Styx

Released: May 6, 1997

Songwriter: Tommy Shaw

Producer: Dennis DeYoung

[Verse 1]
Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I'm just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I'm hardly alive
My mother and father, my wife and my friends
I see them laugh in my face
But I've got the power, and I've got the will
I'm not a charity case

[Hook]
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye to the keyhole
If it takes all that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar man

[Verse 2]
Make me an offer that I can't refuse
Make me respectable, man
This is my last time in the unemployment line
So like it or not, I'll take those

[Chorus]
Long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
If it takes all that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar man

[Bridge 1]
Keeping my mind on a better life
Where happiness is only a heartbeat away
Paradise, can it be all I heard it was
I close my eyes and maybe I'm already there

Ooh yeah

[Chorus]
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my back to the wall
All that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar man

[Bridge 2]
Do do do do do do do do
(You don't understand)
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do

[Chorus]
I'll take those long nights, impossible odds
Keeping my eye to the keyhole
If it takes all that to be just what I am
I'm gonna be a blue collar
Gotta be a blue collar
Gonna be a blue collar man

[Outro]
Alright!
Believe it

Styx is a rock band from Chicago formed in 1970. They enjoyed great success with pop rock and hard rock songs, and became famous for their power ballads and album releases of the mid 1970s and early 80s.

The band has gone through some famously nasty internal struggles, drug problems, illnesses and deaths, but continues to perform today (with a significantly altered line-up). Tommy Shaw, from Montgomery, AL, left but returned to the band. Drummer John Panozzo developed a debilitating drinking problem and ultimately died. Dennis DeYoung developed an acute case of photosensitivity, and he left the band. They fought among themselves for control of the band name. Glen Burtnik also left and returned, this time on bass, to replace Chuck Panozzo (John’s brother), who had also left the band. (whew.)

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