Labour & Pop Culture: I want to be a boss

This week’s installment of Labour & Pop Culture features “I want to be a boss” by Stan Ridgeway in honor of Donald Trump’s terrifying run at the presidency.

The singer starts out with typical grousing about the class divide in work places (papering over how most managers are also workers). Then it gets weird

I'll grow a long beard and watch
Ice station zebra in the nude
And grow my nails like fu-manchu
Keep a row of specimen jars

The trajectory of the song really makes a point about the ridiculous behaviour of the ultra-rich that the rest of us seem to put up with because the bosses are rich and powerful.



Well, I've been doodling on this notepad
And I been taking telephone calls
I can tell this job's at the end of the line
And I'm ready for the fall
But I been watchin' the boss carefully
And he always seems to be havin' a ball
And then I scratch my head and wonder
Why I'm down here and he's up the hall

Now, all of my paychecks aren't worth
The paper they're printed on
I get 'em friday
But monday they're all gone
There must be some way to change my situation
It's time that I took up a brand new vocation

I wanna take a two-week vacation
Twenty-six times a year, add 'em up
When I fly to exotic places
My jet will be a lear
I'll need several secretaries
Just to jot down notes
I'll wear gucci loafers
And expensive shirts
And blue, executive, exotic coats

Chorus:
'cause i, I said I wanna be a boss
(I wanna be, I wanna be)
I, I said I wanna be a boss
And I'll have people workin' under me
And this lousy job I'll toss
I, I said I wanna be a boss

Well, I'll drive in fancy cars
Well, no, maybe I'll just cruise
With a limo, and a chauffeur,
Tv, telephone, and booze
Tinted windows so the common folk
Can't see me here inside
Maybe every now and then for fun
I'll give some old coot a ride

Then maybe I'll slip him
A thousand dollar bill
Then he'll smile and shake my hand
And I'll put him in my will
I'm gonna count up all my widgets
And digits, and all my stuff
I'll make millions in a day
But it'll never be enough
Nope,not enough!

'cause i, I said I wanna be a boss
And I just wanna take a four-hour lunch
And eat a steak with a1 sauce
I, I said I wanna be a boss
And I'll buy up every stock there is
From itt to doctor ross
I, I said I wanna be a boss
(I wanna be, I wanna be)

Now if I find a product I like
I'll buy up the whole company
Shave my face, and grin and smile
And then I'll sell it on tv
And everyone will know me
I'll be more famous than howard hughes
I'll grow a long beard and watch
Ice station zebra in the nude

And grow my nails like fu-manchu
Keep a row of specimen jars
Get other people to work for me, well
Maybe I'll buy the planet mars, and
Build an amusement park up there
Better than old walt's place
You'll have to be a millionaire to go
We'll smoke cigars and lounge in lace
Talk the talk of businessmen
And bosses that we are
So here's to me, the drinks are free,
'cause I just bought this bar

Yeah, yeah, I wanna be a boss
I wanna be a boss, boss, boss!
Some kinda intergalactic boss!

-- Bob Barnetson