A Fun Country Music Quiz For Labor Day (Don’t ‘Work’ Too Hard on It)

An extra day off from work is generally a good thing. Though about 2/3 through a three-day weekend, I get a little antsy to be back working on something. If you’re like that, then this quick “Fun Country Music Quiz for Labor Day” could just be the thing – especially since country music is often associated with the ethics of working.

There are plenty of country hits with “work” as the theme so you’ll have a lot of material to use as you enjoy this with your family, friends, fellow hard-workers, or your best Bud(weiser).

The Fine Print before the Fun Starts

Before we get going, this is just for fun. There’s nothing to read between the lines.

Second, I chose Billboard’s list of Number One songs as the source for this piece. This way a single publication could be used to examine 60 years’ worth of charts. Even though there may have been some methodological changes along the way, this decision seemed to offer the greatest stability.

Third, inclusion in this list of number ones is purely subjective. What fits the definition of a “working” song is my interpretation of the core intent of the track So while “Good Directions” has the central character working at a roadside produce stand, the song is really about liking a girl (and pork rinds and turnip greens). As such, I didn’t count it.

Still, there were some songs that I couldn’t quite leave out because work was at their root even though something else could arguably be called the song’s focus. To these titles, I awarded an “Honorable Mention.”

I intentionally chose to exclude songs about being a musician (“Houston”) and songs about being a prisoner or criminal (The “Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” by Merle Haggard was a number one song in 1968).

I did, however, include songs about being in the military.

“Work, Work, Work, Day After Day; 50-Hour Week, 40-Hour Pay”

A great many awesome working songs were left out. “16 Tons” fell outside the 1960-to-Today timeframe.

Then there were iconic songs like “Hard Workin’ Man” were big hits but did not reach #1 in Billboard (HWM peaked #9). Tracy Lawrence’s “Runnin’ Behind” has probably found its way into quite a few pieces of Labor Day imaging. But was it a number one record? Nope.

Oh, one last thing on the scoring: considering the list is subjective and that there are 10 Honorable Mentions, “close enough” is a win according to the official scorer.

Our Fun Country Music Quiz for Labor Day 2020

So now here’s our fun country music quiz for Labor Day. Let’s see how you do with these six questions. The answers are at the end of the piece.

Ready? Let’s go! And no Googling the answers or peeking at the last page!

1 – The decade with the most “working” theme songs

1. 1960’s
2. 1970’s
3. 1980’s
4. 1990’s

2 – Many country songs about work don’t mention a specific occupation. However, for those songs that do reference a specific occupation, the most frequently sung-about job involved trucking. In all, between 1960 and today there have been fourteen (!) truck-driving-themed songs to make it to number one! What was the second most-frequently sung-about occupation/industry?

1. Mining
2. Military
3. Gambler

3 – Only one of these “truck driving songs” went to number one in Billboard. Which one?

1. Prisoner of the Highway/Ronnie Milsap
2. Six Days on the Road/Dave Dudley
3. Six Days on the Road/Sawyer Brown
4. Big Wheels In The Moonlight/Dan Seals

4 – The number of #1 “working” songs that had either a US city or state in their titles

1. None
2. One
3. Two
4. Three
5. Four
6. Five

5 – The Artist with the most number one “working” songs

1. Merle Haggard
2. Johnny Cash
3. Kenny Rogers
4. Dolly Parton

6 – The number of #1 “working” songs that have something radio-related in the title

1. None
2. One
3. Two
4. Three

Answers

Question	Answer
1	The 80s reign supreme with 13 titles including 2 Honorable Mentions. The 60s was second with 9 including 2 Honorable Mentions. The 70s had 8 (1 HM); the 90s had 2 (2 HM); 2000-2020 had 6 (2 HM)
2	Trick question – The answer is all are tied with three songs each. While there is an Honorable mention for each song, that still leaves a three-way tie.
3	Big Wheels in the Moonlight” was the only one of these songs to reach #1.
4	Five songs contained US cities or states in their titles: North to Alaska (1961), Wichita Lineman (1968), Kentucky Gambler (1975), plus Honorable Mention songs: Saginaw, Michigan (1964) and City of New Orleans (1984). The official scorer will accept either 3 or 5 as the correct answer.
5	Merle Haggard – Five – including one Honorable Mention. No other artist had more than two.
6	One – “BJ the DJ” by Stonewall Jackson in 1964

Hope you had fun with this! Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!

And if you’d like to argue over any inclusions or exclusions, just leave a comment. 🙂

(c) 2020, O’Malley Media Group, LLC

Photo Credit: New York Public Library

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_number-one_country_hits

Related:

Some Labor Day Thoughts and Songs for Those of Us who Labor in the Greatest Business in the World: Radio