# Dues songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2007, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266 "2007-12-26T05:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/41 "2008-01-10T16:10:54Z")
[The Bears](http://www.thebearsmusic.com)’ Waiting Room: Put a lot of pavement on my shoes Made a lot of payments on my dues I’m running out of patience just like you ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/42 "2008-01-10T17:35:18Z")
One of the best is Jesse Winchester’s “A Showman’s Life”- and since he was never wildly wealthily famous, it’s easy to take it in earnest: > [@](#): > > A showman’s life > Is a smoky bar > And the fevered chase > Of a tiny star > > It’s a hotel room > And a lonely wife > From what I’ve seen > Of a showman’s life Also, how have we gone so many posts without anyone mentioning ABBA’s “Super Trooper”??? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/43 "2008-01-10T17:43:59Z")
[One Rock & Roll Too Many](http://www.lyricsmania.com/soundtracklyrics/starlight_express_soundtrack_lyrics_541/one_rock_and_roll_too_many_cb_lyrics_8266.html) from “Starlight Express” ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/44 "2008-01-10T17:51:04Z")
When you get right down to it, **Norm Greenbaum** ’s classic _Spirit In The Sky_ is nothing more than a fundamentalist Christian gloat song. > [@](#): > > Never been a sinner – I never sinned, > I got a friend in Jesus > So you know that when I die > He’s gonna set me up with the spirit in the sky > > Oh, set me up with the spirit in the sky > That’s where I’m gonna go when I die > When I die and they lay me to rest > I’m gonna go to the place that’s the best I also used to wonder if his name indicated he was a converted Jew. Nope. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_in_the_Sky), he dropped in “Jesus” because he figured it’d have more popular appeal that way. I’m guessing also because it fits the meter better. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/45 "2008-01-10T18:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=Ringo Starr] You’ve got to pay your dues If you wanna sing the blues And you know it don’t come easy. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=China Guy] Kinks - Life on the Road [/QUOTE] Not to be confused with “The Road,” the title track from one of their live albums, which would also fit this category. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/46 "2008-01-10T18:10:12Z")
And, speaking of the Kinks, much of their “Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround” album is about “the joys, sorrows, trials and tribulations” of the music biz. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/47 "2008-01-10T19:40:13Z")
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has _Partners, Brothers and Friends_ about life on the road and their lives behind it. The whole tone of the song is that they’re just going about the business of being the band. It’s pretty much, “Here we are and this is the way it is, and that’s what it takes.” Is it folk or rock or country? Seems like everybody cares but us. So just leave us an early wake up call so we don’t miss the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ea5d25/32.png) [@Happy\_Scrappy\_Hero\_Pup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Scrappy_Hero_Pup)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/48 "2008-01-10T20:16:01Z")
[QUOTE= robardin] When you get right down to it, Norm Greenbaum’s classic Spirit In The Sky is nothing more than a fundamentalist Christian gloat song. [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s satire of smug “once baptized, always saved” Christians, who I find funny and logically inconsistent, which is one of the reasons I love the song so much. That and the fucking AWESOME riff. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/49 "2008-01-10T20:38:17Z")
Van Halen - Runnin’ With The Devil > [@](#): > > I found the simple life ain’t so simple > When I jumped out on that road > I got no love, no love you’d call real > Ain’t got nobody waiting at home ---
**Author:** ![oceanmountain2016](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b5ac83/32.png) [@oceanmountain2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oceanmountain2016)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/50 "2016-04-08T19:02:25Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > He’s so out of touch with reality that he doesn’t know that IATSE members make damn good money. I like this song a lot, but I was always bothered by him singing about the roadies working for minimum wage since I would think it was in his power to have them paid more. Add to that the idea that he doesn’t recognize that they are actually paid well and I find myself scratching my head. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/51 "2016-04-08T21:51:13Z")
I rather like “Baby Girl” by Sugarland ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/52 "2016-04-09T14:32:50Z")
Since this zombie has been resurrected… Old 97’s - [“Longer Than You’ve Been Alive”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjo0wTuDqYw) _“We’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive Twenty good years of about twenty-five”_ ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/53 "2016-04-09T19:07:44Z")
I like The Band’s “Stage Fright” (which was just on the radio here) and Chilliwack’s “Fly At Night” and I think Rush’s “Limelight” is a bit pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/54 "2016-04-09T19:44:19Z")
[Nashville Radio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyT4JQfvdqY)–Jon Langford ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/55 "2016-04-09T21:59:01Z")
Freddie Mercury and the boys paid theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hook)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/56 "2016-04-10T11:17:16Z")
**Rock and Roll I Gave You All the Best Years of my Life** by Kevin Johnson. The story of trying to make it in the music business and finally realising it is never going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266/57 "2016-04-10T15:38:54Z")
A sub genre of this is the young up and coming musician needing to write the song about how they have to do it their way and make their own mistakes. Joss Stone and Jonny Lang I am looking at you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dues-songs/431266.md?page=2)