Biography:
Tom Russell (born in Los Angeles in either 1947 or 1948) is an American singer-songwriter from California, currently living in El Paso, Texas. His music incorporates elements of folk, traditional country & western, border and cowboy music of the American West. Russell's songs have been recorded by artists such as Johnny Cash, Ian Tyson, Nanci Griffith, Dave Alvin and others. In addition to his music, he is also an artist and published author.
In the 1980s Russell made four albums credited to the Tom Russell Band.
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Other songs:
- A Bowl Of Red
- A Hard Rains A
- A Land Called Way Out There
- Acres Of Corn
- Aint No More Cane On The Brazos
- Alkali
- All This Way For The Short Ride
- Amelias Railroad Flat
- America The Beautiful
- American Rivers
- Angel Of Lyon
- Beyond The Blues
- Box Of Visions
- Bucking Horse Moon
- Bus Station
- Canadian Whisky
- Carrickfergus
- Claude Dallas
- Criminology
- Cropduster
- Dance Hall Girls
- Down The Rio Grande
- East Of Woodstock West Of Viet Nam
- El Llano Estacado
- En Canadien Errant
- Evangeline Hotel
- Finding You
- Furious Love For Liz
- Gallo Del Cielo
- Guadalupe
- Gulf Coast Highway
- Hallie Lonnigan
- Hills Of Old Juarez
- If I Had A Gun
- Isaac Lewis
- Little Blue Horse
- Love Abides
- Love Makes A Fool Out Of The Wise
- Mandarin Oranges
- Manzanar
- Mineral Wells
- Navajo Rug
- Oil Field Girls
- Old Blue
- Pilgrim Land
- Racehorse Haynes
- Rambler Gambler
- Rider On An Orphan Train
- Rose Of San Joaquin
- Santa Fe At Midnight
- Sitting Bull In Venice
- Somebodys Husband Somebodys Son
- Sonoras Death Row
- Spanish Burgundy
- Stealing Electricity
- The Ballad Of Edward Abbey
- The Dutchman
- The Eyes Of Robert Duran
- The Eyes Of Roberto Duran
- The Greatest Show On Earth
- The John Bull Tin
- The Kid From Spavinaw
- The Man From God Knows Where
- The Next Thing Smokin
- The Old Rugged Cross
- The Railroad Boy
- The Rose Of Roscrae
- The Rose Of The San Joaquin
- The Santa Fe At Midnight
- The Sky Above The Mud Below
- The Water Is Wide
- Throwin Horseshoes At The Moon
- Throwing Horseshoes At The Moon
- Tonight We Ride
- Touch Of Evil
- Veterans Day
- Walkin On The Moon
- Walking On The Moon
- Wayfarin Stranger
- What Work Is
- When Sinatra Played Juarez
- When The Wolves No Longer Sing
- Where The Dream Begins
- Whos Gonna Build Your Wall
- Winnipeg
- Woodrow
Four years of hard work!This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!
Tom Russell - What Work Is
[Intro]
C Am C Am C Am C Am C
[Verse 1]
Am C
Yeah, I used to work with a guy named Frankie Acosta
Am C
We were butter strippers down at the Challenge Creamery
Am
Striping the cardboard off of seventy pound cubes of butter
C Am
Yeah, it was hot back then summer of nineteen sixty-three
[Verse 2]
F
And Frankie, man, he'd get so angry
C G Am
He'd say, "See what the women make me do"
F
Then he'd break of a splinter from a dirty wooden pallet
C G
And stick it like a knife in one of those big old butter cubes
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
A little pleasure and a little misery
G Am
Now every time it gets hard out here
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-three
Am C
Hey, hey
[Verse 3]
Am
Then I got a job working for the city of Englewood
C Am C
Running chipper, chipping limbs off of trees
Am C
I worked with a guy named Crazy Dave Mackland
Am
And one day he almost ran a tractor over me
[Verse 4]
F C
We were out chopping weeds near South Central
G Am
When the riots broke out and the skies turned a fiery red and brown
F
And I called up my girlfriend on a payphone and said "Baby, I love you
C G
But, ah, I think god's gonna finally burn Gomorra down
She said
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
You build a house of straw and the flames lick the sky
G Am
Now every time I fall in love out here
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-seven
[Instrumental]
Am F Am G F G Am C G Am C
[Verse 5]
Am C
I finally got a job driving a rose truck
Am C
Santa Barbara, midnight, to L.A., Fifth and Main
Am
All jacked up on coffee, cheap speed and doughnuts
C Am
Walking around the L.A. Flower Market in the rain
[Verse 6]
F C
And every morning I'd eat breakfast at The Pantry down on Figueroa
G Am
The waiters were always old time, ex-cons
F
Then we'd load the truck back up with empty rose boxes
C G
And drive on up the coast through the California dawn
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
Two eggs over easy on a T-bone steak
G Am
Every time I see the sunrise on the ocean
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-eight
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
A little pleasure and a little misery
G Am
Now every time it gets hard out here
C G Am
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-three
[Intro]
C Am C Am C Am C Am C
[Verse 1]
Am C
Yeah, I used to work with a guy named Frankie Acosta
Am C
We were butter strippers down at the Challenge Creamery
Am
Striping the cardboard off of seventy pound cubes of butter
C Am
Yeah, it was hot back then summer of nineteen sixty-three
[Verse 2]
F
And Frankie, man, he'd get so angry
C G Am
He'd say, "See what the women make me do"
F
Then he'd break of a splinter from a dirty wooden pallet
C G
And stick it like a knife in one of those big old butter cubes
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
A little pleasure and a little misery
G Am
Now every time it gets hard out here
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-three
Am C
Hey, hey
[Verse 3]
Am
Then I got a job working for the city of Englewood
C Am C
Running chipper, chipping limbs off of trees
Am C
I worked with a guy named Crazy Dave Mackland
Am
And one day he almost ran a tractor over me
[Verse 4]
F C
We were out chopping weeds near South Central
G Am
When the riots broke out and the skies turned a fiery red and brown
F
And I called up my girlfriend on a payphone and said "Baby, I love you
C G
But, ah, I think god's gonna finally burn Gomorra down
She said
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
You build a house of straw and the flames lick the sky
G Am
Now every time I fall in love out here
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-seven
[Instrumental]
Am F Am G F G Am C G Am C
[Verse 5]
Am C
I finally got a job driving a rose truck
Am C
Santa Barbara, midnight, to L.A., Fifth and Main
Am
All jacked up on coffee, cheap speed and doughnuts
C Am
Walking around the L.A. Flower Market in the rain
[Verse 6]
F C
And every morning I'd eat breakfast at The Pantry down on Figueroa
G Am
The waiters were always old time, ex-cons
F
Then we'd load the truck back up with empty rose boxes
C G
And drive on up the coast through the California dawn
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
Two eggs over easy on a T-bone steak
G Am
Every time I see the sunrise on the ocean
C G
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-eight
[Chorus]
Am
That's what work is
F
That's what love is
Am G F
A little pleasure and a little misery
G Am
Now every time it gets hard out here
C G Am
I think of L.A. back in nineteen sixty-three
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