Shot By Both Sides

you view this song as a criticism of both mainstream (for example pop) and anti-mainstream (for example punk) cultures as the same time. you escaped from the mainstream culture to another because they always shot you because of the person who you are and what you did was illegal againts their rules. in the anti-mainstream culture, again they shoot you too if you attempt to break the rules. so, you'll be shot by both side if you're going to break all the rules. ('Shot by both sides, On the run to the outside of everything') so, they are the same shit ('this and that they must be the same')

finally everyone in such cultures should understand that these cultures are taking their freedom ("They must have come to a secret understanding")

Life's checkmate.

Howard Devoto wrote the lyrics after a political argument with his girlfriend in which he discussed his viewpoints about different issues and she replied "you'll be shot by both sides," meaning your view don't precisely align with either of the two dominant political ideologies (left or right). For example, you might be a liberal who thinks that a harder approach should be taken to dealing with gangs, which would be viewed as right-wing by the left. Or, you could read in a science magazine that nuclear energy is the safest and most environmental way to produce energy, but your leftist or liberal friends will view that as a violation of their party line. The song is telling us to be careful of ideological umbrellas who come up with their own "secret understandings" of what is the correct view. You desperate "worm yourself into the crowd" (a political ideology) because you want to belong, but you didn't "lose yourself in the crowd," meaning you maintained your own dignity and search for truth. In each ideology certain perspectives "are allowed" (and others by implication are not, if you take those perspectives you'll be rejected by the fold). "New offenses always in my nerves" means the political perspectives people hold can be so upsetting that one cannot find any peace (for example, recent views that allege to protect life are actually making life even harder if not impossible for women). "They're taking my time by force" - they are taking up my time trying to indoctrinate me in their official party line in a forceful manner, by "shooting me" for my own views. "This and that, they must be the same" - there must be some truth to different perspectives. "What is legal is just what's real" - I don't people telling me what is the right way to think - for me, a legal or correct way to think is what the truth of reality is. puppeteer puppeteer.bandcamp.com

come on now, this is magazine at their best. a classic.

I sure as hell have felt the way that this song describes-- of not being accepted by one side or another. "They must have come to a secret understanding." When you have no one left to go to.

To add to the previous interpretations, importantly, the last line says "We must have come to a secret understanding" - meaning now the protagonist has in fact become part of that previously was "They".. This could be capturing how in the end he ends up belonging ("lose myself") to a side after all, despite any efforts. You live and learn, you have no choice.