History Main / JobSong

* Music/{{ACDC}}: "It's a Long Way to the Top(If You Wanna Rock and Roll)" is about the starvation wages and generally poor working conditions encountered by neophyte rock bands.

If the person is singing about their own job, this song could be positive, about how they [[MarriedToTheJob really like their job]] because it contributes something important/good to society or because they just find it fun. It could also be negative, about how they [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt hate their job]] (whether due to finding it boring, having a MeanBoss, not getting paid enough, it taking too long, finding it gross or any other reason). It could also be a mixture of positive and negative, talking about how the job has both upsides and downsides.

Often PlayedForLaughs by having a character with a job that people tend to classify as boring ([[BurgerFool fast-food restaurant workers]] and office workers are common candidates for this) sing about how [[IncrediblyLameFun they enjoy their job]]. These people are often seen as [[TheBore boring]] sticks-in-the-mud but not always.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder: Fan Works]]

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Ua96trb2Y Are You Gonna Flush the Toilet?]]" is a parody of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" about being a janitor.

* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' features a song sung by the Seven Dwarfs about their job digging in a mine all day. There's also "Whistle While You Work".

* In ''Film/{{Annie}}'', the song "You're Gonna Like it Here" downplays this. It's about the inner workings of the Warbucks house, which includes, but is not limited to, the servants singing about what they do (e.g. "When you wake, ring for Drake. Drake will bring your tray. When you're through, Mrs. Pew comes to take it away.")
* The ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' theme is about the protagonists' job hunting down ghosts and trapping them.
* ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors'': "The Dentist Song" is sung by the dentist about how he's a dentist and [[MadDoctor therefore causes pain]].
* ''Film/MaryPoppins'': Bert sings two songs like this because he [[JackOfAllTrades has several jobs]]. One song is about his chalk drawings and another, "Chim Chim Cheree", is about his job as a chimney sweep and how sweeps are good luck.

-->Workin' 9 to 5,\\

If you let it
* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'' has "The Candyman" song, in which a candy store owner sings about the joy children are given by the candy he sells them.
* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' has the song "Merry Old Land of Oz", in which several workers in Oz, including the hairdressers, the repair workers, and a few people whose jobs seem to consist only of eating lunch, sing about their jobs.
* The 2005 adaptation of ''Film/TheProducers'' has mousy accountant Leo Bloom sing a song that both bemoans the boring, dead-end job to which he's dedicated his life thus far, and exultantly voices his "secret desire" to become a glamorous and wealthy Broadway producer.

-->Carrots and spuds\\

For value they can't be beat.

[[folder: Literature]]

-->We're the atomic blasters,
-->The dancing wi' disaster masters,
-->We're the solar-mirror spinners,
-->Bringing home the steel.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* Parodied on ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' when the incredibly out of touch BlueBlood[=/=]ManChild Richard tries to imagine working various common jobs instead of being King. The song he sings makes it clear he has absolutely no idea what these jobs entail and is missing a lot of basic knowledge about the world.
-->'''Richard''': If I were a jolly blacksmith
-->What a happy guy I'd be!
-->I would do all kinds of blacksmith stuff
-->In my blacksmithery!
-->I would hit the thing
-->With the other thing
-->Til I made a different thing!

-->We sing the song of the sewer
-->Of the sewer we sing this song
-->Together we stand
-->With shovel in hand
-->To keep things rolling along.

[[folder: Music]]

If used as a ThemeTune, it's usually an ExpositoryThemeTune and occasionally a BraggingThemeTune, sometimes a ThemeTuneRollCall if the theme lists everyone's jobs. It may also overlap with TheyveComeSoFarSong if their job was the result of a long process or OdeToFood if it's sung by a chef/waiter/waitress/etc. If the song is at the job's expense, than it's an WorkingClassAnthem.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1AndAHalf'': "Diggah Tunnah" shows Timon's former meerkat tribe constantly digging tunnels so they can stay safe from predators.

If used as a ThemeTune, it's usually an ExpositoryThemeTune and occasionally a BraggingThemeTune, sometimes a ThemeTuneRollCall if the theme lists everyone's jobs. It may also overlap with TheyveComeSoFarSong if their job was the result of a long process or OdeToFood if it's sung by a chef/waiter/waitress/etc.

* Several songs in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'' feature the Workers toiling in Hades' factories. Their portions of "Chant" introduce them and the mantra they chant to keep out of trouble, while "Why We Build the Wall" has Hades holding a rally to explain how 'vital' their jobs are. "Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)" has Eurydice being inducted into the fold of Workers and the mines, mills and machinery. Later songs such as "If It's True" and "Chant (Reprise)" subvert the trope by starting out with the Workers at work like normal, but deciding to stop and stand with Orpheus.

