It’s Friday before Labor Day.

Is anyone there?  If you are, you are probably watching every phone call and e-mail with an eye towards the clock too.  The unofficial end of summer is upon us (time to get your ice cream soda.)

So, rather than recap the basis for Labor Day (which I’ve done before here and here and here) I’m going to do something completely different today and, if you’ll indulge me, just plain fun.

It’s a list of ten of the best workplace/job-related songs.

Why not just the best? Two reasons. One, these lists are inherently subjective.  But second, I’ve tried to put down songs that are actually in my music library.

And (didn’t I just say it would be two reasons?), it gives me an opportunity to do a followup list in the future.

So without further ado…..

10.5. Employment Law Sing-A-Long Song – Mark Toth

While I’m not going to use an official pick for this song, any workplace songlist would be incomplete without this classic from Manpower Chief Legal Officer Mark Toth — who runs the Manpower Employment Law Blawg.  Anyone who loves employment law will appreciate this song.  “Employment Law Can Be Easy….” sings Mark.

10. Get a Job – Sha Na Na

A few months back, our kids were interested in Woodstock, so we downloaded a bunch of songs from artists at the time. Sha Na Na is easily overlooked in that (they performed right before Jimi Hendrix), but their version of Get a Job is eminently singable in the car.  And yes, I know the Silouettes originally performed the classic song, but we have the Sha Na Na version. So Sha Na Na it is.

9. 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton

Ok, so you’re rolling your eyes already. But really, your memory is decieving you. This song — far from the song you have in your head — actually holds up very well.  (The movie, of course, was a walking billboard for why we need employment lawyers with a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” for a boss.)   The problem with the song now, of course, is that very few of us work 9 to 5 anymore.  It’s enough to drive you crazy if you let it.
Continue Reading Ten of the Best Workplace Songs for Labor Day

iPod, iPad, iTunes, iWork….

I’ve been meaning to write a post about work songs since I started this blog.  (In fact, back in 2008, I noted that I would write about it in an upcoming post.  Three years later…)

But it never felt important enough. Too frivolous. Just a simple post about songs.

I was thinking about that again tonight when I heard of Steve Jobs death.  So sad. Such a loss to society.  He was serious but didn’t take himself too seriously.  And he also had some wonderful visions.

He once said that: “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

And so, I come back to the post that I have really just wanted to write and have fun with.  What are the top “work” songs? Rather than wait another three years to do a blog post on this, now seems appropriate.  “The problem is I’m older now, I’m 40 years old, and this stuff doesn’t change the world. It really doesn’t,” Jobs once said.Continue Reading What Are My Favorite “Work” Songs On My iPod? Steve Jobs Knows.