Song lyrics search--Humdrum Blues, unknown female singer

March 29, 2009 1:49 PM

Heard a song at work on the Muzak, googled it, couldn't find it. It was a female singer, jazzy-sounding. I recall her mentioning the "humdrum blues." The lyric I wrote down was "work like a dog but I'm mighty poor." I googled "humdrum blues," but what I found was a different song, and googling the lyrics got me nothing.
posted by Slinga to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

It might be Hum Drum Blues ("Hum" and "Drum" are two words) by Karrin Allyson. But I can't find the lyrics to the song, so I can't confirm. Someone else can take it from there, maybe.
posted by crapples at 2:02 PM on March 29, 2009

Following up on what crapples said, "Hum Drum Blues" appears to be a standard (a search did turn up the "work like a dog" bit here). All Music Guide lists these versions. You can hear sound clips of the various versions so maybe you'll be able to find it there.
posted by darksong at 2:29 PM on March 29, 2009

Turns out that as long as you know the channel, date, and time, you can submit a request for song info directly at the Muzak site: Go to http://music.muzak.com/contact/ and click on "Artist/Song Title Request Form."
posted by thejoshu at 2:40 PM on March 29, 2009

Work like a dog but I'm always poor is definitely a line from Oscar Brown Jr's Humdrum Blues. Brown wrote many great songs and if you did that one, I suggest you check out Kicks! The Best of Oscar Brown Junior. Mr. Kicks is a fantastic song, as is The Snake. You're no doubt familiar with some of his tracks without knowing it (Straighten Up and Fly Right and Signifying Monkey, for instance).

Jeannine is also pretty cool.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 3:12 PM on March 29, 2009

did=dig
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 3:12 PM on March 29, 2009

yeh i think it was karrin allysons "in blue" , maybe her second album. she was a white girl but her jazz voice was quite good. she didn't write it.
posted by edtut at 1:33 AM on March 30, 2009