It's My Job

One of my favorite (and possibly my all-time favorite) songs performed by Jimmy Buffett is "It's My Job." Written by Mac McAnally, Jimmy's friend, co-conspirator, and songwriter for many decades, the song follows a couple of characters through their professions, explaining their work ethic as it goes.

Here's a video from 1981. You can ignore the frizzy hair and the crazy mustaches and listen to it while you scan the lyrics below.

 


It's My Job

In the middle of late last night I was sittin' on a curb
I didn't know what about but I was feeling quite disturbed
A street sweeper came whistling by
He was bouncin' every step
It seemed strange how good he felt
So I asked him while he swept

He said "it's my job to be cleaning up this mess
And that's enough reason to go for me
It's my job to be better than the rest
And that makes the day for me."

Got an uncle who owns a bank he's a self made millionaire
He never had anyone to love never had no one to care
He always seemed kind of sad to me
So I asked him why that was
And he told me it's because in my contract there's a clause

That says "it's my job to be worried half to death
And that's the thing people respect in me
It's a job but without it I'd be less
Than what I expect from me."

I've been lazy most all of my life
writing songs and sleeping late
Any manual labor I've done purely by mistake
If street sweepers can smile then 
I've got no right to feel upset
But sometimes I still forget

Till the lights go on and the stage is set
And the song hits home and you feel that sweat

It's my job to be different than the rest
And that's enough reason to go for me
It's my job to be better than the best
And that's a tough break for me
It's my job to be cleaning up this mess
And that's enough reason to go for me
It's my job to be better than the best
And that makes the day for me

"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses...behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."

Muhammad Ali

"In our adversity, God shouts to us."

C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

"...If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."

2 Thessalonians 3:10

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.."

Colossians 3:23