Nothing Painted Blue - Striver lyrics

With a smile like a crease in the shirt of his face And a coat-hanger drape to his jacket Watch him tense every tendon as you sets the pace In the race for the next income bracket Now there's room at the top but there's more in the ranks And he's matching your stride but he's straining And he's slave to the bite of the spur in his flanks But you're not gonna hear him complaining It's second nature to the native son The office joke he can barely decipher At the expense of his naked ambition A bit of a striver/he tries so hard Greedy conniver you can't disregard Every surface a scorecard Every edge is a measuring rod When you hold it up against him He'd be up in the office while you're still in bed But you don't want to give him the pleasure As he's sizing you up for the grave in his head With a flick of his mental tape-measure Sliding levers through the sand and grit Marbles drop, he's the only survivor The last to leave and the first to admit it A bit of a striver, he tries so hard Sputtering diver in his final yard Every surface a scoreboard Every edge is a measuring rod Pull a plank from the floorboard Every nail brings him closer to God As you hold it up against, hold it up against him