Just Another Nervous Wreck

This song establishes Davies as the driving force behind Supertramp to me. The quirky piano, nice 70's style solo, and anthemic chorus work together great. I could go on praising this song forever... I have to agree with previous posters about the subject of this song being a man going through the rigors of divorce. But I think the song also represents change in general. While the rest of the world is young and alive ("acrobats they tumble") this man and his relationship are growing old ("corn begins to crumble" and "sun upon my wall is getting less"), and his house of cards comes crashing down ("juggler makes his fumble"). But the best part about the song is that through all of this it remains inspirational. And I think thats where the metamorphisis really is. The man sees the change as a blessing in disguise and realises he "Don't give a damn", he's still young enough to "fight while he can". He accepts that he is a nervous wreck but thinks he can manage. Honestly, how much closer can you get to describing the human condition! Also I hear something like "tell me who's your fuckin tailor" after the lines "soilder...sailor". I always thought that was a reference to how "they got your number". This is a pretty abstract song for one with such blunt lyrics peppered throughout, but I guess I better leave some room here for other interpretations.

I agree with everything Ex Abrupto said about art being a business and what happens to artists who sell out and dumb down for commercial success. But I haven't the first clue how any of that can be inferred from this particular song.

This song clearly depicts someone who was ambitiously chasing wealth and success...and somewhere, along the way, lost his drive. I really love the line, "in the mirror she admires a brand new dress." This woman is so self-absorbed, spending money on new clothes, how nice she looks in them, and what-not...and doesn't even notice the man in her life is falling apart.

Since this song appears on the album "Breakfast in America," could the protagonist in this song BE America??? A first-person version of "Child of Vision" perhaps?

Really not sure how someone sees this as a warnign to other artists. I guess we all see life thorugh the filter of our own life.

My filter shows this as a man who had it made, and his life is crumbling. Both financially and with his divorce. Just take a look at the verses. The first verse showa man alone and out of money. Second shows he was on track for a good life. The third one shows that as his life is crumbling around him, she is out being happy and spending money on a new dress. Stark contrast. Then he moves on to "the second floor". Showign he has sunk so low as to have to live in an apartment, buthe can't pay for it so he's being evicted.

"So much for liberation" sounds like he thought he could divorce her and live the good life, but now that he screwed her over and his life is crumbling, "they" are laughing at him that he screwed up.

Then comes the bitterness. The wantign to strike out at someone and and soemthing.

The key is the "can't afford the pen to sign her checks". At one point he was so shallow that he would pay to have a pretty girl on his arm, and now that he is a broken man he is still paying....while she's out buying new dresses.

Love the song, but it's comes off as a very violent reaction to a man suffering from loss of money and a bitter divorce.

I put this song once in a while when the level of stress or being in tough situation that you can control things happening around you.

The lyrics above missed a line: "Soldier, Sailor/ Loser, tailor." Not that it has much to do with the song, the song exemplifies the pros and cons of the Hollywood scene, but mostly on the way it ruins the way people think, especially when they have money. This man is obviously fed up, and the energy of the refrain makes it seem as though he wants to start a revolution. The meaning though is that though Hollywood stars may look amazing and happy, everybody has their own fears and personal battles, and truly that those who neglect those are truly the nervous wrecks

I as a former hard drug addict am perhaps projecting my own BS here. But always saw it as a description as how one would feel after they crapped out with meth or crack

You know the "could have made a fortune" and of course the paranoia that typically comes from using those hard drugs after time.

Hell, if this song is about that kind of divorce (as others say), the music and lyric perfectly describes the end of my drug career. And I say this despite being the total opposite of one of those curtain/window peaking buzz-kills there!

Whatever it is about, an awesome keyboard riff like THIS song justifies buying the whole damn A plus album beyond just the massive hits one could buy for a buck a pop off of iTunes or mp3 form (I am an MP3 guy, by the way!)

Sure, it's clearly a song about a man who gave his marriage all he had and, now that his marriage is over, is extremely angry about the fact that his wife has proven to be an all too common materialistic bitch. Along with "Child of Vision," this is yet another one of the fantastic "B-Side" songs from the wonderful Breakfast In America album that was sadly overlooked by the out of control rockstar wannabe FM programmers of the 70s and 80s...but what do I know, that could be a good thing, right? In closing, I watched a movie once in which the main character, a man whose woman had left him, identified his hated "second floor" rival neighbor as a "Supertramp fan." Yeah, I'd be pissed too if my girlfriend moved upstairs, but referring to him as a man of great taste just doesn't make any sense!

Once we could make a living out of being an artist. Nowadays, everything involving art became a business. Every artists had to, one time or another, create something they didn't like - but they knew they would make money out of it. One time or another, if the artist creates too much only of the money, he breaks down and has no inspiration. The character in the song is not an artist anymore. He's giving warnings to all young and new artists out there.

This song sounds like someone who was on the path to achieving their goals but got sidetracked into a "normal" life where they got married, had kids, and maybe even bought a house. Somehow that marriage turned and now they are getting a divorce. The character is so absorbed with the stress of trying to deal with the divorce and the financial burdens that he can't even begin to focus on trying to pursue his dreams again.

The end sounds like he is trying to get all men who have been screwed over in a divorce or breakup to join forces and revolt! lol Great tune, one of Tramp's finest.