Work Song (Nat Adderley song)

"Work Song" is a work song and jazz standard[1] by American trumpeter Nat Adderley and writer Oscar Brown Jr.

It was first featured in Adderley's 1960 studio album of the same name, which was met with high praise and acclaim.

[4] The song was originally only an instrumental, but Oscar Brown Jr. included lyrics in a cover released the following year on his album, Sin & Soul.

[5] "Work Song" was inspired by Nat Adderley's childhood experience of seeing a group of convict laborers singing while they worked on a chain gang, paving the street in front of his family’s home in Florida.

[7] The Penguin Guide to Jazz states: "'Work Song' is the real classic, of course, laced with a funky blues feel but marked by some unexpectedly lyrical playing.