Work Song

"Work Song" is a 1960 hard bop tune by cornetist Nat Adderley, built on a blues-like riff in a minor key. This page has the Work Song chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose.

Who wrote "Work Song"

Nat Adderley wrote it, and it was recorded in 1960 both by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet and as the title track of his own album for Riverside. Oscar Brown Jr. later set words to it, and the song became a staple of soul jazz and of singers as well as instrumentalists.

Recordings that made it a standard

• Cannonball Adderley Quintet — Them Dirty Blues (1960).
• Nat Adderley — Work Song (Riverside, 1960), with Wes Montgomery on guitar.