Citrus

Great song, here. What starts off as a simple ode to the alcohol the speaker is drinking turns into an observation of the city around him, keeping with the religious imagery The Hold Steady follows. He sees Jesus, the best things about the world and faith and honesty in some things (young lovers) and Judas, the worst things in the world, in the violence, crime and heartache.

yeah its "lost in fog and love and faithless fear"

"hey barroom, hey tavern"

pretty sure it's "I feel Jesus in the tenderness of honest, nervous lovers." Tenements? naah.

it's about the various feelings a person has on the journey to getting wasted. There are places like bars, taverns and dorms where people feel alright and safe. There are good feelings associated with the hook-ups one makes when getting wasted blah blah blha. Then there's the bad feelings like the anxiety of dealing with drug dealers on street corners, to whom your happiness/satisfaction is the least of their concern. perhaps more literally it can be taken as song about alcohol being more wholesome than cocaine, meth or junk.

don't mean to nitpick, but i hear it as: "lost in love and faithless fear."

one of my favourite tracks off the new album, to me it's a tribute to that certain kind of drunk where you're kind of floating and observing everything. you see everything, but you're above it all. that's how i heard it, but carlwinslow's interpretation is really, really awesome and enticing.

Tenderness, not tenements.

I'm surprised these guys aren't huge yet. Seriously. I love this band.

I think it has to do with people drinking away their lives. You see jesus and judas in all the areas that result from getting drunk. expanding on what kemekongqka said, you may be "floating and observing everything" from heaven, because when you get a drink in your hand your just gone.

The juxtaposition of Jesus and Judas is interesting. On the surface it seemed as though Judas loved Jesus, but Judas betrays Jesus. Similarly, perhaps he is saying that drugs may seem to induce love, but it betrays it. Drugs betrays the lovers...

In a rather large, rambling nutshell: hes drunk, hes kissing them and it means nothing. but the act of kissing is someone goes hand in hand with love or atleast attraction so the fact that he feels nothing for this person is making it an insincere act. basically saying drink/drugs makes you do stuff you wouldnt otherwise do. and i love the way he compares it to judas, so poetic.