The Vogues - Five OClock World The Land Of Milk And Honey

Top 40 radio stations I grew up with would often play this song at 5 o'clock on Friday afternoons. Either this or "Friday On My Mind" by the Easybeats.

Not quite sure how I found this song but it is one of my favourites

Still think of The Drew Carey Show every time

The working man's theme song.

One of the best songs ever... who doesn't know about the 5 o'clock world?

The songs not complete without “Moon Over Parma” following it.

Many of us lived in a Five O'clock World when that song came out. My girlfriend knew the members of the Vogues; she had gone to school with them in Turtle Creek, PA. I lived in the next town to the east, Trafford, PA. I started work at 16 years of age. I quit school when I realized that I could not play well enough to earn a college football scholarship. When I went to the coal mine to apply for a job, the boss asked me why he should trust that I would show up every day and work hard. I told him that my father, grandfather and great-grandfather were or had been coal miners and that showing up and working was in my blood. He took a chance and hired me.

Western Pennsylvania seemed both sad and heroic. We worked hard and played hard. The neighborhood taverns had no problem serving 16- or 17-year old coal miners when they finished their shifts. Everyone drank Iron City beer. We cheered the Pittsburgh Steelers even though they sucked. The Pirates didn't suck, and we cheered them too. Along with our work clothes, we had at least one set of nice clothes that we wore on Friday-night dates and to church on Sunday morning. I showed up to work every day until I turned 18-years old. I received my draft notice and left for boot camp.

While I was in Viet Nam, my girlfriend decided that she couldn't wait for me. I hope that she's had a wonderful life. I can't bring myself to feel anything but fondness for her. While I was in-country, I would think of her and home whenever I heard Five O'clock World. I have to add, though, that God blessed me with the woman that I did marry.

When I returned home I was able to start college with the help of the U.S. Army and GI Bill and a night job at a gas station. With a brand new college degree, I could not find an engineering job. OPEC had embargoed the U.S. and other Western Nations, and a depression followed. But, I was able to go back to the mines, as a section foreman this time. I would go on to eventually become a mine superintendent. Also during that time, in the 1980's I think, the Corbin Hanner Band released The Work Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HPGO27rtlg). It carried much the same message as Five O'clock World. Corbin Hanner also came from the Pittsburgh area, and their music may not have gotten any play time outside the local area.

Our industries eventually left us; we did not leave them. Automation or technology eliminated many jobs and most of the rest of them were shipped overseas to cheaper labor markets. Our fathers and grandfathers could have worked for one company from their first day at work until their retirements. We had to move on or starve.

Now those of us who came of age in a five o'clock world are getting old. We share a quiet pride in having done hard, dirty and often dangerous jobs in the mines, mills and battlefields. We pray silently for the souls of our friends who did not make it to the finish line. I have two sons who fought in Somalia and the Persian Gulf. Neither of them has had to work in the mines; for that, perhaps I did get a little bit of the American dream. I hope that our country does not again need tough men. There may not be enough of them nowadays.

A 1961 hit !

Timeless everyman words with perfect delivery, a flawless pop song

This song saved my sanity when I was working at a very stressful job. " No one owns a piece of my time"

Drew Carey Show Opening!