B-side "Looking for Ways" Genre Country Label RCA | Released May 1988 Length 3:54 | |
Writer(s) Troy Seals
Max D. Barnes
Graham Lyle | ||
"Joe Knows How to Live" is a song written by Troy Seals, Max D. Barnes and Graham Lyle, and recorded by American country music artist Eddy Raven. It was released in May 1988 as the second single from the album The Best of Eddy Raven. "Joe Knows How to Live" was Eddy Raven's fourth number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of fifteen weeks on the country chart.
The song was previously recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their 1987 album Hold On.
Song meaning
The song is told by Raven as the point of view of a blue collar worker envious of one of his co-workers, Joe. Joe's free-spirited ways are evidenced by Raven singing "Well I hate to admit it, but Joe sure knows how to live". Joe tells his linemates of a trip to Mexico he's taking with Betty, a waitress at a diner that all are familiar with. He later returns with photos and a hat he purchased in Mexico.
The trip Joe has taken was presumably done with ill-used sick days, as Raven says in the spoken-word fading end of the song, "well, they would have fired me if I'd have done something like that". It also suggests that Joe is married, as Raven asks rhetorically "you think Joe's wife knows about that yet?" before the song completely fades.