5am shift

Numbers floating in the dark, walls painted pre-dawn blue
If I fall asleep right now maybe I can still get an hour
On the backs of my eyelids, all the things I gotta do
Even now a part of me is already standing behind the counter

Sitting on the bathroom floor, where the lights are the brightest
No windows here to witness the corpse of the sun (corpse of the sun)
Half a cup of coffee in a chipped mug, just the way I like it
I am either going in to work or today's the day I run

I'm done I'm done
You won't win
I whisper to myself as I clock in

"If you got time to lean, you got time to clean"
Well if you'd seen the things that I have seen
You wouldn't ask me for a
God damn thing
Ooh
This early in the morning

Out back by the dumpsters I listen to the world make its idle threats
Sweet sickly scent of all the things better left forgotten
Gonna ash us out, it says, like some old cigarettes
Let the scavenger magpies decide what stays and what's already rotten

Beneath the hot sun
Today I'm gone
I whisper as I put my nametag on

"Won't you just sing a little song with the early birds?"
If you'd heard the songs that I have heard
You wouldn't say a thing, not a god damn word
To me
This early in the morning

It talks to me as I roll back the trash, deep rumblings from below
Though we both know tomorrow I will still have a store to tend
Think about the end of days, bathed in the neon glow
Still I listen quietly 'cause everybody needs a friend

Just around the bend
I can see the light
I whisper as I lock up for the night

"This world will end, and be born anew"
Well, if you'd seen the mess that was left for me by the night crew
The end of the world wouldn't worry you
Ooh
This early in the morning

Tonight I'm gonna throw it all, throw it all away
Down to the Hellmouth where the bad ideas sing
Down in the Hellmouth where the shifting shadows play
Where the words 'rewards program' don't mean a goddamn thing

Rivers of blood and Pepsi rise but never overtake me
When I emerge triumphant no one gathers round to praise me
Have me do the work of ten yet you still underestimate me
Now the stuff of your nightmares no longer has any power to faze me

You can't shake me
You can't break me
I whisper as I walk where the wind takes me

Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime
So I'll play blaseball on company time
If I'm gonna be up before the sun, might as well see it shine
You'll watch me rise
Early in the morning, yeah