TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT! | DAC, JOHNNY PAYCHECK & BIGFOOT MANIA

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“Always go hard and fast enough so that when you hit the ditch,

you can pull out the other side.”

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–Johnny Paycheck

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Country music outlaw Johnny Paycheck– singer of the hit song “Take This Job and Shove It”

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When the legendary Country music tune “Take This Job and Shove It” was released by Johnny Paycheck in 1977, it became a universal fist-pumping anthem for working stiffs everywhere– crossing cultural and geographical divides to unite workers in a time when the country was facing rising taxes, gasoline prices, unemployment (ironic given it’s title), and decreasing employer loyalty.  The song provided a much needed outlet for our frustrations, and said better than any others before just how much we’d like to turn the tables and stick it to The Man. Just walk away with head held high and no looking back.

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“Take this job and shove it.  I ain’t workin’ here no more.  My women done left and took all the reasons I was workin’ for.  You better not try to stand in my way as I’m walkin’ out the door.” Amen.

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Johnny Paycheck– the late 70s poster-child for frustrated and fed-up workers everywhere.

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The song made Johnny Paycheck a household name– and for good reason, because his hard-livin’ badass persona fit the bill perfectly.  So did that of the song’s original writer and Country outlaw legend, David Allan Coe– who saw the fifteen minutes of fame feeding Paycheck’s career more than his own. People say DAC  was more than a little pissed to see Johnny get all the glory, and not throw him a bone for actually penning the tune that had made him a star.  Well, they’d have a chance to share the limelight together a few years later when the movie of the same name was released  and both were given cameo roles.  Only problem was they were both upstaged by– a truck. But not just any truck– we’re talkin’ about Bigfoot.  The first on-screen monster truck that started the national jacked-up 4 x 4 craze that’s still with us.  I remember seeing the flick as a kid and being blown away by the massive, blue F-250 Bigfoot’s size and power…  Johnny who? The attention seemed to change overnight to— Take This Truck and Crush It.

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Bigfoot’s stardom skyrocketed while Johnny Paycheck and DAC both ran into trouble after trouble– ultimately resulting in prison time.

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Paycheck had always been a rebel and put himself down the hard road– christening his journey with a court martial from the US Navy  for punching-out his commanding officer. Born Donald Eugene Lytle– for a while he went by Donny Young, before finally settling on the stage name Johnny Paycheck.  He claimed it wasn’t meant as a play on Johhny Cash, but a namesake he picked up from Johnny Paychek, the boxer who’d fought Joe Louis in 1940.  Paycheck had been playing guitar and singing since he was just a kid– and had become an important back-up artist known for his unique tenor stylings, as well as bass and pedal steel guitar skills that were favored by the likes of George Jones, Gene Vincent, and many, many others.

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Johnny Paycheck (second from right) back in his days backing-up George Jones.  His major vocal influence on Jones is well noted by Country music peers and historians alike.

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When the Outlaw movement led by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson emerged in the 1970s, Johnny Paycheck embraced the scene full-on and hit his stride– having hit after hit, and in 1977 received an Academy of Country Music Career Achievement award.  The 1980s saw it all unravel, with arrests for fighting on a plane, accusations of statutory rape, and jail time for shooting a man– allegedly in self defense.  The ’90s weren’t much better.  Though Paycheck managed to stay out of jail, he filed bankruptcy stemming from major tax problems with the IRS, and the years of smokin’, drinkin’ and drugs had taken it’s toll on his health.  The outlaw rebel claimed the time in jail helped him “put his life in order”, but it may have been too late.  In 2003, with a body beaten and broken by a life of smokin’, drinkin’ and drugs, Johnny Paycheck passed away– unable to pull out of a lengthy illness compounded by emphysema and asthma.  His lifetime contributions and impact on Country music are epic, and will never be forgotten.

