B-side "Silver Wings" Format 7" Genre Country | Released June 30, 1969 Recorded May 16, 1969 Length 2:33 | |
"Workin' Man Blues" is a song written and performed by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released in May 1969 as the second single from the album A Portrait of Merle Haggard. The song was released during his early peak and became one of several signature songs during his career.
Contents
Background
"Workin' Man Blues" is Haggard's tribute to a core group of his fans: The American blue-collared working man. Backed by a strong electric guitar beat that typified Haggard's signature Bakersfield Sound, he fills the role of one of those workers expressing pride in values such as hard work and sacrifice, despite the resulting fatigue and the stress of raising a large family. He admits to relaxing during the off-working hours ("I drink my beer in a tavern, sing a little bit of these workin' man's blues.") and vows that as a result of keeping his values, he will never need to go on welfare ("... cause I'll be working, long as my two hands are fit to use.").
"Workin' Man Blues" was a track on Haggard's 1969 album A Portrait of Merle Haggard. Music critic Mark Deming noted that the song was among three of Haggard's finest songs to appear on the album; "Silver Wings" and "Hungry Eyes" were the other two. "(M)ost country artists would be happy to cut three tunes this strong during the course of their career, let alone as part of one of six albums Hag would release in 1969," wrote Deming.
Session Personnel: Lead vocals, lead guitar: Merle Haggard Guitar: James Burton, Lewis Talley. Bass: Chuck Berghofer. Drums: Jim Gordon.
Chart performance
"Workin' Man Blues" was released in July 1969, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart.
Cover versions and other songs
Jerry Lee Lewis included a cover of the song on his 1970 album She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.
Gary Morris's version was released in September 1990 as the first single from his album These Days.
In 1994, country music band Diamond Rio, along with guitarists Steve Wariner and Lee Roy Parnell, recorded a cover of the song, crediting themselves as Jed Zeppelin. This cover, included on a tribute album called Mama's Hungry Eyes: A Tribute to Merle Haggard, charted at number 48 on the Billboard country charts, and a music video was made for it.
Daron Norwood recorded a Christmas-themed parody entitled "Workin' Elf Blues" for the Giant Records album Giant Country Christmas Volume 1, with the parody lyrics written by Ken Forsythe, Jim Moran, and Tim Johnson. This version went to number 75 on the country charts in 1995.
In popular culture
The song was featured in the Simpsons episode, "Lost Verizon" while Bart collects golf balls at a country club for money.