Far Side Of Crazy

Great song that appears to be about sociopaths - and possibly the duality of their nature. In the first verse the first-person character is both Pontius Pilate (who showed little apparent concern for Jesus, just like a sociopath) and Jesus himself. In this the suggestion seems to be that the sociopath sees himself as victim as well as perpetrator.

In the second and third lines the singer claims to have cried when (John) Lennon was assassinated, but he also envied Lennon's killer. That's the shock twist in the song, right from the very beginning. The singer is not emotionally upset by the loss of Lennon so much as he is upset that he didn't have that opportunity to kill Lennon for himself.

When he describes himself as "the mortal enemy of man", he speaks to our violent nature. We are our own natural predator. And sociopaths and psychopaths, by their random strikes and rogue nature are especially dangerous and terrifying. We don't know when they'll hit, or the victim.

In the second verse he acknowledges knowing right from wrong, but is seduced by vanity, of being recognised in public for his crimes. When he strokes the shaft of his guitar, there's a metaphoric hint of psycho-sexual arousal from the violence he's picturing.

There's a mention of "psychopathic poet", to explain how he sees himself somehow producing a poetic work when he kills. It seems to be common for killers to believe they're creating a work of art when they kill.

In the third verse, he refers to (US president at the time) Ronald Reagan, a former actor, who was shot but not killed by a sniper who was trying to impress actress Jodie Foster.

For the last two lines in the chorus ("No hundred dollar cure will save me" and "Can't stay a boy in no man's land"), the former is an observation that antidepressants won't treat or cure his learned sociopathy or his congenital psychopathy. The latter seems to be a self-visualisation of himself as worthless until he takes action - and kills someone for the first time.

While the song reads almost like a homage to sociopaths and psychopaths, it's really taking a strong stance against remorseless killers like these. The language is very clear ("crazy", "devil's bastard son"), making it clear where the writer of the song stands.