Who knew there were this many great songs about not having a job?
On second thoughts, it makes perfect sense. Bunch of unemployable bums, musicians, the lot of 'em!
25. The La's - Doledrum
(From 'The La's'.)
Lee Mavers and co. recorded one album in 1990, promptly disowned it, then spent the following 21 years "on hiatus". Talk about "difficult second album syndrome".
All my life goes by in DoledrumWhat kind of work ethic is that?
I'll see ninety-five in Doledrum
24. Bob Dylan - Ballad Of Hollis Brown
(From 'The Times They Are A-Changin'.)
Hollis Brown looked for work and money and walked a rugged mile. He didn't find either, but he did find a shotgun...
The Job Centre expect me to travel at least twenty miles in search of a job. I blame Hollis Brown.
23. Simply Red - Money's Too Tight To Mention
(From 'Picture Book'.)
Treasure this moment, it's probably the first, last and only time you'll ever see a Simply Red song in one of my mixtapes.
Here, Mick Hucknall has been laid off from work, his kids all need shoes, and the bank don't want to know. I might sympathise... if he wasn't Mick Hucknall.
22. Manic Street Preachers - I'm Not Working
(From 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours'.)
When James Dean Bradfield can't find gainful employment, he goes a little bit loopy.
Sweating out intelligenceHe should start writing a blog. That'd keep him off the streets.
Like I don't know what it is
Clinging to the microwaves
And singing with the soundwaves
21. Billy Bragg & The Imagined Village - Hard Times Of Old England (Retold)
(From 'The Imagined Village'.)
Billy and co. update this traditional folk song, dedicating it to unemployed farmers across the country...
Time was, I could sell what I grew in the shop.
Then Tesco's turned up all of that had to stop.
Now I can't make a living out of my crop.
Singing, oh, the hard times of old England,
In old England very hard times.
20. Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore
(From 'The Ultimate Collection'.)
And things were even harder for the unemployed before the days of the welfare state...
I mined in your mines and I gathered in your corn19. The Slackers - Every Day Is Sunday
I been working, mister, since the day I was born
Now I worry all the time like I never did before
'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore
(From 'Self Medication'.)
Not the Morrissey classic about winning yourself a cheap tray... but an ode to unemployment from a bunch of slackers... who you'd probably expect to enjoy unemployment a little more than they do.
Everyday is Sunday
When you're unemployed
Sounds pretty good man
I should be overjoyed
Every day is Sunday
Every day is Sunday
Every day is Sunday
Friday never comes
Do you think I should write a novel?
Maybe write some songs?
I'll show you I'm the genius
You thought I was all along
18. Beck - Soul Suckin' Jerk
(From 'Mellow Gold'.)
Beck quits his job at the fried chicken place and burns his uniform in celebration. It's all downhill from there.
17. John Cougar Mellencamp - Rain On The Scarecrow
(From 'Scarecrow'.)
More farmers forced to sell their farms when the bank forecloses, from another artist who owes his entire career to Woody Guthrie. And, as so often in these stories, it all ends with rain on the scarecrow... and blood on the plough.
16. Eminem - Rock Bottom
(From 'The Slim Shady LP'.)
Eminem works minimum wage, gets hired and fired a lot, and can't afford new nappies for his daughter. (Or diapers, if you insist, Marshall.)
Still... would you give this man a job?
15. Kenickie - Disco Christmas On The Dole
The irony being that by the time the second Kenickie album hit the shops, most of the band were on the dole. At least Lauren Laverne went on to find alternative employment.
(See also the completely unrelated Spitting Image single Santa Claus In On The Dole.)
14. The Go-Betweens - Draining The Pool For You
(From 'Bellavista Terrace: The Best of the Go-Betweens'.)
I got hired but I got tired of draining the pool for you.I can think of worse resignation letters you could write... this should probably have made last week's list though.
I got tired but not so blue,
To see the cracks in you.
I got hired against my wish,
With better prospects, after this.
13. Alex Chilton - Lost My Job
(From 'Top 30'.)
