# Occupations in Songs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 30, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901 "2020-04-30T15:19:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/1 "2020-04-30T15:19:23Z")
I was listening to a Donald Fagen album and one of the songs is Security Joan. In the song Joan works for airport security. I was thinking of what occupations are held by main characters in songs.
For example, Lovely Rita is a meter maid.
And for occupations like singers, songwriters, military, cowboys and bartenders, there are too many songs to mention. I’m looking more for a variety of occupations.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/2 "2020-04-30T15:23:19Z")
Genesis-I Know What I Like (In your Wardrobe)
It’s about a lawn mower (not the machine, the actual person who mows the lawns)
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### Author:  [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/3 "2020-04-30T15:26:54Z")
Leroy Van Dyke - The Auctioneer
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/4 "2020-04-30T15:38:16Z")
The characters in “Money For Nothin” are appliance delivery men.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/5 "2020-04-30T15:42:43Z")
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnKtCGrLRJ4)
Jazzman Carole King
Killing Me Softly Roberta Flack
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/6 "2020-04-30T15:44:08Z")
I thought the protagonist of the song “Tangled Up in Blue” mentioned a bunch of different occupations, but reading the lyrics, there are actually only two: “working as a cook for a spell” and “workin’ for a while on a fishin’ boat right outside of Delacroix”.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/7 "2020-04-30T15:44:28Z")
First thing I thought of was “Wichita Lineman,” which is about… a lineman (for the county).
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### Author:  [@dbygawdcapn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dbygawdcapn)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/8 "2020-04-30T15:46:40Z")
The Bobs - (First I Was a Hippie, Then I Was a Stockbroker) Now I Am a Hippie Again
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/9 "2020-04-30T15:55:00Z")
Im reluctant to post this Dr Demento classic but here goes
NSFW
[spoiler][Kinko the Clown- Ogden Edsel - On the Dr. Demento show - - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJNV4FMpGh8%5B/spoiler%5D)
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/10 "2020-04-30T15:58:40Z")
I play a lot of oldtime/bluegrass. Listing the songs about train engineers and coal miners would break the boards!
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/11 "2020-04-30T16:02:24Z")
The first song I thought of was “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)”.
There are a fair number of songs about farmers like “The Farmer’s Song” (Murray McLauchlan) or “400 Hogs” (Tom T. Hall).
“The Jolly Tinker” is a naughty classic.
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### Author:  [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/12 "2020-04-30T16:05:07Z")
> [@hogarth](#):
>
> The first song I thought of was “Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)”.
This reminds me of another song popularized by Dr Demento, The Ballad of Irving
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8EtvWW8nw)
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/13 "2020-04-30T16:12:02Z")
There was Meri Wilson’s ouvre:
[Telephone Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndwIxHkVIkE)
[Peter the Meter Reader](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWP1Ix653Nk)
[Internet Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyZnrQMa7MY)
[Dick the DJ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFy4PdicX1I)
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### Author:  [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/14 "2020-04-30T16:23:58Z")
Rose Royce was working at the Car Wash.
Jim Croce got the Working At the Car Wash Blues.
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### Author:  [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/15 "2020-04-30T16:37:27Z")
Memphis Slim - “Churnin’ Man Blues”
The Plugz - "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)"
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K1vJ0r0ax0)
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### Author:  [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/16 "2020-04-30T16:43:55Z")
_Tony’s Theme_ by Pixies is a song about a superhero named Tony. Does superhero count as an occupation?
Two clicks for the video because it’s a static image of the album cover, which includes nudity.
[Pixies "Tony's Theme" - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m_Rgx-yF2w)
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/17 "2020-04-30T18:02:47Z")
[quote=“Dropo, post:15, topic:852901”]
Memphis Slim - “Churnin’ Man Blues”
The Plugz - "Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man)"
[/QUOTE]
You missed the obvious one! “Repo Man” (Iggy Pop)
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### Author:  [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/18 "2020-04-30T18:10:54Z")
_Taxi_ by Harry Chapin is about a guy driving a taxi
_Lawyers Guns and Money_ is about a spy, (I think)
Bob Dyan’s _Hurricane_ is about Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a boxer who spent 19 years in jail for murder
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### Author:  [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/19 "2020-04-30T18:19:55Z")
Jerry was a race car driver.
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2020, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/occupations-in-songs/852901/20 "2020-04-30T18:20:17Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#):
>
> Jim Croce got the Working At the Car Wash Blues.
And he sang about Rapid Roy the Stockcar Boy and Tuffy the Roller Derby Queen.
Simon and Garfunkle sang about The Boxer.
Jimmy Buffet was a pirate…😃
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