I wrote this song shortly after visiting the office of a coal-mining company. Also, around that time, I was dating an aspiring fashion-model. To me, so much of songwriting is taking two or more divergent ideas, and then seeing how they might fit together. I imagined what an unlikely pair that a coal-miner and a fashion-model would make. After all, what’s more solitary and dangerous than mining? And what’s more collaborative and glamorous than fashion? In my mind the two occupations are as far apart from one another as East is from West. But we all know that, if you travel far enough in one direction; East becomes West, and vice versa. So I began to picture this miner and this model. At first separately…and then together.
I’ve heard your laughter echo through the halls
It shakes the rafters, as the ceiling tiles fall
You smile, and the party starts
Me, I am the poster-child for the broken heartI’ve read your anger all over the walls
Big crimson letters on the sides of shopping malls
You are so passionate and young
Me, I’m only thirty and have coal-dust in my lungsFrom working 55 Stories beneath the ground
55 STORIES BENEATH THE GROUND!
55 Stories beneath the ground
You’d think I must be out of my mindI’ve heard your answers when men come to call
Big-time directors; and it makes me feel so small
You dress-up in the latest style
Me, I like to go out and get drunk once in a whileCuz I work 55 Stories beneath the ground
55 STORIES BENEATH THE GROUND!
55 Stories beneath the ground
You’d think I must be out of my mind<16-Bar Interlude>
I’ve seen your picture in papers and on the TV
It makes me wonder: why you’d waste your time on me
You pose for cameramen downtown
Me, I’m in a mineshaft that’s a mile undergroundAnd I work 55 Stories beneath the ground
55 STORIES BENEATH THE GROUND!
55 Stories beneath the ground
You’d think I must be out of my mindWell I must be out of my mind
©2018 Slightly Psychedelic