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Take Your Carriage Clock and Shove It Lyrics
In the board room, the quiet man
Takes a second to think what to do
He's out of his seat and he's starting to speak
And he hears his own voice
For years and years he's done nothing but bow down
And put up with all their demands
She sits like a viper and offers the clock
Without giving a damn, he takes it:
"Honour forbids me, but honour be damned
You have whined until you got what you want
I did the work and when things were going badly
You left us to rot"
He locked the door of the board room
And turned like the scene from the old country song
Towering over the table he's lost
He is drunk with it all
"You only came back to us when we'd turned it around
When we'd rescued your arse from the fire
Your contribution to all that we did
Was to say it was dire
"Night after day after night I've been working
Despite of you fucking us all
Now I'm going to die, I don't care if you cry
Just please leave me alone
And spare those tears for yourself
We've had those until we're sick
You should leave while you still have the chance"
The others were shocked at this shameful disgrace
At the end of an honoured career
He paused in the silence to pull down his tie
And observe the melée
Takes a second to think what to do
He's out of his seat and he's starting to speak
And he hears his own voice
And put up with all their demands
She sits like a viper and offers the clock
Without giving a damn, he takes it:
You have whined until you got what you want
I did the work and when things were going badly
You left us to rot"
And turned like the scene from the old country song
Towering over the table he's lost
He is drunk with it all
When we'd rescued your arse from the fire
Your contribution to all that we did
Was to say it was dire
Despite of you fucking us all
Now I'm going to die, I don't care if you cry
Just please leave me alone
And spare those tears for yourself
We've had those until we're sick
You should leave while you still have the chance"
At the end of an honoured career
He paused in the silence to pull down his tie
And observe the melée
Song Info
Submitted by
girlboyrevolt On Jun 27, 2005
More Belle & Sebastian
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Isobel Campbell certainly seems to think that this song was written about her. Interesting that it is followed by 'I'm waking up to us' on the Barman compilation album, which is even harsher.
Her 'Monologue for an old true love' on her solo record, Amorino, could be taken as a response.
Funny that B+S recently described their inter-band relations as 'Fleetwood Mac without the drugs'
I somehow let this song escape my attention the first few times I heard it.
It's one of my favorites.
Part of me kind of wonders if this is about Stuart David leaving in some way or another.
this song makes me sad
the first time i heard this song i felt like crying.
This song has the same melody of one of the worst songs ever recorded: Ive Never Been to Me by Charlene. Fortunately the lyrics are much much better, so I like it very much.
I checked out the Charlene song and it does sound very much alike, but I think that's part of Belle and Sebastian's grace and cleverness, they go back, take the best and most melancholic melodies of certain eras and turn them into the songs that they should have been. This song is one of a kind.
NYtimes thinks it's aimed at Isobel Campbell. Oh shit!
I don't think it can be about Campbell, she left a couple of years after this.
It seems a bit of a cryptic message if it's aimed at Campbell.
More likely it's just a wonderful little narrative about an office worker at the end of his tether. He's retiring (hence being given the wholly unoriginal gift of a carriage clock) and that might be what tips him over the edge. Feeling undervalued, having given his whole life to his job, he launches into a tirade directed at his boss. She has been exploiting her staff, shirking from duty herself and offering little other than abuse at her staff. He ends by saying he'd rather not have his colleagues sympathy, they should leave before they become as cynical as he is.
Murdoch paints such a vivid picture of the quiet man's big moment, it's incredibly moving.