Small Time Laboring Man
"Small Time Laboring Man" | ||||
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Single by George Jones | ||||
from the album Cup of Loneliness | ||||
B-side | "Well It's Alright" | |||
Released | 1968 | |||
Recorded | 1968 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:30 | |||
Label | Musicor | |||
Songwriter(s) | George Jones, Earl Montgomery | |||
Producer(s) | Pappy Daily | |||
George Jones singles chronology | ||||
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"Small Time Laboring Man" (sometimes called "Small Town Laboring Man") is a song by George Jones. It was composed by Jones and Earl "Peanut" Montgomery and released as a single on the Musicor label in 1968.
Background
Although Jones had scored several Top 10 hits in 1967 and 1968 (including the #1 hit "Walk Through This World with Me"), "Small Time Laboring Man" was a disappointment, barely making the Top 30. The maudlin ballad, which tells the story of a man who "toils and sweats" for "a dollar an hour, eight hours a day," contained gospel elements tinged with patriotism ("I'd fight for my country with my callous hands") and Jones typically committed, heartfelt vocal, but the single may have been too dour for even the conservative country audience, with Nick Tosches commenting in his article "The Devil in George Jones" in 1994, "The late sixties...were a strange time for Jones. America was adrift in a fluorescent cloud of patchouli-scented ahimsa, and Jones, in his crew cut and his Nudie Cohn suits, seemed hopelessly out of sync." In an attempt to align himself with the times, Jones would make a rare digression from straight country and record the Montgomery protest song "Unwanted Babies," a folk song that George detested and released under the pseudonym Glen Patterson. "Small Time Laboring Man" did not go completely unnoticed, however; in a Rolling Stone interview in 1969, Bob Dylan was asked what he thought was the best song released in the previous year and he replied, "George Jones had one called 'Small Town Laboring Man'."
Discography
- v
- t
- e
- "No Money in This Deal"
- "Play It Cool, Man"
- "You All Goodnight"
- "Why Baby Why"
- "What Am I Worth"
- "I'm Ragged But I'm Right"
- "Rock It"
- "You Gotta Be My Baby"
- "Just One More"
- "Don't Stop the Music"
- "Too Much Water"
- "Tall, Tall Trees"
- "Seasons of My Heart"
- "Too Much Water"
- "Treasure of Love"
- "White Lightning"
- "Who Shot Sam"
- "Big Harlan Taylor"
- "Accidentally on Purpose"
- "Out of Control"
- "The Window Up Above"
- "Family Bible"
- "Tender Years"
- "Aching, Breaking Heart"
- "She Thinks I Still Care"
- "Open Pit Mine"
- "A Girl I Used to Know"
- "Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was on the Right)"
- "I'll Share My World with You
- "The Race Is On"
- "Love Bug"
- "Take Me"
- "I'm a People"
- "Walk Through This World with Me"
- "I Can't Get There from Here"
- "If My Heart Had Windows"
- "Say It's Not You"
- "Small Time Laboring Man"
- "As Long as I Live"
- "Milwaukee, Here I Come" (with Brenda Carter)
- "When the Grass Grows Over Me"
- "I'll Share My World with You"
- "If Not for You"
- "She's Mine"
- "Where Grass Won't Grow"
- "Tell Me My Lying Eyes Are Wrong"
- "A Good Year for the Roses"
- "Sometimes You Just Can't Win"
- "Right Won't Touch a Hand"
- "I'll Follow You (Up to Our Cloud)"
- "We Can Make It"
- "Loving You Could Never Be Better"
- "A Picture of Me (Without You)"
- "What My Woman Can't Do"
- "Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half as Bad as Losing You)"
- "Once You've Had the Best"
- "The Grand Tour"
- "The Door"
- "These Days (I Barely Get By)"
- "Memories of Us"
- "The Battle"
- "You Always Look Your Best (Here in My Arms)"
- "Her Name Is"
- "Old King Kong"
- "If I Could Put Them All Together (I'd Have You)"
- "Bartender's Blues"
- "I'll Just Take It Out in Love"
- "Someday My Day Will Come"
- "He Stopped Loving Her Today"
- "I'm Not Ready Yet"
- "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)"
- "Still Doin' Time"
- "Same Ole Me"
- "Shine On (Shine All Your Sweet Love on Me)"
- "I Always Get Lucky with You"
- "Tennessee Whiskey"
- "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart"
- "She's My Rock"
- "Hallelujah, I Love You So" (with Brenda Lee)
- "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes" (with Lacy J. Dalton)
- "The One I Loved Back Then (The Corvette Song)"
- "Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way"
- "Wine Colored Roses"
- "The Right Left Hand"
- "I Turn to You"
- "The Bird"
- "I'm a Survivor"
- "The Old Man No One Loves"
- "If I Could Bottle This Up" (with Shelby Lynne)
- "I'm a One Woman Man"
- "The King Is Gone (So Are You)"
- "Writing on the Wall"
- "Radio Lover"
- "Yearning" (with Jeanette Hicks)
- "Did I Ever Tell You" (with Margie Singleton)
- "Waltz of the Angels" (with Margie Singleton)
- "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "Let's Invite Them Over" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "Please Be My Love" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "What's in Our Heart" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "Things Have Gone to Pieces" (with Gene Pitney)
- "I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night" (with Gene Pitney)
- "Blue Moon of Kentucky" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "That's All It Took (with Gene Pitney)
- "Maybellene" (with Johnny Paycheck)
- "You Can Have Her" (with Johnny Paycheck)
- "When You're Ugly Like Us (You Just Naturally Got to Be Cool)" (with Johnny Paycheck)
- "You Better Move On" (with Johnny Paycheck)
- "Yesterday's Wine" (with Merle Haggard)
- "C.C. Waterback" (with Merle Haggard)
- "We Didn't See a Thing" (Ray Charles with Chet Atkins and George Jones)
- "A Few Ole Country Boys" (Randy Travis featuring George Jones)
- "You Don't Seem to Miss Me" (Patty Loveless with George Jones)
- "A Country Boy Can Survive (Y2K version)" (Chad Brock featuring George Jones and Hank Williams, Jr.)
- "Country Boy" (Aaron Lewis featuring Charlie Daniels and George Jones)
- "Wrong Number"
- "Money to Burn"
- "Big Fool of the Year"
- "I Saw Me"
- "What's in Our Heart" (with Melba Montgomery)
- "My Tears Are Overdue"
- "I Just Don't Give a Damn"
- "He Stopped Loving Her Today"