I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Little Janie, she wakes up from a dream
A gun like a jawbone down the waistband of her jeans, oh yeah
Mr Sandman, he could recite today's lesson in his sleep
He says there oughta be some kind of law against me going down the street yeah
And little Janie pipes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
Hoo, yeah tonight
Alright
Down the back of Janie's jeans she had the jawbone of an ass
Mr Sandman, he runs around the corner, trying to head her off at the pass
He sticks his head over the fence and he yells something way too fast
It's uh, it's today's lesson, yeah, something about the corruption of the working class and
Little Janie wakes up on the floor and she says
"We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
Come on
Janie says we're all such a crush of want half-mad with loss
We are violated in our sleep and we weep and we toss and we turn and we burn
We are hypnotised, we are cross-eyed, we are pimped, we are bitched
We are told such monstrous lies
Janie wakes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
(Real cool time)
Mr Sandman, he has a certain appetite for Janie in repose
He digs her pretty knees and that she is completely naked underneath all her clothes
He likes to congregate around the intersection of Janie's jeans yeah
Mr Sandman the inseminator he opens her up like a love letter and enters her dreams
Little Janie wakes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real good time tonight"
Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
We're gonna have a real cool-cool time
Come on, come on, come on, come on
We're gonna have a real cool time
A gun like a jawbone down the waistband of her jeans, oh yeah
Mr Sandman, he could recite today's lesson in his sleep
He says there oughta be some kind of law against me going down the street yeah
And little Janie pipes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
Hoo, yeah tonight
Alright
Down the back of Janie's jeans she had the jawbone of an ass
Mr Sandman, he runs around the corner, trying to head her off at the pass
He sticks his head over the fence and he yells something way too fast
It's uh, it's today's lesson, yeah, something about the corruption of the working class and
Little Janie wakes up on the floor and she says
"We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
Come on
Janie says we're all such a crush of want half-mad with loss
We are violated in our sleep and we weep and we toss and we turn and we burn
We are hypnotised, we are cross-eyed, we are pimped, we are bitched
We are told such monstrous lies
Janie wakes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real cool time tonight"
(Real cool time)
Mr Sandman, he has a certain appetite for Janie in repose
He digs her pretty knees and that she is completely naked underneath all her clothes
He likes to congregate around the intersection of Janie's jeans yeah
Mr Sandman the inseminator he opens her up like a love letter and enters her dreams
Little Janie wakes up and she says
She says "We're gonna have a real good time tonight"
Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
We're gonna have a real cool-cool time
Come on, come on, come on, come on
We're gonna have a real cool time
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Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
You can interpret this as a literal story or as something more abstract, and I think the Cave intended a bit of both. Some other commenters have done pretty good work on the narrative, so here's what I think about the more abstract side of things.
At the start of the song we are introduced to "Little Janie" (emphasizing her youth and vulnerability) waking from a dream (childhood?). The "gun like a jawbone down the waistband of her jeans" links violence and destruction with the power of sex (note the play in words with the phrase "jawbone of an ass" later on). Contrasted with this is Mr. Sandman, who "can recite today's lesson in his sleep", suggesting the extent to which he has been shaped and taught by society. What is "today's lesson"? In the second verse we get a partial answer -- "something about the corruption of the working class"... There's a pretty clear dichotemy here, where Janie represents innocence and Mr. Sandman cynicism and corruption, and their association suggests the inevitable loss of innocence that comes with adulthood.
The bridge serves to connect the song in more ways than one. With the use of the first person plural "we", the lyrics emphasize that Little Janie and Mr. Sandman are stand-ins for the listener, personifications of aspects of the human condition. These lines emphasis the power of desire -- "we are all such a crush of want", etc. The phrase "We are violated in our sleep" perhaps alludes to emerging sexuality in dreams, and connects back to the loss of childhood innocence in the first verse. Later lines elaborate on the role society plays in this process: "we are pimped, we are bitched / we are told such monstrous lies". We are all exploited and lied to by society, literally or figuratively. Something potentially positive, sex, is transformed into something exploitative, prostitution, by the influence of greed and dishonesty.
The last verse, probably the most intense, describes the link between Mr. Sandman and Janie. Mr. Sandman likes to see Janie sleeping (innocent and vulnerable), and he "digs her pretty knees and that she is completely naked underneath all her clothes" -- again, this nakedness suggests vulnerability, as well as sexual attractiveness. These lines suggest the allure that youth and has for the older, more experienced and cynical members of society. And the result is that "Mr. Sandman the inseminator, he opens her up like a love-letter and enters her dreams". This can be understood on at least three levels. First, sexual -- "Mr. Sandman the inseminator [...] opens her up [...] and enters her" -- a direct reference to sexual intercourse. Second, societal - Mr. Sandman as the corrupting influence of society now "enters [Janie's] dreams". And finally, personal - Mr. Sandman is the force of sexual desire within Janie, which acts as the "inseminator" (think fertility, vitality) that "opens [Janie] up like a love letter" -- bringing what was formerly latent and secret out into the world -- and "enters her dreams" as adult desire and awareness.
And what is Janie's response to all this? "We're gonna have a real cool time tonight."... I'll let you draw your own conclusions.