(Verse 1) The ceiling tiles are counting my blinks One for the coffee, two for the drinks I’ve been breathing the dust of the vent so long I’m humming a low and a lonesome song The calendar is a flat-topped hill The air is frantic, the clock is still I’m a jagged edge in a rounded room Sweeping up the seconds with a broken broom I don’t know if I’m here or the fly on the wall Of the man who left down the service hall. (Chorus) I’m caught in the holiday-grind Losing the threads of a human mind I’ve got the heavy-metal jitters in my knees Caught in the middle of a fluorescent freeze! Oh, I’m delirious! The exit sign is a mocking eye Watching the well of my logic run dry I’m skating on a floor made of overtime glass Watching the scraps of my patience pass! (Verse 2) The gift-wrap is a skin I can’t shed A velvet fever inside of my head Is it AM? Is it PM? Is it 1954? I’m a rattling motor on a hollow floor The tape dispenser has a serrated grin Checking to see where the paper begins I’m a rusted gear, I’m a candle-drain I’ve got holiday soot in a cardboard brain The walls are leaning in for a closer look To see how a person gets off the hook! (Bridge) Press. Slide. Nowhere to hide. Stamp. Fold. Doing what I’m told. I’M RUNNING OUT OF STEAM! (Chorus) I’m caught in the holiday-grind Losing the threads of a human mind I’ve got the heavy-metal jitters in my knees Caught in the middle of a fluorescent freeze! Oh, I’m delirious! The exit sign is a mocking eye Watching the well of my logic run dry I’m skating on a floor made of overtime glass Watching the scraps of my patience pass! (Outro) It’s all very bright. It’s all very loud. Do you see the patterns in the carpet? They’re starting to make sense now. Total sense. Perfect... physical... sense.
