Quarter Life Poetry on Surviving the Office – Circle Back (Official Music Video)

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“Circle Back” Lyrics:

This one is for the ladies on the nine to five grind
Corporate bullshit, nod and smile real wide
Swallowing our deep pride, dying on the inside
Open office seating, so defeating, got nowhere to hide
Nowhere to hide
Nowhere to hide

Aside from the bathroom down the hall with the three stalls
Gotta poop or cry? Keep it quiet, it’s got thin walls
Suck it up and sit tall, lock it like a bank vault
Never show emotion in the open or admit fault

Then when our work lurks up into fat stacks
Pulse perking up like we gonna get a heart attack
Freakin’ and we thinkin’ that we never gonna finish that
Breathe a minute, relax, say the magic words:

“You need to take a beat, and then you’ll circle back.”

All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat and circle back

Run it up the flagpole, jamming fast and furious
Disrupt, update, pick it up and run with it
Loop me in, win-win, please advise, ASAP
Move the needle, drill-down, amplifying impact
All the bitches talkin’ in the jargon of that work trap

Hard fact: I’m all up on the free snacks
Apple, Nature Valley Bar, M&M and Tic Tacs
Huffing caffeine like a fiend druggin’ on crack
Chugging La Croix like a frat with a twelve-pack
Sugar withdrawal make me crash and I delve back
To the sad fact that I’m mad trapped
But I could never quit because I’m cash strapped

“Where’d you get that? Love the fabric, It’s super soft.”
“Oh my god, you like it? it’s half off at Ann Taylor Loft”
All the workin’ bitches get our get-up at Ann Taylor Loft

All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a—

“Hey, can you sign this card real quick?”
“Oh- uh, yeah….”
It’s a card for Wendy, it’s her birthday
She still came in early ‘cause it’s Thursday
Later we’ll surprise her with a sheet cake
Maybe that’ll placate the sinking empty feeling
That she’ll deal with when she works late
Yaaaaaaaaay!

Time for a meeting. None of us are reading
The same old Powerpoint, everybody’s waiting for Dave up in this joint
Been like twenty minutes of small-talk till this point

“Should we loop in Carol in Miami? She might wanna listen in.”
It’s another twenty minutes till Carol gets dialed in…

…Dave arrives, we begin
“Carol, can you hear us? We lost Carol.”
“Hey I’m here! But everything is static, I’m not hearing anybody clear.”

“Maybe we should get IT?”
No one hears her, except Ben sitting near her
“Maybe we should get IT?”
“Smart idea, Ben! Always thinking. That’s the problem-solving attitude we all should be bringing. Katie, can you ping IT?”
“But I just said— sure.”
Great! While we wait, I just want to say, let’s set a group check-in at the end of the day
What the fuck, Dave? So we’re sitting in a pre-meeting for another meeting? Are you insane?!

But I don’t say that
I smile and I nod and I nibble on the free snacks
Time is a flat circle and my purpose is to circle back

All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
All the workin’ bitches take a beat and circle back
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat
Take a beat and circle back

Finally I’m home, safe from the bullshit
Brain feel like dough, mushy from the work shit
Knocking out my show, pinning on my Pinterest
Braless, candle lit, bean dip, wine sip—
What the fuck is all this?…

“Reply asap and include Liz
Looping in Luke when I get this
Take a little look and approve this
Integrate, innovate, cultivate, ideate, bandwidth.”
Fuck this shit, I can’t escape it!!

Hold up, wait a minute
When I feel that rage, take a page from my workin’ bitches
Relax, breathe a minute
Stick ‘em with that life hack
Write those little magic words:
“I need to take a beat and then I’ll circle back.”

“Circle Back”
Written by Samantha Jayne (lyrics) and Christian Hanlon (music)
Published by Samantha Jayne Music (BMI) and VitiligoTone Publishing (BMI)
Produced, Mixed and Engineered by Christian Hanlon