The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver -- Elbow

Gotta get out of TV Just pick a point and go The ticker-tape tangles my feet
As I search for a face that I know Come on, tower crane driver
There's not so far to go

I must have been working the ropes When your hand slipped from mine
Now I live off the mirrors and smoke It's a joke, a fix, a lie
Come on, tower crane driver Oh so far to fall

Send up a prayer in my name Just the same They say I'm on top of my game
Dwindle gentle rose Send up a prayer in my name

I like the idea that a tower crane driver is higher paid than the people on the ground but completely on his own. He has to start a bit early to get up there and work a bit later because it takes him longer to get down. I thought it was a good metaphor for ambition. Well-paid, but high and dry.   (songfacts)  

   
                 

Nancy Corley has been a tower crane operator for more than three decades. At 69, she could retire, but she says she enjoys her job too much to quit climbing that ladder to work everyday.