Between The Clock And The Bed Lyrics

I’m well aware of happiness
And what it takes to get to it
But the simple struggle of survival
Transforms itself into betrayal

Between the clock and the bed
There’s only space and hell
Waiting for the transportation
Between the clock and the bed
Shapes move inside my head
Colliding with shared desperation

Yes I’m as guilty as the rest
A man of little consequence
Unable of forgiving himself
Still building the bypass in my head

Between the clock and the bed
There’s only space and hell
Looking for my intervention
Between the clock and the bed
Shapes move inside my head
We’ve all felt the implications

Hatred and failure go perfectly together
Like the quick and the sand beautiful and damned
I live through these moments again and again
Repeated images of enemies and friends
1 Meaning

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Cover art for Between The Clock And The Bed lyrics by Manic Street Preachers

Featuring Green Gartside from the band Scritti Politti, this song is about an Edvard Munch self portrait of the same name, one of many he created towards the end of his life, when he suffered from ill health and agoraphobia. He is reported as having told friends he did not want to die in his sleep, but wanted to be awake for the moment itself.

In the painting, Munch is haggard and hollow-eyed, arms stiff beside his sides as he stands between two metaphorical coffins, a grandfather clock (the ticking away of time) and a bed (where he was frightened to remain).

On a side note, the lyric 'still building the bypass in my head' could well be a reference to Nicky Wire's notorious Glastonbury 1994 line, when he yelled to the crowd something along the lines of "When are they going to get round to building a bypass over this shithole?!" A little heeheehee & reflective pause if it is so.

 
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