Johnny Paycheck was part of the Outlaw Country movement, along with Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. Only he took it to the extreme.To jail, actually.
Attitude wasn't hard to find in his music, with songs like Me And The IRS, I'm The Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised), and Take This Job And Shove It, which went platinum in Paycheck's only crossover hit.
But he was a hard living man, always one step away from trouble with the law. Famous for his drinking and drug use, almost convicted for sex with an under age girl, he shot a man with a .22 in 1985 - serving 22 months in prison. Pardoned by the Ohio Governor, he ended bankrupt from tax trouble. I guess the IRS came out topside on that one.
It's often said that one of the things about Country music is that if the song hasn't happened to you, it's happened to someone you know. The attitude in this song is familiar to everyone.
Take This Job And Shove It (Songwriter: David Allan Coe)
Take this job and shove it I ain't workin' here no more
My woman done left and took all the reason I was working for
Ya, better not try and stand in my way
Cause I'm walkin', out the door
Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more
Well, I been working in this factory for now on fifteen years
All this time, I watched my woman drownin' in a pool of tears
And I've seen a lot of good folks die who had a lot of bills to pay
I'd give the shirt right off of my back if I had the guts to say...
Take this job and shove it I ain't workin' here no more
My woman done left and took all the reason I was working for
Ya, better not try and stand in my way
Cause I'm walkin', out the door
Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more
The foreman, he's a regular dog the line boss, he's a fool
Got a brand new flat top haircut Lord, he thinks he's cool
One of these days I'm gonna blow my top and that sucker, he's gonna pay
I can't wait to see their faces when I get the nerve to say...
Take this job and shove it I ain't workin' here no more
My woman done left and took all the reason I was working for
Ya, better not try and stand in my way
Cause I'm walkin', out the door
Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more
Take this job and shove it
Taken from a page of my dear ol' daddy's book of his life as well borepatch.
ReplyDeleteMy dad: Thomas Coleman Riddle was friends with Mr. Paycheck and a few others from that rowdy crowd, and experienced all of the same.
Although, dad never got too famous he did manage to put out some good music back then (still got an old 45 rpm around here somewhere ;-)
Thanks for this post, brought back some old memories of when I played bass guitar and back up vocals for Dad.
Aaahhhh......
ReplyDeleteClassic Country.
I love country music. Always tells stories of true life, and real people. May it live forever.
ReplyDeleteNative, that's a great story. Let me know if you ever find the record and rip it to MP3.
ReplyDeleteYou bet!
ReplyDeleteWe moved here going on 5 years ago, our Girl came a little early, then our Boy so all that stuff in the garage is still left there unpacked.
I am slowly getting it done though, transferring tape/vinyl to disk and Mp3 and will have a website up soon which will feature my old band VALHALLA.
As well as new songs from recent projects such as the song which I wrote for Phillip Loughlins (Hog Blog).
Through that site I will be posting some old gems, and also Dad's song "Raiford Line" (where he spent some time) will be one of his songs featured.
My old band Valhalla did a hard rock version of that particular song and Dad gave it the thumbs up back then :-)