I wrote the entirety of Severance the day after I was laid off. It was a massive lay off of more than 900 hundred employees through out Canada.
With lyrics like "Rulers of the District, Fuck em" and "It's gonna cost you. If you walk, you leave. There's something wrong when these shot collars got no cheese"... it's pretty clear I'm mocking the suit and ties of the corporation. The lyrics are laid out in story telling mode from the phone call in the morning to the offering of the severance check. The dude that gave me the official boot couldn't even look me in the eye. They even had kleenex on the ready for all the criers that worked there. I fit in a line about jobs being lost as a result of the increase of online purchases and window shoppers, but who really cares about that? Right? Maybe only the people who can relate, which is why I start the song dedicating it to them. The lyrics contain lingo that only people who have worked with me will understand but it hit close enough to me that it made the album. In the middle of the song you hear the rallying of employees with a "Good Morning" cheer. This is the exact same cheer that they force this company's employees to do every morning before their shift starts.
The lyric "Free Pauly P" was in reference to a co-worker who was incarcerated while I was writing Severance. In the amount of time between Pauly P's initial arrest in 2009, and his eventual incarceration in 2012, Paul freed himself of crime, maintained a job, raised a family and became a better person. Before I could release Mood Swing's, Paully P was released on good terms.
lyrics
Free Pauly P
Free Pauly P
Free Pauly P
Free Pauly P
Free Paully P, put him back in HT
while you're sitting comfortably, rich as fuck, sage creek
Circle of Excellence
FS scraping for the dollars, but it don't make sense
I'm at the top of the COE, I got there honestly
you know me "no greed"
you don't buy? you think my talk is cheap?
it's gonna cost you if you walk, you leave
there's something wrong when you shot callers got no cheese
rulers of the district, Fuck em
rules of the misfits, Fuck em
should I go back to dish pit and not mean nothing?
work up to the top until I'm back to being something
make the story real touching
hey, thanks for the severance pay
I don't care about your sales or your "month to date"
hey, thanks for the severance pay
the paper work don't amount to paper, see you later
I woke up this morning to a text and a call
saying 10AM sharp, I gotta talk to y'all
I had a meeting one on one meeting with a suit and tie
the fucker took my job, and couldn't look me in the eye
said "we'll hand you a check, sorry for you loss"
I said I'm sorry for yours, you just tossed the best
I know it's all about the money for em
washing out 900 hundred uniforms
hustling boxes, now you wonder why you do it for em
They cheat they lie to us
Create illusions that you buy until they saying "Best Bye" to us
but before when we would make em money, they'd be dick riding us
playing on the pride of us, not explaining why to us
hey, thanks for the severance pay
I don't care about your sales or your "month to date"
hey, thanks for the severance pay
the paper work don't amount to paper, see you later
Good Morning every body!!!
Good Morning!!!
Hows everybody doing today?!
FAAAAANNNNTASTIC!
black shirt, khaki pants, name tag bossin
black belt, black shoes, head shaved often
Winnipeg weather got us frozen cold
worked Wednesday, next day they closed the store
met the homies at the timmies next door for a couple
to talk about the severance and the bullshit we shoveled
all along they were pushing us to hustle web sales
not knowing it would take our place in this hell
so we ripped the name tags from our necks
on to the next corporation to impress
your stocks are falling, it ain't worth it to invest
uppers trying to ball hard, y'all forgot about the lower deck checks
hey, thanks for the severance pay
I don't care about your sales or your "month to date"
hey, thanks for the severance pay
the paper work don't amount to paper, see you later
credits
from Mood Swings,
released February 21, 2014
Produced by TCustomz Productions
