Falling from the top floor your lungs
Fill like parachutes
Windows go rushing by.
People inside,
Dressed for the funeral in black and white.
These ties strangle our necks, hanging in the closet,
Found in the cubicle;
Without a name, just numbers, on the resume stored in the mainframe, marked for delete.

Please take these hands
Throw them in the river,
Wash away the things they never held
Please take these hands,
Throw me in the river,
Don't let me drown before the workday ends.

9 to 5! 9 to 5!

And we're up to our necks,
Drowning in the seconds,
Ingesting the morning commute
Lost in a dead subway sleep
Now we lie wide awake in our parents beds,
Tossing and turning.
Tomorrow we'll get up
Drive to work,
Single file
With everyday
It's like the last.
Waiting for the life to start, is it always just always ahead of the curve?

Please take these hands
Throw them in the river,
Wash away the things they never held
Please take these hands,
Throw me in the river,
Don't let me drown before the workday ends.

Just keep making copies
Of copies
Of copies
When will it end?

It'll never end,
'til it gets so bad
That the ink fills in our fingerprints
And the silhouette of your own face becomes the black cloud of war
And even in our dreams we're so afraid the weight will offset who we are
All those breaths that you took have now been canceled in your lungs.
Last night my teeth fell out like ivory typewriter keys
And all the monuments and skyscrapers burned down and filled the sea.

Save our ship
The anchor is part of the desk
We can't cut free,
The water is flooding the decks
The memo's sent through the currents
Computers spark like flares
I can see them.
They don't touch me,
Touch me.

Please someone,
Teach me how to swim.
Please, don't let me drown,
Please, don't let me drown.



Lyrics submitted by rjbucs28

Track duration: 03:16

"For the Workforce, Drowning" as written by Geoffrey/keeley Rickly

Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


For The Workforce, Drowning song meanings
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101 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Fucking awesome song. Has to be my all time favorite song by Thursday. It paints a vivid picture in the mind and expresses so many emotions that i can hardly explain. Geoff Rickly can def write amazing lyrics. Im gona get some tickets for the upcoming concert in Jersey in may.. cant wait-for their new album coming out 2 8)
    Flag blahXfuckingXblahon March 15, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the anchor is part of the DECK
    Flag alinamatterson October 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Ive always thought about what happened on 9/11 with the wtc. Wierd
    Flag bergcycles1on September 16, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is one of my all time favorite's to me its just about how gradually day by day work creeps more into our lives and we slowly find ourselves becoming our parents stuck in the rut of a job that we never wanted to take over our lives. There is so much more in life beyond work. When did it become live to work and not work to live
    Flag ponyboykixiton July 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It expresses so well the frustation of being trapped in a dead end job in an office. It's full of eotion and anger, i just love it.
    Flag BeMyUnholyon January 18, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"Even in our dreams we're so afraid of the way we'll offset who we are"

    refers to our "type" and how we go through life so "sure" of who we are (in this song perhaps the idea that "you" are "your job") also using the imagery of a typeface [font] being offset...which leads to the echo we find in this line:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…
    Flag laurelinwyntreon October 15, 2007   Link
  • 0
  • 0
    General Comment:because they're like so unfinished and their style isn't developed, but every so often when it peaks through they get that momentum and that force that they become known for later. And I can imagine how he felt when he was like thinking 'here it is! This part is gonna be crazy!' ...and then sort of 'maybe I better step back a bit and just write'!"-initforthemoney.net/zine/interviews/…
    Flag laurelinwyntreon September 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"where it says 'the silhouette of your own face becomes the black cloud of war' it's sort of like the idea that, like that internalised hate that follows the war that goes on in the world. I think his first book Americana is really amazing too. It's weird I dunno, I enjoy firsts from people, because they
    Flag laurelinwyntreon September 28, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:"so like For The Workforce, Drowning where it says
    Flag laurelinwyntreon September 28, 2007   Link

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