[Verse 1]
Let me tell you how I get to work
I get into my car
Drive it out to Arlington
Don't even think about it anymore
Sit in traffic with the other jerks
Take exit forty-four
Drive a half mile underground
And then I go to war
Got hired on a DARPA grant
A monthlong fellowship
That was 1999
Now I run the f**ing ship
In my office there's a picture of
The President and me
He's smiling at the camera
But only with his teeth
[Chorus]
I thought it would be different
In the Virginia underground
They said I'd make a difference
They said I should be proud
I wish I could remember
But I'm not allowed
You'll never know what hit you
I'll never make a sound
[Verse 2]
Spent a year or two behind the sticks
Just lighting up the map
Started double-boxing it
So they sent me to Iraq
They put me up in the Sultan Suite
At the Palestine Hotel
Got some fiber and an M15
And I started raining hell
Two Marines outside the door
And another on the roof
I never left the building once
But it sure beat the commute
By the time they shipped me home
I wasn't sleeping anymore
Got some pills from the Langley boys
And I started seeing stars
[Chorus]
I thought it would be different
In the Virginia underground
They said I'd make a difference
They said I should be proud
I wish I could remember
But I'm not allowed
You'll never know what hit you
I'll never make a sound
[Verse 3]
Last night I had a dream about you
Same as all the rest
Everything in black and white
Except your summer dress
Red dot on a field of static
Moving down below
You're smiling for the camera
But I have to let you go
[Chorus]
I thought it would be different
In the Virginia underground
They said I'd make a difference
They said I should be proud
I wish I could remember
But I'm not allowed
You'll never know what hit you
I'll never make a sound