Pays the Bills

Lyrics

Intro - spoken, deadpan, beat fades in
Half six. The alarm on my phone is called "Work". I named it that. That was the mood I was in.

[Verse 1 - spoken word, talking not singing]
Twenty minutes on the edge of the bed looking at a sock. Not putting it on. Just looking at it
Shirt's ironed on the front. Only the front. Nobody's seeing the back, I've done the maths
Train's rammed, I'm stood in a bloke's armpit reading his news over his shoulder, and it's all bad
Swipe in. Lanyard on. Blue one. Managers get red. Four years and I still don't know what green means
"Morning!" That's Graham. Graham's always in first. Graham's got a mug about Mondays and he's not being ironic
Hot desks, so it's not my desk, it's a desk, it's wherever my mug is today, that's how I know where I sit
Open the laptop. Forty-one emails. Thirty-eight are people replying all to say "thanks"
And I do the breath. You know the one. The one you do before you start. Every day. Same breath

[Chorus - sung, wistful, slightly flat, simple melody]
It pays the bills
It's not a life, but it pays the bills
It pays the bills
I'd be gone by Friday if I could afford to go, but I can't, so it pays the bills

[Verse 2 - spoken word, a bit quicker, still talking]
Ten o'clock. A meeting called "Alignment". Forty-five minutes, no agenda, twelve of us, one of us talking
"Let's circle back" gets said four times. I count them. It's the only thing keeping me going
"Can I borrow you for a sec?" That's Dawn from the third floor. A sec is never a sec. A sec is till lunch
Meal deal at the desk, over the keyboard, so now there's crumbs in the keys and the letter M sticks, which is fine, I mostly type "thanks"
Dean texts at half one. "You out Friday?" And I'm looking at a spreadsheet with my name in it as a cost
I reply "yeah probably", which means no, which Dean knows, which is why he asked
Three o'clock the clock goes backwards. I swear it went backwards. I saw it
Manager comes past. "How are we doing?" We're not doing anything. I'm doing something. He's walking

Chorus - sung, wistful, slightly flat
It pays the bills
It's not a life, but it pays the bills
It pays the bills
I'd be gone by Friday if I could afford to go, but I can't, so it pays the bills

[Bridge - spoken, quiet, just bass and hats]
And it's not that it's hard. It's that it's nothing. Eight hours of nothing with a lanyard on
I've got a resignation letter in drafts. Since March. It's good. It's polite. It's three lines
And every payday I open it, and I open the banking app next to it, and I look at them side by side
Rent. Phone. The electric, which has gone mad. The gym, which, yeah, I know, I still haven't
And Nadia's coming round Thursday, and I'd like the heating on for that. I'd like to be a man with the heating on
So I close the letter. Not delete it. Close it. It'll be there tomorrow. So will I

Verse 3 - spoken word, tired, warmer
Half five. Not a second after. Coat's been on since twenty-eight minutes past, I'm ready like a sprinter
Graham's still there. Graham's always still there. "Night!" Night, Graham
Train home. Same armpit, different bloke. Same news. Still bad
Get in, sit on the bed, same bit of the bed, take the lanyard off, don't know where to put it, so it goes on the side
And I look at it. Blue. And I think, four years. And I think, it's just a job. And then I think, it's just a job, though
And the phone goes, and it's payday, and the number lands, and it's the number, it's always the number
And I do the breath again. The other one. The one you do at the end

[Chorus - sung, last time, bigger, second voice slightly behind]
It pays the bills
It's not a life, but it pays the bills
It pays the bills
I'd be gone by Friday if I could afford to go, but I can't, so it pays the bills

[Outro - spoken, beat fading, just the keyboard left]
Alarm. Half six. Called "Work"
Set
Yeah
Set