Back to the top of this song
Words and music by Allen Reynolds; as recorded by The Vogues, released as a single in 1965 or 1966.
From WA's Songs Transcriptions page. Several more transcriptions are available there, each in three formats: HTML, plain text, and a Word 95 doc carefully designed to print nicely onto no more than two pages.
In A, because it plays well. For singability, consider capo-ing up two frets to B.
A D A G
1. Up every morning just to keep a job,
A D A G
Gotta fight my way through the hustlin' mob.
A D A G
Sounds of the city poundin' in my brain,
A D A A7
While another day goes down the drain.
D G D G
But it's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows...
D G D G
No one owns a piece of my time.
D G D G
And there's a five o'clock me inside my clothes...
D Bm7 E7 D
Thinking that the world looks fine, yeah...
A G A G A G A G
Yodel: Yodel-ay-ee-hoo-oo-oo-oo-oo...
A G A G A G A G
Yodel-ay-ee-hoo-oo-oo-oo-oo...
A D A G
2. Tradin' my time for the pay I get,
A D A G
Livin' on the money that I ain't made yet�
A D A G
Gotta keep going, gotta make my way,
A D A A7
But I live for the end of the day...
D G D G
'Cause it's a five o'clock world when the whistle blows...
D G D G
No one owns a piece of my time.
D G D G
And there's a long-haired girl who waits, I know,
D Bm7 E7 D
To ease my troubled mind, yeah...
[Yodel]
A D A G
3. In the shelter of her arms everything's OK...
A D A G
She talks and the world goes slippin' away.
A D A G
I know the reason I can still go on,
A D A A7
When every other reason is gone...
D G D G
'Cause in my five o'clock world she waits for me...
D G D G
Nothing else matters at all.
D G D G
'Cause every time my baby smiles at me,
D Bm7 E7 D
I know that it's all worthwhile, yeah...
[Yodel to fade...?]
Editor's notes:
LYRICS: From liner notes in Hal Ketchum's album Past the Point of Rescue. [ ] Did The Vogues sing exactly the same lyrics? [ ] Is there a yodel after every verse / chorus pair? [ ] Does the song fade out on the last yodel?
CHORDS: My best guess for the progression, set in the key of A because the chords are so playable there, and the sound of them just seems to work for the melody. 85% confidence. The standard first position varieties sound best, I think. The G chord should be the bright one with the d note on 2nd string, third fret.
For my voice, singability improves by capo-ing up two to B, and even more at up three to C, though the yodel gets to be a bit of a strain.
First position chords work out nicely in the key of D, as well: D G and C for the verses, G and C (and A7) for the different-each-time-chorus, and D and C for the yodel. This puts the yodel up awfully high up in the air, though.
- Transcribed by WA, 7-9 March 1997. Last revised 28 Dec 1997. Formatting last tweaked 14 Aug 1999.
[Internet Exploder 3.0 (and earlier?) users: A bug involving the Preformatted Text tag causes IE 3.0 to drastically reduce the size of the font for the song text. IE 4.0 fixes this. Workaround: Click the Refresh button (or type Ctrl-R) several times in quick succession... or give up and download the latest preview release of IE 4.0, or use Netscape Navigator, any version.]