Alex Chilton loses his job and treats it as an excuse to stay out all night and sleep all day. I'm too old for all that. Then again, so was he.
12. Townes Van Zandt - Marie
(From 'Be Here To Love Me'.)
I stood in line and left my nameA familiar story for anyone who's ever spent any time down the Bob-a-Job Centre.
Took about six hours or so...
Unemployment said I got no more cheques
And they showed me to the hall
Smart Alec remarks aside, this is one of the saddest songs ever written. Poor little Marie.
11. The Libertines - Love On The Dole
If ever there was a rock star who epitomised what we might call "dole scum chic", it's Pete Doherty. This song was named after the Walter Greenwood novel, adapted into a film in 1941 starring Deborah Kerr as Waynetta Slob.
10. Thea Gilmore - Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
(From 'Loft Music'.)
Written back in the 30s, Yip Harburg's anthem to the Great Depression sends shivers down my spine... especially as sung by the divine Thea Gilmore.
9. The Clash - Career Opportunities
(From 'The Clash'.)
Adrian reminded me of this one after last week's Top Ten 'I Quit!' Songs. Do you want to make tea at the BBC? (Hint: it'll probably be more fulfilling than making the tea at ILR.)
8. Half Man Half Biscuit - Turned Up Clocked On Laid Off
(From 'This Leaden Pall'.)
Was there ever a more accurate description of what it feels like to be laid off...?
Watch out world, I’m a man at ease
Free to do whatever when I want
Lonely heathland here I come
Deathless, useless bracken underfoot
There’s people who can’t spell ‘weird’ right7. Ben Folds - Fred Jones Part 2
Driving round with thousands in the bank
But I get by, got a lot on my mind
I get by, got allotments on my mind
(From 'Rockin' The Suburbs'.)
Unlike a lot of the people on this list, Fred Jones is actually sad to be losing his job...
Fred sits alone at his desk in the dark6. The Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job?
There's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall
He's cleared all his things and he's put them in boxes
Things that remind him: 'Life has been good'
Twenty-five years
He's worked at the paper
A man's here to take him downstairs
And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones
It's time
(From 'The Offspring - Greatest Hits'.)
The perils of living with an unemployed girlfriend or girlfriend, along with typically blunt advice on how to deal with them. At least the video gave temporary employment to an entire small town.
5. Luke Haines - Never Work
(From 'The Oliver Twist Manifesto'.)
Never work in MayYeah, I'd like to see how far that attitude gets you when you go sign on, Luke. I doubt singing it in French will help you either.
Or in the summer time,
We'll call a general strike
For the right to never work
4. Nina Simone - Ain't Got No / I Got Life
(From 'The Very Best Of Nina Simone'.)
Nina ain't got no home, no shoes, no money, no skirts and no sweater. She does have her tongue, her chin, her neck and her boobies though. I'm not entirely sure what alternate career path she's advising here...
3. Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
(From 'Born In The U.S.A.')
Yes, the most misunderstood song in the history of rock is actually the story of a disgruntled GI returning from Vietnam to find nobody will give him a job.
Come back home to the refineryYou'd be hard pressed to find anyone who's written more songs about losing your job, hating your job, not being able to find a new job... or even driving your girlfriend's mum down the unemployment agency.
Hiring man says, "son, if it were up to me..."
Went down to see my VA man,
He says, "son, don't you understand?"
2. Emiliana Torrini - Unemployed In Summertime
(From 'Love In the Time of Science'.)
You can be far more reckless with your unemployment if you're only 21. Emiliana Torrini doesn't need money because she's young and in love. Aww...
1. Everclear - Unemployed Boyfriend
(From 'Songs From An American Movie, Vol. One: Learning How To Smile'.)
Probably not the song you expected to top this chart (if you've ever even heard of it), but this is one of my favourites from Everclear. It never fails to make me smile.
Ever been chatted up down the Job Centre?
Blimey - 25 songs about unemployment. But which omissions made me fail the interview?
