“Take this job and shove it”
“Take This Job and Shove It” is a 1977 song by David Allen Coe that was popularly performed by Johnny Paycheck (1938-2003). The saying became a national popular catchphrase and spawned many knockoffs, such as “Take this job and love it!”
The expression “shove it” has been cited in print since at least the 1940s. “Tell Walker to take his job and shove it” was cited in print in November 1969 and “he could tell Breier to take his $15,000-a-year-job and ‘shove it” was cited in print in March 1970.
Wikipedia: Take This Job and Shove It
“Take This Job and Shove It” is a 1977 country music song originally written by David Allan Coe, but popularized by Johnny Paycheck, about the bitterness of a man who has worked long and hard with no apparent reward. The song was first recorded by Johnny Paycheck, on his album also titled Take This Job and Shove It. The recording hit number one on the country charts for two weeks, spending 18 weeks on the charts. It was Johnny Paycheck’s only #1 hit.
Its B-side, “Colorado Kool-Aid,” spent ten weeks on the same chart and peaked at #50.
David Allan Coe recorded his own variation of the song called “Take This Job and Shove It Too” on his 1978 album Family Album. It included the double-meaning line “Paycheck you may be a thing of the past.” Coe was annoyed that Johnny Paycheck allowed people to think he had written the song.
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Phrase
“Take this job and shove it” became a popular phrase as a result of the song. It also became a snowclone phrase, leading to a variety of book and article titles of the form, “Take this job and ... it”. The most notable is “Take this job and love it”, which has been the title of dozens of books, mostly about career counseling, as well as the title of a 2007 episode of the television series Hannah Montana. Another notable variation was the 2006 book Take This Job and Ship It by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
shove, v.
to shove it : to depart; to desist from a course of action. Usu. in imp., as an expression of contemptuous dismissal. Cf. stick v.1 18d.
1941 S. J. Baker Pop. Dict. Austral. Slang 71 Stick it!, a contemptuous ejaculation. Also, ‘shove it!’
1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty Lady sings Blues viii. 96 It wasn’t long after I left that he told them to shove it like I had.
31 August 1969, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), Sunday Magazine, pg. 12, col. 4:
If it had a name it might be called “I Don’t Wanna Go to War No More and You Can Take Your Materialistic War and Shove It.”
15 November 1969, Greensboro (NC) Daily News, “S.L.A. Marshall: Dutch ditched,” pg. A6, col. 7:
Dutch snapped: “You can tell General Walker (Lt. General Walton Walker—ed.) to take his job and shove it.”
Allen, thoroughly riled, barked: “What did you say?”
Dutch said: “Since you didn’t understand I’ll shout it loud enough for everyone to hear: Tell Walker to take his job and shove it.”
14 March 1970, The Greater Milwaukee Star (Milwaukee, WI), “Straight Facts” by Walter Jones, pg. 4, col. 4:
Now if Rev. Bowen wasn’t a man of the cloth, he could tell Breier to take his $15,000-a-year-job and “shove it”—and split.
OCLC WorldCat record
Take this job and shove it
Author: Johnny Paycheck; Nashville Edition (Musical group)
Publisher: New York City : Epic, 1977.
Edition/Format: Music LP : Country music : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Take this job and love it! : getting a job and keeping it.
Author: Perfection Form Company.
Publisher: Logan, Iowa : Perfection Form Co., ©1982.
Series: Coping, 13.
Edition/Format: Book : English
OCLC WorldCat record
Take this job and shove it
Author: Greg Blackwell; Barry Schneider; Gus Trikonis; Robert Hays; Barbara Hershey; All authors
Publisher: Santa Monica, CA : Distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Home Entertainment, [2004]
Series: MGM DVD.
Edition/Format: DVD video : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
A man is sent to his home town to reorganize a failing brewery. His old buddies are reluctant to have him for their boss and he can’t save them all from severe changes. When he does too good of a job at reorganizing, the owners decide to sell the brewery.
YouTube
Johnny Paycheck - You can take this job and shove it
Uploaded on Oct 26, 2008
The classic 1977 Old Country song by Johnny Paycheck.