B-side "Colorado Kool-Aid" Format 7" single Genre Country | Released October 1977 Recorded August 24, 1977 Length 2:35 | |
"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 "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 people assumed Paycheck had written the song. Though the single released by Paycheck, and subsequent album, both correctly credit Coe as the songs composer.
The song inspired a 1981 film by 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.)