'Take This Job and Shove It' Lyrics, Meaning, and Legacy: Everything to Know After David Allan Coe's Death

Understand the full story behind 'Take This Job and Shove It' Lyrics, Meaning, and Legacy: Everything to Know After David Allan Coe's Death with our latest coverage.

Listening to casual bar singalongs, many miss the narrative arc embedded within the verses. Below are the complete lyrics as popularized by Johnny Paycheck in 1977:

[Chorus]

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

My woman done left and took all the reasons

I was workin' for

You better not try to stand in my way

'Cause I'm walkin' out the door

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

[Verse 1]

I've been workin' in this factory

For nigh on fifteen years

All this time I watched my woman

Drownin' in a pool of tears

And I've seen a lot of good folk die

That had a lot of bills to pay

I'd give the shirts right off o' my back

If I had the guts to say

[Chorus]

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

My woman done left and took all the reasons

I was workin' for

You better not try to stand in my way

'Cause I'm walkin' out the door

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

[Verse 2]

Well that foreman, he's a regular dog

The line boss, he's a fool

Got a brand new flat-top haircut

Lord, he thinks he's cool

One of these days I'm gonna blow my top

And that sucker he's gonna pay

Lord, I can't wait to see their faces

When I get the nerve to say

[Chorus]

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

My woman done left and took all the reasons

I was workin' for

You better not try to stand in my way

'Cause I'm walkin' out the door

Take this job and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

[Outro]

Take it and shove it

I ain't workin' here no more

(Take this job and shove it)