Stop and Stare Lyrics

Lyric discussion by rlaceypnc 

Cover art for Stop and Stare lyrics by OneRepublic

I'm nearly sure that I'm right, since I was there when Andy wrote this...

The song is about a man who works at an airport, and has been cycled through several of the various jobs there, including servicing airplane equipment ("shaking off the rust"), cleaning the mirrors on the corridor ceilings ("staring down at myself"), but has finally wound up being a maintenance tech for the escalators and moving sidewalks. He has to figure out why they're not working, to "wonder why your here not there". He fantasizes about making one go way too fast some time, and witness as "everyone gets scared". The job is a dead end, though, and, for all the moving back and forth he's doing, "I go nowhere".

Kinda obvious now, eh?

[Edit: grammar]

Song Meaning
Negative
Subjective
Sadness
Work
Stagnation
Frustration
Fantasy
Self-reflection

@rlaceypnc cool take i can see the tired eyes staring out at another life that never comes...