At The Back Of The Shell

I do love the line "lost a lot of blood, lost a lot of cool cool"... which appears in another song on the album. I'm not sure quite what this line means though. Anyway, I think "At The Back of the Shell" is sex-related in some way... I think its about popping your cherry in the wrong circumstances, perhaps someone just doing so cos they think its cool? Just from the lines "it aint such a thrill" and "you'll never get it back, you'll never get the damn thing back". Meh, I dunno.

I think the song is about virginity and a girl is all but too eager to lose her virginity.. which she ended up doing

Kiss all your fingers... what's that for? --> trying to turn the guy on You'll never get to heaven with your shirt all tore. ---> reference to abstinence in christianity Cut through your finger and cut you loose. Lost a lot of blood. Lost a lot of cool cool cool. -> blood loss of virginity Now it ain't such a thrill. -> now you look back at losing it, its not that funny. It gets a little dirty like the guts of a hack and you'll never get it back, -> virginity you'll never get the damn thing back. Looked at a picture. Took up half a roll, the way you went and took off half your clothes... --> something with stripping, taking nude pics for hi and now it ain't such a thrill. It ain't such a thrill. It started at the back of the Shell and now it ain't such a thrill. Running to catch up, the last city bus, wearing out your yellow hulla dress. Lipstick a mess. Your ch-cherry best. -> poppy the cherry, virginity.. Kissing on the window just to check on the red. You know, it ain't such a thrill. It ain't such a thrill. It started at the back of the Shell. Now it ain't such a thrill.

Yep, I see what you mean, but I think it's more than that 'Looked at a picture. Took up half a roll, the way you went and took off half your clothes...' that made me think maybe someone's doing modelling, like innappropriate modelling if you know what i mean and the bit about lipstick made me think of that too but meh

Hmmm, I've always wondered what this song was about. I think it's definitely pretty sexual, I get the sense that it's maybe about having an affair for the thrill of it but then realising how stupid it was when the excitement starts to fade.

"You'll never get to heaven with your shirt all tore" and the rest of song from "Running to catch up" I think suggests cheating on someone and trying to hide it.

"Cut off your finger and cut you loose" was the line that made me think of it originally, it seems like the cutting off a finger is psychological, a way to get rid of your wedding ring and free you to do what you want.

And then "Now it aint such a thrill" is losing the excitement, and "you'll never get damn thing back" is that you've gone and ruined your relationship because of it.

This song made me think about someone's ego. The back of the shell, meaning that someone who is not popular, quite shy. Then, the person puts a lot of effort in to being the center of attention. I hear in the song, that he/she becomes the opposite of shy, which is the "stuck on yourself" sort. During this change, the relationship with a particular friend or lover fails, and is written from this point of view...of being hard to relate to because someone went through a radical attitude change.