Ten Favorite Work Songs: Workin' in a Coal Mine (#9)

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What a strange thing to do: start a series about songs that have the word "work" in the title on a weekend! Worse, I'm posting this next song on Sunday night, just as the weekend is ending! What a torturous thing to do! Well, at least you'll enjoy the song that's next on the list. #9: Workin' in a Coal Mine - Lee Dorsey And if you don't like his version, go for Devo's remake! I suppose this one was rather obvious, huh? It doesn't matter how obvious its inclusion is. This is truly one of the great R&B/early rock hits. Thanks to Devo, the song found a completely new and different audience when they covered it in their inimitable style in 1981. Lee Dorsey had a couple of major hits in the early 60s: "Ya Ya" ("Sittin' here, la la, waitin' for my ya ya, yeah") and this one. I didn't know until I read a quick Picky Wedia bio that Dorsey also recorded the song "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley," which is one of my favorite Robert Palmer songs. Other than Dorsey, these three songs have something else in common: they were all written by the late, great Allen Toussaint. Workin' in a Coal Mine Written by Allen Toussaint Recorded by Lee Dorsey Released as a single, 1961 Covered by Devo Released as a bonus single to New Traditionalists, 1981 There have been a number of uses for the Devo version, so I'm using the Dorsey version here: