one on the country charts for two weeks, spending 18 weeks on the charts. It was Paycheck's only #1 hit.
Its B-side, "Colorado Kool-Aid," spent ten weeks on the same chart and peaked at #50.
Coe's recording was released in 1978 on his album 'Family Album'. Coe also recorded a variation of the song called "Take This Job and Shove It Too" on his 1980 album "I've Got Something To Say". It included the double-meaning line "Paycheck, you may be a thing of the past." Coe was annoyed that people assumed that Paycheck had written the song. (Though the single released by Paycheck, and subsequent album, both correctly credit Coe as the song's composer.)
The song inspired a 1981 film of the same name.
A cover version also appears on 'Bedtime for Democracy' by Dead Kennedys. Another cover version, "Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee", performed by Canibus with Biz Markie, appears in the film 'Office Space'. Chuck Barris and the Hollywood Cowboys performed a modified version of the piece as Barris's swan song when 'The Gong Show' was kicked off NBC in 1978.
Phrase
"Take this job and shove it" became a popular phrase as a result of the song. It also became a snowclone phrase, leading to a variety of book and article titles of the form, "Take this job and ... it". The most notable is "Take this job and love it", which has been the title of dozens of books, mostly about career counseling, as well as the title of a 2007 episode of the television series 'Hannah Montana'. Another notable variation was the 2006 book 'Take This Job and Ship It' by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan. Another variation is the quote "take this job and fill it" from the 'Simpsons' episode, "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy". (Another related snowclone is "take this ... and shove it," for any unpleasant or low-quality item.)
Chart performance
References
Category:1977 singles
Category:Johnny Paycheck songs
Category:David Allan Coe songs
Category:Song recordings produced by Billy Sherrill
Category:Criticism of work
Category:Termination of employment in popular culture
Category:Songs about labor
Category:Epic Records singles
Category:Songs written by David Allan Coe
Category:1977 songs
Category:Biz Markie songs
Category:Canibus songs
Buy Take This Job and Shove It now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1977