Climbing the Walls

This song is almost certainly a reference to Franz Kafka's book "The Metamorphosis." In the play, Gregor Samsa, who is incredibly overworked wakes up one morning to find that he has been transformed into a giant cockroach.

Like the opening line of the song, Gregor's initial concern is his inability to speak and therefore answer when his parents and boss come to his door. He also cannot open the locked door for him.

Throughout the story, Gregor discovers that he can find solace through climbing on the walls of his room. He also realizes that he doesn't really need any of his old things, and would be happier in an empty room, hence the lines about getting rid of his old junk.

Finally, the last verse speaks of how people (i.e. Gregor's family) "talk a lot, but they don't know." This refers to his family's constant discussions about him that regarding him as completely unintelligent, while in reality he has retained all of his cognitive function. They don't realize how deep his deprivation of human contact has eaten away at him by the end of the book.

It is not unlikely that They Might Be Giants would write a song about a book by Kafka. They have a habit of writing intellectual songs, and songs referring to literature.

The Narrator got fed up wasting his life with is pointless, meaningless job so he quits. Like most people who hate their jobs, they think it'd be great to be able to just do nothing. But now he realizes that not having a job and doing nothing can drive you absolutely crazy, which is what is happening to him. His "new job" is "staying at home going crazy", metaphorically speaking. The "Too much junk..." verse refers to him being so bored that he starts cleaning the house (as some people tend to do) to keep him busy...like you just flip out and go damn we don't need this, and this and that, what are we doing with all this junk? Basically he becomes obsessive/compulsive to deal with his boredom/craziness. The "Deep end..." verse refers of course to the narrator going "off the deep end". Where some people talk about going crazy, he really is, he knows first hand what it's like now.

Sounds like speed addiction.

reminds me of some kind of addiction too, made me think of pot

I can't talk, I got to go Don't call me back, I won't get the door Got to focus on the job 'Cause I got a new job climbing the walls

I was grinding my teeth, I was wasting my youth And using up my teeth Now I'm done chewing my nails Hanging my head, chasing my tail It got so bad I quit my job Then I got a new job climbing the walls

Too much junk, too much junk Can we please clear out this house? In the trunk, in the trunk And then we'll take it all to the dump Then we won't need the car 'Cause we'll stay where we are And I'll have all this room

I got tired of pacing the floor Sick of it all, I'm done with the floor Walked away ever since I got a new job climbing the walls [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/they might be giants/climbing the walls_20668229.html ] I was grinding my teeth, I was wasting my youth And using up my teeth Now I'm done chewing my nails Hanging my head, chasing my tail It got so bad I quit my job Then I got a new job climbing the walls

The deep end, the deep end People talk a lot, but they don't know They pretend, they pretend They don't really know how deep it goes

Now I misunderstood, Thought the wall was just good For staring blankly at

I got tired of pacing the floor Sick of it all, I'm done with the floor Walked away ever since I got a new job climbing the walls

Now I'm done chewing my nails Hanging my head, chasing my tail It got so bad I quit my job Then I got a new job climbing the walls Got a new job climbing the walls Got a new job climbing the walls

Now we can read it!

Pacing the floor, grinding your teeth, going nowhere, stuck in a rut…

So you make a change, any change. And now you're climbing the walls, driving yourself crazy, stuck in another rut.

Going from one dead end to another, never making any progress.

(I like the Metamorphosis interpretation a lot, but I also wanted to add my own thoughts.)