Listen to For The Workforce, Drowning

Official performance music video

Live performance from 2004

Lyrics:

Falling from the top floor your lungs
Fill like parachutes
The windows go rushing by
The people inside they're
Dressed for the funeral in black and white
These ties strangle our necks, hanging in the closet
Filed 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
Nine to five! Nine to five!
And we're up to our necks
Drowning in the seconds
Ingesting the morning commute
Lost in a dead subway sleep
Now we lie awake in our parents beds
Tossing and turning
Tomorrow we'll get up
Drive to work
Single file
With everyday
Just 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 cancelled 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 memos 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

About the song:

• The song is the first track of Thursday's 3rd studio album and major label debut, War All The Time.
• It was released as a single on 28th April 2003.
• The MV was directed by Steve Pedulla and was shot on tour with Poison The Well.
• Geoff Rickly explained the song to be things like a demeaning job that you hate and how because of them you start to loose your identity and humanity. How they can get overwhelming from the outside but you internalize them.
• Tim Payne said that musically at the time, in 2003, the song represented them the most accurately. Full song explanation with Geoff Rickly and Tim Payne.
• Geoff Rickly also said it was their best opener and was like a super heavy Fugazi song.
• The song also appeared alongside Thrice's 'Under a Killing Moon' on a limited edition clear vinyl split 7" released on 14th July 2003. (That must be one cool thing to own.)

What are your thoughts on the song?

If you have any additions/corrections in the post comment...

I didn't mean to take such a long break from these posts, was traveling and then professors decided to hold off giving all work until now. Anyway, realized today these posts aren't as big of a task as I sometimes like to think.

I see we crossed 450 members! How are you all doing?