KEY POINTS:
From rock, pop, disco, folk and blues - all music genres seem to have something to offer when it comes to songs about earning a buck.
From innocent pop ditties such as Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 to the pro-union and politically-motivated songs of Billy Bragg and the
1950's million-seller sing-a-long classic Get a Job - there are plenty to choose from. There's the crass Step into my Office Baby by Belle & Sebastian, the feminist anthem She Works Hard for the Money from Donna Summer and the forgettable Manic Monday by The Bangles.
These songs are but modern day equivalents of what started out as moral-boosting hymns and chants of the oppressed African-Americans of the 1800s. Songs that were used to regulate people's pace of work, perhaps on a prison chain gang or toiling the cotton fields. In many respects these songs play a part in history, summing up life, loss of freedom and liberty.
Songs were made up and sung as a way of getting through the day.
Listen to some of the work songs that cover slavery in the Deep South and which some say led to the birth of blues music. Song titles such as I Don't Cost Very Much, There Will Be Peace In The Valley and When I've Done My Best are good examples of songs that sum up working under the watchful eye of a mean manager or demanding landowner.
These songs and others like them - such as parlour songs sung by staff working 'downstairs' in Victorian houses - addressed the hardships of life, specifically people's vulnerability to being treated poorly by their bosses. Many songs were 'call and response' chants - where a group responded to the soloist in an almost gospel-type manner.
Later came the depression - giving people looking for work something else to sing about while queuing for work or a free meal. Brother Can You Spare a Dime is a classic of the US depression with its lyrics: I was building a dream / With peace and glory ahead / Why should I be standing in line / Just waiting for bread?
Perhaps it's a stretch to link popular work songs with those of more than a hundred years ago. But one jazz researcher and author says not only is there a strong connection between the old work songs and their modern day equivalents, but that work songs can be traced back thousands of years.
Ted Gioia is an American who has written a book about work songs that follows on from his extensive research into the origins of jazz music.
"Cave paintings from early societies depict scenes of animals and human figures - sometimes with musical instruments or in postures associated with dancing," he says. "This suggests that making music was part of the preparation for the hunt. Work songs may be the oldest type of social singing.
"These paintings are often found in the most resonant places in the cave, sometimes in quite inaccessible places. It is also worth noting that many musical instruments, such as the bow, were also hunting instruments."
Gioia says work songs are at the root of many types of work such as rowing, weaving, digging and cultivating the land. Sea shanties are typical seafaring work songs.
"Singing helped to co-ordinate work," he says. "It made the toil less arduous. It created a sense of collaboration and co-operation among the labourers. Given these advantages, it is not surprising that all cultures have their work songs."
And he says work songs continue on today, much for the same reason they started in the 1800s. "Today we still have work songs. But their nature has changed," says Gioia. "People are more likely to listen to music while working. On factory floors, in the taxi cab, or the retail shop, we hear music. The tradition remains, although our role has changed from active creators to passive consumers."
While modern songs may not talk too much of slavery or of hoping for salvation, there is often an undercurrent of a call to arms. To rally the oppressed and to call for better pay and conditions.
Billy Bragg's Between the Wars - released at the height of Thatcherism in Britain during the eighties - touched a nerve with its verse: Call up the craftsmen / Bring me the draftsmen / Build me a path from cradle to grave / And I'll give my consent / To any government / That does not deny a man a living wage.
Gioia says work songs are statements of human dignity.
"All work is dignified, the very practice of work is dignified and these old work songs were able to take the worst most dehumanising situations, such as those of a prisoner or slave labour and find some moment of self expression and dignity to that."
Perhaps that's what Depeche Mode was thinking in 1984 when they sung Work Hard and the line: Nothing comes easy / It never will / Nothing comes easy / But a broken will.
And for something a little more upbeat try that 70's classic Car Wash: You might not ever get rich / But let me tell ya it's better than diggin' a ditch. Of course the song assumes you actually don't dig ditches for a living and that you enjoy cleaning other people's luxury cars rather than driving them.
Of course the irony of artists who are able to travel first class and arrive at gigs in stretch limos, enjoying the best of everything with bulging bank balances, can't be lost on them. Artists such as Bragg have to tread a fine line between the wealth they create and the people they rely on to buy their songs.
But how do songwriters who start out with a blank sheet of paper create such wealth and ongoing income? Its the magic of copyright. Every time one of their songs is played, performed, featured in a film or sold their personal till goes ka-ching.
Perhaps the ongoing popularity of songs about work help the masses stick it to the man while having the boss singing along too.
As Roger Waters of Pink Floyd put it: Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today / But if you ask for a raise it's no surprise that they're giving none away.
If you can't get your boss to sing along then plug in the iPod and dance the day away.
After all, the world don't move to the beat of just one drum.
Our Top Ten Work Songs
1. Do anything you wanna do - The Rods
2. That's the way it is - Bruce Hornsby and the Range
3. Chain Gang - Sam Cooke
4. Minimum Wage - They Might Be Giants
5. Welcome to the Working Week - Elvis Costello
6. Money - Pink Floyd
7. Working Class Hero - John Lennon
8. Salt of the Earth - Rolling Stones
9. Work that sucker to Death - Xavier
10. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life - Monty Python
* Ted Gioia is the author of Work Songs. RRP $65 but has been seen for $40. ISBN: 082233726
