"Shiftwork" is a song written by Troy Jones and recorded by the American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

with

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

as a duet. It was released in December 2007 as the third single from Chesney's 2007 album, '' Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates''.

History

Initially, "Shiftwork" first charted as an album track by receiving unsolicited airplay that brought the song up to number 42 on the country music charts before its official release to country radio. Until the song was officially released, it was credited to both Chesney and Strait. However, once it was officially released as a single, Strait's name was removed from the song because of contractual agreements between his label (

MCA Nashville Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashv ...

) and Chesney's label (

BNA Records BNA Records, formerly known as BNA Entertainment, was a label group that shared ties with Arista Nashville and RCA Nashville from parent company Sony Music Nashville, which itself is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. Based in Nashville, T ...

). Starting with the ''Billboard'' chart dated February 9, 2008, the song was once again billed as "Kenny Chesney duet with George Strait".

Content

"Shiftwork" is a moderate up-tempo song backed by

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(mainly

steel drums The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

). In the song, the central characters (Chesney and Strait) express their frustrations with constantly working shifts at a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

("Workin' seven to three / Three to eleven / Eleven to seven"). Both characters point out that their job is "a bunch of shiftwork". In the second verse, Chesney talks about taking a trip to the beach to party "from seven to three / Three to eleven / Eleven to seven".

Music video

The music video was directed by

Shaun Silva Shaun Silva is a music video director who works primarily in the country music field. He has directed a number of music videos for many country music artists, including many of Kenny Chesney's music videos. His other clients include Jason Aldean, ...

and was premiered on CMT on December 6, 2007. It shows various people lip-syncing to the song.

Critical reception

The ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

considered the song a highlight of Chesney's album, noting how Strait and Chesney both "playfully soften the F in the title, making for a genuinely funny highlight" (thus making the line sound closer to "

shit ''Shit'' is a word considered to be vulgar and profane in Modern English. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British an ...

work"). Brady Vercher of ''Engine 145'' gave it a "thumbs-down" rating, writing, "What makes this a bad song is that it's dull and boring, with zero redeeming qualities. If music is supposed to make you feel something, then this song captures the monotony of 'shiftwork,' but who in their right mind is going to want to be bored when they listen to a song?" Kevin John Coyne of ''Country Universe'', gave the song a B grade, saying that "the ’big ol’ pile of shiiiiiftwork" wordplay in the chorus is funny. It doesn't hold up much on repeated listenings, however" and that the song "still manages to become a song about getting drunk in the islands".

Chart performance

The song originally charted at number 42 from unsolicited airplay in September 2007, shortly after ''Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates'' was released.

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{George Strait 2000s singles 2007 singles 2007 songs Kenny Chesney songs George Strait songs Male vocal duets Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon BNA Records singles