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Country music Outlaw–David Allan Coe

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As for David Allan Coe (who like Paycheck originally hailed from Ohio), well, let’s just say his outlaw exploits over the years could command an entire blog onto itself.  In brief, DAC started raising hell at the tender age of 9 years old– graduating from reform school to various correction centers, prisons and jails. Coe even claimed to have spent time on death row for killing an inmate who demanded “favors”.  Rolling Stone magazine covered the story, challenging DAC on his death row claim in an article titled “Rhinestone Ripoff”, putting Coe in a rather ironic position of having to prove his own guilt. Regardless of the death row claim controversy, he was indeed incarcerated at several prisons, including the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield OH (not the location of Ohio’s death row at the time). David Allan Coe was paroled in 1967 and made his way to Nashville where he embarked on his career– putting out twenty-six LPs, maybe more.  His strong songwriting skills, often peppered with raucous and raunchy lyrics, have proven him to be a true life outlaw– which he backed-up as a member of the “one-percenter ” Outlaws MC.  In other words, he ain’t no poseur– and he definitely ain’t politically correct.

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(Above) David Allan Coe can be seen in the epic Heartworn Highways, the 1975 documentary film by James Szalapski. It’s a must see for any fan, with music legends– Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell, Steve Young, Steve Earle, and The Charlie Daniels Band.

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Circa 1985, New York, NY– Getting ready for the Motorsports spectacular at Madison Square Garden, Bigfoot crushes a couple of cars in an outdoor warmup. –Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

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History of Bigfoot–

It all began in the mid-1970s, when Bob Chandler, then a St. Louis, MO construction contractor, owned an F-250 4×4 pickup truck.  Chandler used his truck on the job and for off-road family fun on the weekends. But he found ways to break even the toughest of trucks, and that led to the discovery that there was no place in the Midwest to get 4×4 parts and service.  Recognizing a potential market, Bob, Marilyn, and Jim Kramer started Midwest Four Wheel Drive & Performance Center.

They still used their 4×4 as a work truck, and partly as a promotional tool for their business.  They tried out new parts on the truck, and kept making it bigger and better, always a step (or two) ahead of everyone else.  Soon the truck itself became an attraction.  In 1979, it did its first paid event, a Denver car show. Truck pulls in arenas and stadiums soon followed.

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Then, in 1981, Chandler tried something that forever changed the monster truck concept.  It fueled an explosion of fan interest and led to a legion of imitators.  He decided, just for fun, to see if he could drive BIGFOOT over a couple of junk cars.

A few months later, he duplicated the stunt in a stadium show.  The rest is history.  In 1983, BIGFOOT began a sponsorship association with Ford Motor Company.  In that time, the BIGFOOT fleet has had 16 monster machines and the F-Series pickup has become the world’s best selling vehicle.

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Inspired by the success of BIGFOOT, numerous imitators came forth in the middle 1980s. Car crushing became a staple of major truck pulling and mud racing events. But by 1987, car crushing was no longer the hot new thing. Given the strong audience appeal of monster trucks, the logical move was to start racing them.  Racing quickly replaced exhibition car crushing.

Chandler immediately leaped to the forefront of monster truck racing by using computer aided design technology to create a new generation of race trucks.  These trucks featured radical new tubular chassis and patented cantilever-based suspensions that represent the current state of the art in race truck design. The first of these trucks was BIGFOOT #8, which became the 1990 World Champion.  In 1992, Chandler became the first in the field to utilize the team approach to racing, and saw BIGFOOT #10 and Snake Bite (BIGFOOT #9) race to a one-two finish.  Between 1993 and 2006, BIGFOOT won 16 titles.  2007 marked yet another banner year for Team BIGFOOT, winning another 3.  To date, Team BIGFOOT has racked up 25 championships!

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Related TSY Posts:

LADIES LOVE OUTLAWS | WAYLON, WILLIE, JOHNNY, KRIS & COMPANY

TOWNES | YOU’VE GOTTA MOVE– OR JUST YOU’RE WAITIN’ AROUND TO DIE

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