Don’t get me wrong:  I actually like my day job, all in all.

The actual work I do has its moments of enjoyable challenge, and I like that I can concretely know just what I’ve accomplished (unlike, say, base building security in an office tower, where every day is exactly the same and your suggestions to improve it are always ignored).  I like my day job.

I do not like the rat race grind of standard business hours.  I am a night owl and getting up at 6:38am (because yes, that 8 minutes matters) hurts the soul.  The office layout is cramped quarters where everyone seems to come to work sick and cough their germs into the air for me to pick up.  The wall decor is cool (black and whites of cities far away) but the sterile rows of cubicles?  Not so much.

So when it’s Monday and I’m staggering into work half-asleep and cursing my medical ban from caffeine, I often need a pick-me-up.  I’m betting you do, too.  That’s what music is here for.

All work and no play makes Amber a sad girl.  Turn it up to eleven.

High Fidelity:  Rat Race

We’re now on Spotify! Scroll down to blast your workplace with a little musical sanity.

1.  A Better Son-Daughter – Rilo Kiley

“You’ll fight it and you’ll make it through. You’ll fake it if you have to.
And you’ll show up to work with a smile…”

2.  Bloodshot – Jack’s Mannequin

“And we climb and we climb.  But it’s just so high and I’m so tired.
C’mon, look me in my bloodshot eyes…”

3.  A Little Too Young – Sunday Lane

“A little too young to feel this old.  A little too shy to rock this boat…
Talk me down, make me feel proud – but not too proud.  Turn the music up…“

4.  Day Job – Sunshine State

“Where did the weekend go? I say to Steve, as the elevator opens on the seventh floor of hell
Slurp up a coffee, now I’m half-awake.  Start to wander through my email, getting cozy in my cell…”

5.  Lemons, AKA (BigFishLittlePond) – Amos The Transparent *unavailable on Spotify

“I work for the lemons.”

6.  Oh, The Boss Is Coming! – Arkells

“Oh, the boss is coming! You better look busy.  They’re not paying you for nothing…”

7.  (Antichrist Television Blues) – Arcade Fire

“Don’t want to work in a building downtown. Parking the cars in the underground.
The voices they scream, but they make no sound…”

8.  Glass Ceiling – Metric

“Fast asleep, daydreaming.  Start to push, break your own glass ceiling…
Every speed on our knees is crawling.”

9.  Rat Race – Brody Dalle

“I got a gun pointed at the rat race.  Got my own private road to hell…”

10.  Copy Of A – Nine Inch Nails

“I am just a copy of a copy of a copy.  Everything I say has come before…
Why all the change of heart?  You need to play your part…”

11.  Have You Got It In You? – Imogen Heap

“It takes a lot to be always on form…
Been one of those days.  Safety first, don’t push – what’s the hurry?”

12.  Had It Coming – Matthew Good

“You work a job, you hate your job.
You go home and you wonder, what am I going to do about my job?  It pays the bills, the bills add up…”

13.  Common People – Pulp

“You’ll never live like common people.  You’ll never do what common people do.
Never fail like common people, never watch your life slide out of view…”

14.  Royals – Lorde

“My friends and I—we’ve cracked the code. We count our dollars on the train to the party.
And everyone who knows us knows that we’re fine with this. We didn’t come from money…”

15.  Virus Of The Mind – Heather Nova

“‘Where’s your kids and where is your car?’  I said, I don’t have either but I have a guitar…
I’m pretty happy living in my, my own sweet time…”

16.  Sinners Of Saint Avenue – Slave to the Squarewave

“We are the Friday night, working class heroes.”

17.  Pillar of Davidson – Live

“Warm bodies, I sense, are not machines that can only make money…”