New Monkey (alternate lyrics)

Here comes the sidewalk boss again

Telling me how I can't cave in

Says I'm a study in black

Need a pat on the back

I look up and smile

A picture of dissatisfaction

That he can only see as a junkie

Though I might be straight as an arrow

He's busy shaking hands with my monkey

Busy shaking hands with my monkey

I go in my car

Straight to the bar

Where my sweetie pours the beer

'Cause she always smiles

When I appear

He's in my ear

Wants me to live in denial

Says, "You've got to settle for something

Though it might not be really living

Anything is better than nothing

Anything is better than nothing"

No half-dеad action man going to move in to take my place

I'll bе pumping out the product

Just to take up space

Look at your hands unoccupied

Look at the lengths you'll go to hide

Still under the veil

Pretending to fail

Got a whole lot of empty time left to go

Now you've got to fill it with something

I know what you could do, don't you know

Anything is better than nothing

No half-dead modern man going to move in to take my place

I'll be pumping out the product

Just a total waste

I'm not about

Bitching you out

Over how you spend your time

That's your affair, not mine

I'll go on home, to my imagination

The only thing that's telling me something

Better than your little equation

Anything is better than nothing

Anything is better than nothing

Anything is better than nothing

Anything is better than nothing