Poor until payday? Songs about being broke
By CareerBuilder blogger on Oct 9, 2008 in News and trends
Do you get the pre-payday blues?
No matter how well you’re being paid, or how much you like your job, there’s usually a few days before payday where the pre-payday blues hit.
That means you’re stretching your last bit of cash…or searching for quarters in your couch, wishing you HAD cash to stretch!
Recently, the Los Angeles Times posted a list of “being broke” songs, where artists sing about THEIR payday blues.
Among the songs:
- Blind Alfred Reed, “How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?”
- Geto Boys, “Ain’t With Being Broke”
- The Clash, “Career Opportunities”
- Crystal Waters, “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
- The Beatles, “Can’t Buy Me Love”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Atlantic City”
- Dolly Parton, “Coat of Many Colors”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Fortunate Son”
- Loretta Lynn, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”
- Sham 69, “Hey Little Rich Boy”
- Bob Marley “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)”
- Pulp, “Common People”
- Erik B. and Rakim, “Paid In Full”
- Desmond Dekker, “The Israelites”
- Ruben Blades, “Adan Garcia”
- “Annie” soundtrack, “It’s A Hard Knock Life”
- Roger Miller, “King of the Road”
- Townes Van Zandt, “Marie”
- Stevie Wonder, “I Wish”
- Ray Charles, “I’m Busted”
- Randy Newman, “Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man)
- Merle Haggard, “Workingman Blues”
- Phil Collins, “Another Day In Paradise”
- The Temptations, “Papa Was A Rolling Stone”
- Gwen Guthrie, “Ain’t Nothing Going On But The Rent”
- Run DMC, “Hard Times”
- Clarence Carter, “Patches”
- Kanye West, “Spaceship”
- Jerry Reed, “She Got the Goldmine, I Got the Shaft.”
Are any of these on your playlist? Let us know if one of these songs is your pre-payday blues theme song, or if there’s a song that’s missing from the list!
I'd add:
"Dollars & Cents" - Radiohead
"Get Real Paid" - Beck
and, not that I condone violence, M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." It does have that cash register ca-ching, after all.
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