Rock Songs About Burnout and Working Too Much
A song list · 14 songs · updated October 2026
Songs for when the work doesn't stop and the life you were saving up for keeps getting pushed to next year. Most of them are rock songs you'll recognise. Three are mine and carry the ZN Rock tag. Under each one is what it's about and where to hear it, and the two playlists wait at the bottom.
Cat's in the Cradle · Harry Chapin
Chapin's only US No. 1, from Verities & Balderdash (1974). The words began as a poem by his wife Sandy, and it follows a father who's always too busy for his son, until the son grows up just as busy.
Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) · Billy Joel
The opening track on The Stranger (1977). Anthony and the people around him work every hour they can for a house or a Cadillac, and Joel asks what it's worth if the work wrecks your health before you get to enjoy any of it.
I Keep Saying I'll Be Happy When · ZN RockZN Rock
The work never slows down, there's always one more round, and the list of things you'll do someday has sat in a drawer for years. Then a man you came up with dies, nobody at his service mentions anything he made, and you go home and put a date on that list.
Running on Empty · Jackson Browne
The title track of a 1977 album recorded entirely on tour: on stage, backstage, in hotel rooms and on the bus. It's about the endless road, and a life that keeps rolling faster than you can take stock of it.
Time · Pink Floyd
From The Dark Side of the Moon (1973). Roger Waters wrote it at 29, when it hit him that he was no longer getting ready for life. He was already in the middle of it, and it was racing by.
Nobody Gets to Keep It · ZN RockZN Rock
About ten years of doing everything the older, smarter people said would work, then waking up on a Tuesday with the same look on your face. It stops treating the bad days as proof you're doing it wrong and takes the good hours as they come.
Working for the Weekend · Loverboy
The lead single from Get Lucky (1981). Paul Dean got the idea on a Wednesday afternoon walk, when the place was deserted and he figured everyone was at work, waiting for the weekend.
Under Pressure · Queen & David Bowie
Recorded in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1981, and a UK No. 1. It's about the pressure that piles up on ordinary people, with love held up as the way out from under it.
Expert On Everything · ZN RockZN Rock
Not a job, but it eats the hours like one: a take on every war and border on the screen while the sink at home has been broken since July. It ends by handing the whole world back and keeping a smaller job, the one right in front of you.
Turn the Page · Bob Seger
Seger wrote it on tour in 1972 to get down what he called the real weariness of the road. The live take from Live Bullet (1976), recorded at Detroit's Cobo Hall, is the one rock radio made famous.
No Surprises · Radiohead
From OK Computer (1997). Thom Yorke described it as someone who's trying hard to keep it together but can't, sung over a tune so gentle he called it a nursery rhyme.
Factory · Bruce Springsteen
From Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), and shaped by his father's working life. It follows the men who walk in when the whistle blows and what years of that work take out of them.
Working Man · Rush
From Rush's first album (1974), and the song Cleveland's WMMS played that got the band its first US listeners. Geddy Lee has said it was about anyone who works hard and wants more from life than that.
A Hard Day's Night · The Beatles
The title came from something Ringo Starr said after a day's work that ran on through the night, and John Lennon wrote the song around it in 1964. Working like a dog all day, and the one thing at home that makes it worth it.
Play the whole list
Questions
What are some rock songs about burnout?
Running on Empty by Jackson Browne, Turn the Page by Bob Seger, Time by Pink Floyd and No Surprises by Radiohead are good places to start. I Keep Saying I'll Be Happy When by ZN Rock is about putting your life off for one more round of work.
What rock songs are about working too much?
Cat's in the Cradle by Harry Chapin is the classic, a father too busy for his son. Movin' Out by Billy Joel, Working for the Weekend by Loverboy and Working Man by Rush are about the grind itself.
Is there a playlist?
Yes. Both sit below the list: one on YouTube with the official videos, one on Spotify.
- Rock Songs About Anxiety and Overthinking
- Rock Songs About Pain and Getting Through Bad Days
- Rock Songs About Addiction and Recovery
- 2000s Rock Songs About Making It and Going Home
- Rock Songs About Friends Drifting Apart
- Rock Songs For Your Younger Self
- Songs About Online Friends
- Rock Songs About Getting Sober
- Songs About Headaches and Migraines
- Songs About Losing a Best Friend
All ZN Rock lyrics · ZN Rock home