Several months back, as I was posting my housework songs list, I couldn’t help but think that there are a fair number of songs, too, of people going about singing as they do other work: paid work, not just the unpaid labour that is housework. Work done with the hands, especially—repetitive, monotonous work which requires little focus—is easily accompanied by a song. A workplace songs list seemed doable.

My original plan had been to restrict the songs in this list to those where the singer works as he/she sings. But then I realized that a few of my very favourite songs have people singing in their workplaces, though not necessarily working at the same time. While I have tried to ensure at least some of these songs have people working while singing, some are merely what the title of the post indicates: workplace songs. Whether you’re actually working, or taking a break while you sing a song.