(I was an) Intern Lyrics

I wanna be an intern

I wanna be an intern

If you want wanna get your foot in the door

You gotta put in the work and pay your dues

I wanna be an intern

I wanna be an intern

If you want wanna get your foot in the door

You gotta put in the work and pay your dues

I was an intern in 2006

I worked at a studio but didn't do shit

Except sit at reception and refill the pots

Answer the phones and get paid squat

And for some reason, I spent like a week chipping paint off their radiator so they could repaint it but at least I only had to commute 90 minutes each way to get there

I wanna be an intern

I wanna be an intern

If you want wanna get your foot in the door

You gotta put in the work and pay your dues

I was an intern in 2007

Back in the city, oh fuck heavens

I sat in the studio, still didn't do shit

Except run some errands and clean up a bit

And anytime they recorded something at this studio and it sounded kind of bad, they would say, "Uhh, it has a real vibe-y quality to it" and they would pretend that they meant for it to suck

I was an intern in 2008

I worked at a studio, pulling my weight

I sat at reception and refilled the snacks

I didn't get paid, I didn't learn jack

And for some reason, one of the actual creative things I got to work there was make ringtones for cell phones which the company would then make money from by selling, but I didn't get paid for them. Ironically, the owner of that studio now owns a company that campaigns for musical artists to get paid a fair wage. You can't make this up

I wanna be an intern

I wanna be an intern

If you want wanna get your foot in the door

You gotta put in the work and pay your dues

I wanna be an intern

Don't wanna be an intern

If you want wanna be treated like shit, get nothing for it

Work really hard and be mostly ignored

You gotta be an intern

I was an intern in 2009

Are you sensing a pattern yet this time?

I sat at a computer and listened to music

Adding meta tags like "quirky" and "spooky"

This one almost felt like I was doing something useful, but at the end of the day, I made no money and gained no professional benefits from it

I was an intern in 2010

After I swore, not ever again

I actually did some interesting shit

And met some cool people, but didn't benefit

Shortly thereafter this company got purchased by an international performance organization and fired all of the people who had been working there for decades. Meaning that any networking inroads I made from my time there were basically wasted but at least I made no money

The expectation of young audio engineers to work for free for extended periods of time with no promise of future job security is detrimental to their mental and physical health. Businesses that rely on this manipulative and endless supply of free labor are not economically viable otherwise shouldn't exist. Furthermore, the interns who end up succeeding do so, not because they are more driven or more talented, but because they are privileged and able to survive economically for an indefinite amount of time–but let's not discount nepotism and good old-fashioned luck too

I wanna be an intern

I wanna be an intern

If you want wanna get your foot in the door

You gotta put in the work and pay your dues

I wanna be an intern

Don't wanna be an intern

If you want wanna be treated like shit, get nothing for it

Work really hard and be mostly ignored

Fuck up your life and waste all your time

You gotta be an intern

Interns