from morning till night
from loose until tight
all I ever do is sit
at work or at play
at night and all day
all I ever do is sit
whether moving or still
whether healthy or ill
all I ever do is sit
in a chair or in bed
in my body, in my head
all I ever do is sit
this sedentary life is killing me
something’s got to change
I have to get off my butt and on my feet
the routine must get rearranged
when I drive, when I drink
when I eat, when I think
all I ever do is sit
when I write, when I work
when I talk, when I lurk
all I ever do is sit
at the office, in my car
at a club, in a bar
all I ever do is sit
on the net, on the line
on the floor, on my behind
all I ever do is sit
well, I look long and skinny with a bulge in my middle
like a snake that swallowed a goat
the spare tire inflates little by little
and before long I’m the size of a boat
I can’t go through life just being a potato
sitting like a shapeless blob
of congealed aspic, or a lump of play dough
I gotta get my body on the job
all I ever do is sit …
©2023 The Hesh Inc.
It seems like since I left the army, or at the very least since I entered the professional workforce, all my jobs were sitting jobs. I get up in the morning, I sit at my desk and write my morning pages, then I sit and eat breakfast. On the way to work, I sit on the bus. At work, I sit at my desk for most of eight hours. On the way home from work, I sit on the bus. Once I'm home, I sit and eat dinner, and then I sit some more at my desk in the hopes of doing some writing. Or I'll sit at the piano and try to coax some music out. But all I do is sit, and all my movement is getting myself from one bout of sitting to the next. I ask you ... is this any way to live???
My father led a similar life. In his mid-80s he suffered a series of mild to moderate strokes, and now moves about with the aid of a home assistant. Am I going to be headed in a similar direction, G-d forbid? I sure hope not.
As for creativity ... I believe, and Julia Cameron will back me up on this, that as an artist you need to be moving through the world. Walking, traveling, or relocating (well, I've certainly done my share of that), you need to be moving. Sitting in one place does not get the creative juices flowing, nor does it get the image bank filled.
I wrote these lyrics in the early 2000s, at a time when I had jobs as a book production editor and a newspaper copy editor ... both sitting jobs. No music, yet. But that could change.
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