Elevator Operator

Album: Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)
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  • Oliver Paul, twenty years old
    Thick head of hair, worries he's going bold
    Wakes up at quarter past nine
    Fair evades his way down the 96 tram line
    Breakfast on the run again, he's well aware
    He's dropping soy linseed Vegemite crumbs everywhere

    Feeling sick at the sight of his computer
    He dodges his way through the Swanston commuters
    Rips off his tie, hands it to a homeless man
    Sleeping in the corner of a metro bus stand and he screams
    I'm not going to work today
    Going to count the minutes that the trains run late
    Sit on the grass building pyramids out of Coke cans

    Headphone wielding to the Nicholas building
    He trips on a pothole that's not been filled in
    He waits for an elevator, one to nine
    A lady walks in and waits by his side
    Her heels are high and her bag is snakeskin
    Hair pulled so tight you can see her skeleton
    Vickers perfume on her breath
    A tortoise shell necklace between her breasts
    She looks him up and down with a botox frown
    He's well used to that look by now
    The elevator dings and they awkwardly step in
    Their fingers touch on the rooftop button

    Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
    You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
    I'd give anything to have skin like you

    He said, I think you're projecting the way that you're feeling
    I'm not suicidal, just idling insignificantly
    I come up here for perception and clarity
    I like to imagine I'm playing SimCity
    All the people look like ants from up here
    And the wind's the only traffic you can hear
    He said All I ever wanted to be
    Was an elevator operator, can you help me please?

    Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
    You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
    I'd give anything to have skin like you

    Don't jump little boy, don't jump off that roof
    You've got your whole life ahead of you, you're still in your youth
    I'd give anything to have skin like you Writer/s: Courtney Barnett
    Publisher: CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, THIRD SIDE MUSIC INC.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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