"40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" is a song written by
Dave Loggins
David Allen Loggins (November 10, 1947 – July 10, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his 1974 hit single " Please Come to Boston" as well as his 1984 duet with Anne Murray, " Nobody Loves Me Like You ...
,
Don Schlitz and Lisa Silver, and recorded by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
band
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. It was released in April 1985 as the second single and title track from Alabama's album ''
40-Hour Week''.
About the song
The song, a salute to
America's blue-collar workers, became Alabama's 17th No. 1 song on August 3, spending one week atop the chart. The end of the song includes a few bars from "
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. Its lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and its music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Church (Newark), Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New ...
."
Country music historian Bill Malone, in his liner notes for ''
Classic Country Music: A Smithsonian Collection'', wrote that "40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" "...is a rare country music tribute to American workers. (It) probably owes its popularity as much to its patriotic sentiments as to its social concern." Malone also noted that, with few exceptions, "almost no one in country music has spoken for the industrial laborer," one of the main groups of workers Alabama salutes in this song. "This straightforward homage gives the contemporary worker the respect that the
Reagan years denied him," Malone concluded.
The song was used by
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
over the closing credits during its broadcast of
Super Bowl XX
Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...
on January 26, 1986. Highlights of the
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
,
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...
and
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division.
Established in 1959 ...
were shown when the refrains mentioning those cities or areas were sung. Highlights of Steelers fans in
Three Rivers Stadium
Three Rivers Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1970 to 2000. It was home to the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL) ...
were used for the "West Virginia coal miner" refrain, since many residents of West Virginia are Steelers fans.
Music video
music videowas filmed for the song, depicting people working various
blue-collar jobs. It was directed by David Hogan and has aired on
CMT and
Great American Country
Great American Family is an American cable television network owned by Great American Media. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming such as television series and Television film, made-for-TV movies—some of whi ...
.
Alabama vs. Sonny James
"40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" is one of the songs central to a point of contention among country music historians. Alabama is frequently billed as having the longest uninterrupted No. 1 streak in the history of the ''
Billboard magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...
''
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart, with 21 songs peaking atop the chart between 1980 and 1987, "40 Hour Week (For a Livin')" being the song that set the new standard."
[Roland, Tom, "The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991 ()), p. 426-427]
However, the band's 1982 Christmas single, "
Christmas in Dixie," peaked at No. 35, bringing about the point of contention.
Sonny James
Jimmie Hugh Loden (May 1, 1928February 22, 2016), known professionally as Sonny James, was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, " Young Love", topping both the ''Billboard'' Hot Country and Disk Jockey s ...
, a country music superstar in the 1960s and 1970s, had previously set the standard of most ''Billboard'' No. 1 songs with 16 straight without a miss in any single release.
Some sources, including th
Alabama Music Hall of Fame web site state that the failure of "Christmas in Dixie" snapped Alabama's streak before achieving parity with James. Others — such as
Joel Whitburn
Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings.
Early life
Joel Carver Whitburn was born in W ...
's "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005" — disregard non-No. 1 Christmas singles (such as "Christmas in Dixie") in determining chart-topping streaks and consider Alabama to have surpassed the record.
Several hard-core country fans were quick to point out the discrepancy, but ''Billboard'' magazine writer Paul Grein responded, "Only a Scrooge would count that against them."
James, on the other hand, attended a celebratory gathering for Alabama's accomplishment and graciously conceded the claim of having the most No. 1 songs without a miss.
[Millard, Bob, "Country Music: 70 Years of America's Favorite Music" (HarperCollins, New York, 1993 ()), p. 161]
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
Further reading
*Whitburn, Joel, "Top Country Songs: 1944-2005," 2006.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forty Hour Week (For A Livin')
1985 singles
1985 songs
Alabama (American band) songs
Songs written by Dave Loggins
Songs written by Don Schlitz
Song recordings produced by Harold Shedd
RCA Records singles
Songs written by Lisa Silver