Cover art for Elevator Man, 1949 by Rita Dove

Elevator Man, 1949

1 viewer

Elevator Man, 1949 Lyrics

Not a cage but an organ:
if he thought about it, he'd go insane.
Yes, if he thought about it
philosophically,
he was a bubble of bad air
in a closed system.

He sleeps on his feet
until the bosses enter from the paths
of Research and Administration-
the same white classmates
he had helped through Organic Chemistry.


A year ago they got him a transfer
from assembly line to Corporate Headquarters,
a "kindness" he repaid


by letting out all the stops,
jostling them up and down
the scale of his bitterness

until they emerge, queasy, rubbing
the backs of their necks,
feeling absolved and somehow
in need of a drink. The secret

he thinks to himself, is not
in the pipe but
the slender breath of the piper.

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Comments