Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
You can tell me your troubles, I?ll listen for free
My regulars trust me, seems
You can come and see Uncle to get through the week
Leave your pledges with me to redeem
Some folk sell their bodies for ten bob a go
Politicians go pawning their souls
Which doesn't make me look too bad, don't you know
Me with my heart full of holes
All my yesterdays broken, a watch with no face
All battered and old
Bits of the movement all over the place
And a heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
Brass knuckles and banjos are out on the town
At the knees-up in Teddy Boys? Row
The gold block and tackle tells the time upside down
Rock ?n? roll, well, I don't know
Dead people?s wedding gifts, walk out the door
A clarinet squeals to be free
Accordions hop from the shelves to the floor
Start playing their polkas to me
there's a ringing of bells, a dunderhead?s curse
Fingers are pointing at you
And you take work in hell, be glad it?s not worse
And you get to the back of the queue
Handcuffs and hunting knives clang on the bars
Air pistols shoot out the lights
I've a whole wailing wall of electric guitars
Could shatter the windows down Brick Lane tonight
If one of us dies, love, I think I?ll retire
See my boys and my beautiful girls
Garden of Eden, no gates or barbed wire
Who knows, maybe gates made of pearls
Well, if we go to heaven, and some say we don't
But if there's a reckoning day
Please God, I?ll see You and maybe I won't
I've a bag packed to go either way
Redeeming your pledge, dear, I?ll keep it for you
It?s not gonna go anywhere
But your soul, your soul, that is not what I do
There's not a lot I can do there
I remember the officer?s watch in my hand
Repair it or die I was told
It?s a wonder to me, I still don't understand
Why I ever survived to be old
With a heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
My regulars trust me, seems
You can come and see Uncle to get through the week
Leave your pledges with me to redeem
Some folk sell their bodies for ten bob a go
Politicians go pawning their souls
Which doesn't make me look too bad, don't you know
Me with my heart full of holes
All my yesterdays broken, a watch with no face
All battered and old
Bits of the movement all over the place
And a heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
Brass knuckles and banjos are out on the town
At the knees-up in Teddy Boys? Row
The gold block and tackle tells the time upside down
Rock ?n? roll, well, I don't know
Dead people?s wedding gifts, walk out the door
A clarinet squeals to be free
Accordions hop from the shelves to the floor
Start playing their polkas to me
there's a ringing of bells, a dunderhead?s curse
Fingers are pointing at you
And you take work in hell, be glad it?s not worse
And you get to the back of the queue
Handcuffs and hunting knives clang on the bars
Air pistols shoot out the lights
I've a whole wailing wall of electric guitars
Could shatter the windows down Brick Lane tonight
If one of us dies, love, I think I?ll retire
See my boys and my beautiful girls
Garden of Eden, no gates or barbed wire
Who knows, maybe gates made of pearls
Well, if we go to heaven, and some say we don't
But if there's a reckoning day
Please God, I?ll see You and maybe I won't
I've a bag packed to go either way
Redeeming your pledge, dear, I?ll keep it for you
It?s not gonna go anywhere
But your soul, your soul, that is not what I do
There's not a lot I can do there
I remember the officer?s watch in my hand
Repair it or die I was told
It?s a wonder to me, I still don't understand
Why I ever survived to be old
With a heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
A heart full of holes
Heart full of holes
Lyrics submitted by La_Grange57
Heart Full of Holes Lyrics as written by Mark Knopfler
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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danltd-
I have almost the exact same interpretation of the song that you do. The pawn broker part is pretty easy, obviously, but I find it truly amazing that both of us came to the same conclusion about the Nazi officer and the watch from just a few words. To me, that is a testament to Mark's skill as a lyricist--not to make us understand what he is trying to say--but to get more than one of us to have the same interpretation with so very little to go on is a feat unto itself.
I think the part about dying and going to heaven or hell is a tricky bit to reconcile, because I've always thought of the old man as being a widower in the top 2/3 of the song. By the end, it's unclear who he's talking about when he says "if one of us dies, love". Perhaps his wife is still around, and he's suggesting that if she dies before him, he has no wish to live without her, "I think I'll retire". But the next part is even trickier, depending on how you identify the other person in the "one of us" line. I think the part about going to "see my boys and my beautiful girls" in conjunction with his description of the Garden of Eden as a place with "no gates or barbed wire" could be a reference to friends left behind in concentration camps that weren't as fortunate as he was to escape it all.
Anyway, just thought I would add my two cents into the mix.
Thanks.