* Several songs in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'' feature the Workers toiling in Hades' factories. Their portions of "Chant" introduce them and the mantra they chant to keep out of trouble, while "Why We Build the Wall" has Hades holding a rally to explain how 'vital' their jobs are. "Way Down Hadestown (Reprise)" has Eurydice being inducted into the fold of Workers and the mines, mills and machinery. Later songs such s "If It's True" and "Chant (Reprise)" subvert the trope by starting out with the Workers at work like normal, but deciding to stop and stand with Orpheus.

* "Beat and Broken Spirits" from ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'' is about the slaves in Mr Lethes factory endlessly toiling away.

** ''Breakfast All Day'' is about how much Miriam loves her job at Greasy Spoon Café, and how intrigued she is by the idea of eating breakfast at night.
** ''Eternity'' is partly about Harold sinking into depression while spending every day making sandwiches.

If it's sung by the one with the job, it can overlap with IAmSong (if the character's job is a notable part of their role and/or personality), IWantSong (if the character doesn't want that job), IAmBecomingSong (if their job is a step towards a different one or they're singing about their future job), MusicalChores (if their job involves cleaning up), or IAmGreatSong (if they're bragging about their job). Examples for pirates go under PirateSong and examples for singers/musicians ''usually'' go under RockStarSong. See also BalladOfASexWorker if the job in question is the oldest one in the book. Compare MoneySong. See TakeThisJobAndShoveIt for characters who hate their jobs enough to at least contemplate a RageQuit.

If it's sung by the one with the job, it can overlap with IAmSong (if the character's job is a notable part of their role and/or personality), IWantSong (if the character doesn't want that job), IAmBecomingSong (if their job is a step towards a different one or they're singing about their future job), MusicalChores (if their job involves cleaning up), or IAmGreatSong (if they're bragging about their job). Examples for pirates go under PirateSong and examples for singers/musicians ''usually'' go under RockStarSong. Compare MoneySong. See TakeThisJobAndShoveIt for characters who hate their jobs enough to at least contemplate a RageQuit.

* In ''Film/MrsBrownYouveGotALovelyDaughter'', Mr. Brown hires the Hermits to work at his market and teaches them a song about selling fruit.

** As Curt Smith explains in [[https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49172980597_63fc059549_o.jpg this interview,]] the lyrics for "The Working Hour" are about the stress of meeting the demands and deadlines of the band's pushy record company. He and Roland Orzabal resented being bossed around in this fashion because the final product ended up being a failure in the duo's eyes.
--->'''Smith''': 'The Working Hour' was written at the time of 'The Way You Are' because of all the work, the ''pressure'' of work. It was getting like a job all of a sudden. One line is 'We are paid by those who learn by our mistakes', and that's about being used as guinea pigs, basically: 'Get another record out, your career's going down the drain!' So you put out a record that's a flop...

* ''Music/CarWashBlues'' from 1974, written and performed by Creator/JimCroce, is the lament of a man with talent and ambition scrubbing the grunge off other people's vehicles. This from the days when very little of the process was mechanized, and was mostly manual labor.
* ''Music/DireStraits'': "Money for Nothing" is a song about an ignorant blue collar worker Mark Knopfler encountered and includes several direct quotes from them.

* The ''Music/FlandersAndSwann'' song "The Gasman Cometh" is a song about a whole series of tradesmen visiting the singer's house to repair the previous tradesman's damage:

* ''Music/TomWaits'': "I Can't Wait To Get Off Work (and See My Baby On Montgomery Avenue)" is sung from the perspective of a man who does odd jobs, while sweeping up and cleaning bathrooms on a night job, about how he wished he was at home with the woman he misses.

* The union song "Solidarity Forever", associated with Music/PeteSeeger, describes all the way that workers create things.

* Music/AC/DC: "It's a Long Way to the Top(If You Wanna Rock and Roll)" is about the starvation wages and generally poor working conditions encountered by neophyte rock bands.

* Several Music/AmateurTransplants songs, most notably "Anaesthetist's Hymn", about how boring being an anaesthetist is, and "Careless Surgeon", about an incompetent surgeon.

* The ''Film/{{Ghostbusters}}'' theme is about the protagonists' job hunting down ghosts and trapping them.

* ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' has a number of these:
** "Work Song" is sung by Jean Valjean and his fellow convicts as they engage in backbreaking manual labor (in the film version and some stagings, they are shown as galley slaves, as convicts in Toulon did in real life, although not as late as 1815 when the scene is set).
** "At the End of the Day" is mostly about the drudgery of factory work and how it's still better than the alternatives (begging or prostitution).
** "Lovely Ladies" is sung from the perspective of prostitutes as they go about their business and attempt to attract clients.
** Thénardier's IAmSong "Master of the House" is about being a crooked innkeeper.