"Bang the Drum All Day" is a 1983 song from

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the bands Nazz and Utopia. He is known for his sophistica ...

's 1982 album ''

The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect ''The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect'' is Todd Rundgren's tenth studio album, released in December 1982. The album is a return to the pop sound for which Rundgren is generally most lauded by critics. Considering it a contractual obligation, ...

'', released as a single in April 1983. The lyrics describe, in the first person, the narrator's drive to play drums or improvised percussion to the exclusion of other activities such as work, play or education. All the instruments on this track are performed by Rundgren. Rundgren would re-record the song live for subscribers to his PatroNet service. The new version was retitled "Bang on the Ukulele Daily", referring to Rundgren's decision to perform it in a

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

an style, accompanied only by a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

. "Bang on the Ukulele Daily" was included on his album '' One Long Year.'' The song has become popular as an

anti-work Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, or wish to abolish, Work (human activity), work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be Existentialism, existential, and focus ...

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

or anthem of celebration.

In popular culture

The song is played in

Lambeau Field Lambeau Field () is an outdoor athletic stadium in the East North Central states, north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 Green ...

after the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

score a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

. A tradition that officially started in 1995, the song has become an iconic part of the Packers fan experience and is an unofficial

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

celebratory anthem. Other sports teams have followed suit. It was similarly used by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

in the early 2000s and brought back in 2017 as well as by the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

until being replaced by

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

' " Gold on the Ceiling". The

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

also used the song as touchdown celebration music during home games played at the TWA Dome during their Super Bowl-winning 1999 season. In addition to being a touchdown song, the song was used as the goal song for the

Edmonton Road Runners The Edmonton Road Runners were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at Rexall Place. History After the 2003–04 season the Edmonton Oilers announced that the Toronto Roadrunners would play ...

during the 2004-05 AHL season whenever they scored a goal at home in

Rexall Place Northlands Coliseum is a defunct indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and National Hockey League (NHL), and the Edmonton Oil Kin ...

. The song currently used as the goal song for the

Kansas City Mavericks The Kansas City Mavericks are an ice hockey team in the ECHL. Founded in 2009 as the Missouri Mavericks of the CHL, the team plays in Independence, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, at the Cable Dahmer Arena. History On April 16, ...

of the

East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

(ECHL). The song is used by

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

host

Jim Quinn Jim Quinn (February 26, 1943 – March 29, 2025) was an American conservative radio talk show host based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who hosted ''Quinn in the Morning'' on WYSL in Avon, New York, and WAVL in Apollo, Pennsylvania. Until its ...

as his union heads-up theme.

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

talk host

Howie Carr Howard Louis Carr Jr. (born January 17, 1952) is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer. He hosts '' The Howie Carr Show'' originating from his studios in Wellesley, Massachuset ...

also plays a snippet to poke fun at the

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

movement. The song is referenced in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

'' The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind'' by a merchant named Creeper, who says, "Don't want to work. Just want to bang on my drum. What's a scamp gotta do?" The song was featured in a 1997 commercial for

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

entitled "Phone Boss Vacation", where a bunch of workers are shown dancing to the song. They quickly turn it off when a woman answers a phone call from the boss, who is on vacation. The song is featured in the trailer of the 1998 DreamWorks animated movie ''

Antz ''Antz'' is a 1998 American animated adventure comedy film directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson from a screenplay written by Todd Alcott and the writing team of Chris and Paul Weitz. It was produced by DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks An ...

'', in ''

The Prince of Egypt ''The Prince of Egypt'' is a 1998 American animated musical drama film directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells, and written by Philip LaZebnik, from a story by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook. Produced by DreamWorks Pictur ...

'' 1999

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

opening, and the ''

Shrek ''Shrek'' is a 2001 American animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, loosely based on the 1990 children's picture boo ...

'' 2001 VHS opening. The song was featured in the trailer and TV spot of the 2008 family movie ''

Nim's Island ''Nim's Island'' is a 2008 adventure film written and directed by Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, and based on the children's story of the same name by Wendy Orr. In the film, a young girl alone on a remote island seeks help from an agoraph ...

''. The song is featured on the radio show ''The Morning Drive'' on

Sirius XM NASCAR Radio The following is a list of channels on Sirius XM and Sirius XM Canada. There are over 150 full-time channels on Sirius XM, over 140 of which are on Sirius XM Canada. Not included are channels that are specifically used for live sports programmin ...

, a morning talk show hosted by Mike Bagley and Pete Pistone. The song is used on Friday mornings to celebrate the upcoming weekend. For many years, classic hits station

WKLH WKLH (96.5 FM) is a classic rock-formatted radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station is owned by Saga Communications, and operates as part of the Milwaukee Radio Group. Its studios are located on Milwaukee's West Side, and the transmi ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

played it every Friday at 5 p.m. to signal the end of the

work week The weekdays and weekend are the complementary parts of the week, devoted to labour and rest, respectively. The legal weekdays (British English), or workweek (American English), is the part of the seven-day week devoted to working. In most o ...

WXLP WXLP (96.9 FM) is a commercial radio station, licensed to Moline, Illinois, and serving the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa. The station is owned by Townsquare Media and broadcasts a classic rock radio format. Its radio studios and offi ...

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in the 2020 census, it is the largest city in Rock Island County and the List of municipalities in Illinois, ninth-most populous in Illinois outside ...

, plays the song every Friday as well, during the Dwyer and Michael's morning show as well as

WHTZ WHTZ (100.3 FM) is a commercial contemporary hit radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, and broadcasting to the New York metropolitan area. It is owned by iHeartMedia. WHTZ is the flagship station for ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show' ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

every Friday during the ''Z Morning Zoo''. The song is referenced by Michael Scott in ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

'' episode " The Fight". The lyrics are changed to "I don't want to work, I just wanna bang on this mug all day". The song was also featured in commercials for

Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel (ship), funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue colo ...

, which paid Rundgren "ridiculous money to use it". It features in the episode "

Undercover Burns "Undercover Burns" is the thirty-second season premiere of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 685th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on September 27, 2020. The episode was directed by Bob And ...

" of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

''. On '' Magnum P.I.'', the song is the ringtone Juliet Higgins has assigned to Thomas Magnum. This song has also become the Friday final segment intro song for ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and inde ...

''.

Chart positions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bang The Drum All Day 1983 songs 1983 singles Todd Rundgren songs History of the Green Bay Packers Novelty songs Songs written by Todd Rundgren Song recordings produced by Todd Rundgren Bearsville Records singles Songs about drums