Music Monday 04 - Work Music

Last Monday was Labor Day and, since I took the day off from writing, I thought I’d highlight some music about work this week. Music and work go hand-in-hand, especially if you’re a professional musician. But even for those of us who aren’t, music and work still have a very close relationship. I find that music makes work far more bearable; just like making fun of the vampire guy from the Black Eyed Peas makes listening to “Boom Boom Pow” more bearable. Whether I’m writing, working on a sermon, cleaning the kitchen or stacking chairs at church, I like listening to music while I work. I thought that I’d take a look at some songs about work and the best situations to listen to them.

“Working for the Weekend” – Loverboy
Loverboy’s hit “Working for the Weekend” was released in 1981 and charted on both of Billboard’s pop singles and mainstream rock charts. It was a popular song in the 80s but has also recently gained popularity from its inclusion in television shows, commercials and movies. The most classic of these recent appearances is in the move Zoolander, when Derek Zoolander is working in a coal mine.

I think I’ve got the black lung, pop.

Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance

This is the perfect song to listen to on a Friday afternoon at 3:00. Staring at the clock, it provides the motivation needed to make it through to the weekend, those final two hours until the clock strikes 5:00 and it’s time to go home. This song has lost some meaning for me since I now work every Sunday but I still like the principle and I still remember what it was like for 5:00 to hit on a Friday afternoon.

I remember heading out of the office listening to this song on my iPod, rocking a little air guitar while walking down the hall. Then dancing a little to the elevator, pretending I was wearing a sick 80s headband while loosening my tie and undoing the top button on my Oxford shirt. Then shaking the doorman’s hand as I finally headed to my car; I was ready for a weekend filled with potential and hopefully a little love and mystery.

“A Spoonful of Sugar” – Mary Poppins
I thought of titling this section “’A Spoonful of Sugar’ – My First Love.” Every year when I was growing up Mary Poppins was broadcast on TV and I would watch it. I liked the chimney sweeps, I liked the penguins and I liked the scene where everyone was laughing/drunk and floating in the room. But more than anything, I liked Mary Poppins; nay, I loved Mary Poppins. I dreamed that one day Mary Poppins would be my nanny and I hoped that we could parlay her role as nanny into the role of my wife.

As a young child I made no connection between Mary Poppins and Julie Andrews; I didn’t love Julie Andrews, I loved Mary Poppins. To me Julie Andrews was that singing, Austrian nun from The Sound of Music with the boy’s haircut. Mary Poppins was the love of my life and the standard by which I measured every woman in my life. And while I’ve grown out of my boyish obsession with the nanny who was practically perfect in every way, I still have a special place in my heart for Mary Poppins and all the songs she sang. One of those songs was “A Spoonful of Sugar;” a song about adding a little fun to any job to make it more bearable. The song begins like this:

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap
The job's a game

And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down
The medicine go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

I love Mary Poppins but even I can see that this is a thinly veiled attempt to get little kids to do their chores. We have a popular Disney move and a song about doing chores sung by a goddess, which could mean only one thing: Walt Disney’s kids weren’t doing their chores and he wanted a way to inspire them to work harder. I can’t remember if this song made me work any harder as a kid but I know today, if Mary Poppins came to me and asked me to stop checking my Facebook and fantasy football and get to work, I totally would.

This is a great song to listen to while working around the house and it’s an even better song to quietly play while your children are sleeping. Listening to the sweet sound of Mary Poppins’ voice as they silently sleep, your children will subliminally learn the message that work is fun and that they should work hard. And if the message really sinks in, your children will commit themselves to a life of labor, starting and selling countless business and making your retirement very comfortable.


Listening to music while working is awesome. A lot of my friends and even my mother have taken to listening to Pandora from their office computers. The music I listen to depends a lot on the work that I’m doing.

If I’m reading, I listen to classical.

If I’m writing, I listen to electronic instrumental music like Daft Punk or Explosions in the Sky.

If I’m cleaning, I listen to sports talk podcasts.

We all have to work at some point in our lives and we should be grateful for the opportunity and ability. But if some days those aren’t enough, thankfully we’ve got music to make working more bearable.

What music do you listen to while working?