He’s got a photographic memory, but he’s got no more film!
There’s anger in the room, but I’m just sitting here chillin’.
The boss’s at the head and he’s delivering a grillin’.
We got lots of empty spaces, but we can’t seem to fill ‘em.

He wonders why.
Can’t he see the reason why they say ‘goodbye’?
You got to lure them north
Then jerk them back and forth
With vagaries and outright lies.

You want to keep this train a rolling, best lighten up.
I’m thinkin’ ‘Boss you keep it up, they’ll make you pee in a cup!’
You tell how you saved the world, I know you’re makin’ it up.
The truth is nationwide we know your memory’s corrupt.

You think you’re king
And you expect us to kiss more than just your ring.
Think you’re the smartest one here
Or are you obscuring your fears
With all these mixed messages you bring?

Guitar Solo

You must be high
But I think I finally figured out why
You keep putting us down
‘Cause you can hang on to your crown
And keep the biggest piece of the pie.

The time has come, my friend, I think that I’ve had enough.
I’m proud of what I built here, but I can’t keep it up.
To walk away from here wouldn’t take a big shove.
But, it’ll be too late, you’ll have to train a new pup.

You’ll feel betrayed
By my ungrateful act or so you’ll likely say.
But you’re protecting yourself
Instead of letting all the help
Fill that holes that your incompetence has made.

I wrote this song in 2004 and it is a fictional story; but if it were real, it would be about an executive that thought he was smarter than he really was. Management styles vary and it is a fact that one potentially effective approach is to be the bullying, overbearing, hypercritical and angry dictator. Now, I’m not one to react strongly to pressure, but some people do, so the perspective in the song is that of the character sitting in a conference room and, in a somewhat detached way, witnessing the systematic dressing-down of his peers by said dictatorial boss. The hook (‘he’s got a photographic memory, but he’s got no more film’) refers to an ancillary aspect of this management style. In particular, if one chooses to criticize the performance of one’s subordinates, the act is often accompanied by an autobiographical tale demonstrating one’s ability to succeed where your subordinate failed. The story is usually embellished in order to have maximum effect. In the context of the song, the embellishment reaches a point of absurdity.