Who Actually Wrote 'Take This Job and Shove It'? the Truth Behind the Outlaw Anthem
By Maya Lin-Takahashi
The split between writing a hit and performing one created starkly divergent financial paths for both artists. In the music publishing ecosystem of the late 1970s, performance royalties and mechanical publishing rights determined who made sustainable wealth.
For Johnny Paycheck, the track served as his sole career chart-topper on the Billboard country chart. The success revived his touring business, allowing him to charge thousands more per appearance and pack mid-sized arenas. Paycheck struggled with severe substance abuse and chronic financial mismanagement throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. A notorious 1985 barroom shooting in Hillsboro, Ohio, landed Paycheck in prison for nearly two years. By the time Paycheck passed away in 2003 at age 64, little of the performance income remained.
Coe retained the underlying writer's share. As the track became an international rallying cry for union strikes, labor demonstrations, and retail employees quitting on a whim, the publishing checks kept rolling in. The song appeared in national television commercials, television sitcoms, and a 1981 comedy feature film. Coe frequently stated in interviews that royalties from writing hits for Paycheck and Tanya Tucker funded his independent tour buses and insulated him from Nashville record label interference for decades.
Maya is a hardware enthusiast who tests and reviews smart home devices, smartphones, wearables, and audio gear. She focuses on practical consumer value and build quality.
