Jiminy Cricket may have whistled while he worked but some folks might be more likely to hum Take This Job And Shove It under their breaths.  Depending on the job you have, sometimes the work itself helps create a song. Kind of like a military cadence call.

A good work song helps ease the boredom of a thankless or repetitive job while the cadence keeps the rhythm of the task. Whether hoeing a field or working the line in a factory, the song both keeps you alert and sustains you.

Outdoors, it may be acceptable to sing aloud by yourself or in a group. Indoors, on the line or at an office desk, the tune may have to be more silent. Either way, it turns a mundane task into a ballet of sorts, even if a hidden or unacknowledged one.

I’ve worked in more than one factory and for better or worse, most folks got this rhythm you just can’t get out of you. I went home at night and sometimes would just begin repeating the movements. In some way, I think, I was trying to get my family to “understand” my job.

I needed to put meaning to these tiny, ridiculous motions I  made each day. My little twirling and whirling had some purpose at work, but at home the precision was meaningless and bizarre. How could those small movements create a product, move it down the line and actually make something the public would be happy to get? At work, I could see the product and have some pride about my little dance but at home, my industrial ballet seemed empty and comical.

Charlie Chaplin took the idea of a ballet of the mundane to new heights when he literally became a cog in the machine during Modern Times. Even if you think you could never sit through a black and white movie, watch this one just for the sight of him going around and around, then coiling back through a gigantic machine. It manages to be beautiful, funny and a social commentary on the mechanized world all at once.

In one factory, there was a button on the conveyor belt that I stood right by most days. I had been told from the very beginning to never touch it, in such a way that I genuinely assumed touching it would not only bring the line to an instant halt but would quickly ruin the machinery, the products and perhaps a few hands and toes as well.

No matter how tired I was, I did not lean against or bump or accidentally nudge this button. I was fairly fast and of course my reward was getting to work the belt alone. More than once, I had a slow moment and losing that 99/100 of a second almost sent product falling off the end of the line straight onto the floor. I dreaded the plinkplink sound.

Right before I left, I found out by accident that all the magical button did was stop the conveyor belt. Period. Not with a shudder. Or a shake. Or even a belch. Just stop it.

Instead of having me in charge of this amazing, heart stopping power, it was deemed better to have merchandise ruined and fall on the floor when production got too fast or to have people running from all directions like something out of Lucy and Ethel working in a candy factory.

No matter where you work, take a break so we can get to talking about work songs themselves. (Are you punched out or are you reading this on the clock?) Take This Job And Shove It is probably the most famous. If you really listen to the words, though, Johnny Paycheck is angrier that his “woman has gone and taken all the reason he was working for.” Still, the catch phrase has probably ended more than one working relationship (or if chanted silently, perhaps prolonged it.)

Wichita Lineman is one of my personal favorites. You can hear the whine in the wire as Glen Campbell drives the highway looking for problems with the telephone line. This song is great when you’re lonesome as well.

Nine To Five which catalogs the working life of secretaries is accented by a typewriter bell and a beat that matches the cadence of work perfectly. You can see an army of office workers (or almost anyone) pouring themself a “cup of ambition” anytime you hear Dolly Parton start off.

If you happen to turn off the radio and still need to hear some working songs, check out the musical based on Studs Terkel’s classic Working. Showcasing everyone from prostitutes to presidents, Working has achieved a sort of cult status. As the ad (justifiably) says, “for anyone who has ever punched a clock, a cow or a supervisor – or wanted to.”