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Life of a Salesman

from LA​/​BC by BRIGHTEN UP!

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about

A song about what it would be like to be a door-to-door vacuum salesman...

lyrics

I drag my feet most days, dragging this vacuum
I have to bite my tongue
To keep from tellin' 'em that I can't stand this job
With every doorbell comes a flood of sweaty palms
Some folks can be so cold
Mean-mugging me like I left Gilbert Grape in the bathtub

I sit and sulk inside the coffee shop
Just to be near people and to hear them talk
And I look oustide, and in the parking lot
Saw two high school kids baking in a hot-box

So I left the coffee shop, walked across the lot
And I knocked on the window
They took a look around, rolled the window down
And said, "Man, what do you know?"
I asked them what they wanted to be when they grow up
They rolled their eyes at me and rolled the window back up
I just hoped their answer would be better than mine...

My boss, I nicknamed him "Mark Clark the Sales Shark"
He said he didn't care
If I interrupted Seventh Heaven just to make a sale
I knock on the door of a high school classmate
She saw my clipboard and
I didn't lie, I tried to smile, and said, "It pays the bills"

"My boss he said I got a quota to meet,
Better hit my numbers and hit the streets."
And I turn around, and sittin' at my feet,
A kid with sidewalk chalk drawing on the concrete


And he drew a pair of cops trading pistol shots
With some crooks in striped clothes
The kid looked up at me, and very politely said,
"Sir, what do you know?"
I asked him which he wanted to be when he grew up
he thought for just a second and said he didn't know yet
I just hoped his answer would be better than mine...

I took a piece of chalk and I
Put it in the pocket of my undershirt
I took a walk, and wrote:
"IT'S HARD TO MAKE A LIVIN' WHEN ALL YOU DO IS WORK"

credits

from LA​/​BC, released May 4, 2012
Music/lyrics by Nick Morrow.

Samples: Beach Boys "Come Go With Me", Love Language "Heart to Tell", Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros "Janglin'", Feist "Brandy Alexander"

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about

BRIGHTEN UP! Columbus, Indiana

Taking way more influence from “Jock Jams Volume One” than any artist probably should, BRIGHTEN UP! finds unlikely friends in the elements of classic pop samples, distorted ukuleles, tambourine shakin', vigorous hand-clapping, tin can vocals, and anthemic pop sing-alongs. It's called "tank top jungle-pop," and if you haven’t lost your voice by the end of the song, you probably weren’t listening... ... more

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