Amphetamine Logic

I agree with most of your interpretation, PreiSamhain, but there is no hidden meaning behind the absence of the word "Amphetamine" on the back of the CD. This is copied and pasted from the official Sisters of Mercy website:

Q: "Why is 'Amphetamine Logic' listed on the outside of the album artwork simply as 'Logic'?"

A: "The record company (WEA) were adamant that Woolworth's, WH Smith and other respectable wholesale retailers would not display albums with song titles featuring the word 'amphetamine'. So they refused to print the full title on the outside album sleeve. This was 1985, remember, when places like WH Smith wouldn't even stock satirical magazines like 'Private Eye'. The argument wasn't worth a six-month contractual meltdown."

Quite possibly the best underrated Sisters song ever. I think this song is about society, how people have hardly anything to live for. How most lives are brought so shallow by things like gossip and money. Andrew says in the song that he only needs one life to see this corruption.. (or corrosion..)

As to the actual title, an amphetamine is a type of drug that speeds up the process of the mind. Typical symptoms include psychological/behavioral changes such as euphoria and vigor or extreme social withdrawl, are just a few. However, on the CD, the song is only called "Logic." Prehaps this is something hidden; since an amphetamine can be so varible, so are people. If that makes sense.

(I know this isnt what this song interprets)

But I like to think that the "Knife" means a Amphetamine pill. "One Life" is the feeling he gets from the drug.

He says, "Nothing but the knife to live for One life all I need." Everytime he pops a pill.

By the end of the song he becomes so addicted you hear his voice change from calm to almost eratic.

This is how I felt while on Amphetamine.

falling over = either dieing or compromising their beliefs standing still= going nowhere, either mentally or in the world

I think that the "knife" is logic, as an occam's razor-like way of seeing the world, (as an amphetamine prescribe logic major, this is more or less the story of my existence)

so "nothing but the knife to live for" is kind of a logical version of live by the sword, die by the sword

"One life is all i need" then is quite literally, i understand this world well enought that i dont feel the need to live another one. "give me one good reason" (to live?)- like the above, if you see the world for what it is, and its essentially meaningless, what reason do you have for living (or wishing to live (again))
-alternatively, "one good reason," might be logic, or, in the thinly veiled metaphor of the song, More Speed!

I'm going to skip the second verse, Its pretty much a reiteration of eldritche's analysis of love, like his "life is short and love is always over in the morning" from temple of love

"hit up steel in hand" working away with the compulsion of amphetamines. im not sure what exactly is meant by steal in hand, but i picture something along the lines of a blacksmith pounding away at the anvil.

"lit up, like candles" first off, 'lit up' is old school slang for sped out of ones head. lit up like a candle is a popular phrase these days for often used to mean 'high off your ass' This refers to the fervor of the speed, the veritable brink of madness as it were.