Current mood:

lethargic

in the night she leaves the papers in a tidy pile
Whatever You Want (Vienna Teng, of course) is really getting to me in some mysterious way...


He’s a company man, your right hand,
thirteen years and counting.
No detectable ambitions,
a model of efficiency, far as you can see.
He knows every loophole,
the art of fine print,
massaging the numbers ’til they fit.
And every time you ask him for another vanishing act,
he half-smiles, as if to say

Whatever you want
whatever you want
whatever you want is fine by me

Never a real moment together but she understands:
you’re an important man.
Another late night,
not sure if you’re coming home or when.
She’s alone again.
But she goes on curating your domestic museum.
She disappears in her loyalty.
She is a dress
wearing a face
in the doorway,
opening her arms out to you:

Whatever you want
whatever you want
whatever you want is fine by me

No one dares to question you.
No one would dare to stand up.
But in the night she leaves the papers in a tidy pile:
evidence for her reasons.
And in the night he takes the main accounts and pulls the files,
detailing every treason.
I am the last one you’d ever suspect
of setting the fire.
But when you switch on your TV tomorrow morning,
you’ll hear me saying quietly:

Whatever you want
whatever you want
whatever you want is fine by me

Whatever you say
whatever you say
I’ll do what you ask me
I’ll do what you ask me
Whatever you say
whatever you say
But do you know who’s listening?
Whatever you say
whatever you say
You know it’s over


It's such an offbeat thing to write a song about – the people who have to deal with a white-collar criminal? And I'm not sure what happens at the end, like, do the "company man" and the wife get together to rat him out, or do they just continue to be all subservient? But somehow it ends up being this amazing story... especially if you listen to it over and over, like I've been doing. :P