Lyric discussion by yowza_bean 

Cover art for I'm Gonna Run lyrics by Fiery Furnaces, The

I've read that a lot of what's in this song is stuff that Eleanor overheard at work while she had an office job. All the office-supply references toward the beginning make sense in that context. All of the other stuff could easily have been overheard, too. That makes it a pretty pointless and nonsensical song in a way, but it all knd of fits together and the sound of the words really fits the style of the song. Sometimes the best songs are the ones that don't really try to say something obvious, and I think that applies here.