Lyric discussion by Hawkgold 

Cover art for Overkill lyrics by Men at Work

How about this song being about schizophrenia (sp?)?

"Day after Day, it reappears Night after Night, my heart beat shows the fear Ghosts appear and fade away..."

Schizos have problems with things "reappearing" to them time after time, mainly voices which would cause one to lose sleep. Some of these voices (ghosts in the song) can cause many of a schizo to worry about things that normally wouldn't trouble others. For example the voice in one's head telling one that someone will die or some thing will happen if they don't blink 33 times in a row.

Or this could just be about depression? The ghosts being that feeling of helplessness under the weight of that terrible condition. This person doesn't want the depression to get worse, but the paradox being that thinking about wanting to avoid getting worse, just makes everything worse anyway.

The sax solo in this song is quite haunting and beautiful...

Great, buddy, I'm sure everyone feels pleasurably settled in their stomach already after you reiterated every fucking stereotype there is about schizophrenia. That "schizo" part I trust should be particularly endearing and visibly relieving to the general populace. Have you ever questioned yourself, bud, in your elaborate belief system, how come no one (shrink or other establishment feel-good vector) attaches labels to certain other "mental" or neurological conditions, or goes to such lengths to make a laughable subhuman congenitally inferior homunculus out of the sufferers of those conditions, which, as is never mentioned as the real aim of the libel...

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It is a well-attested fact, of course, that once, every village had its idiot. How would that "folk wisdom" really compare with "psychiatrists" persistent claim for, I don't know, as old a time as John Nash's imaginary child friend, that around 1% of the population is genetically fated to be schizophrenic? Of course, "schizophrenia" can result from a variety of non-genetic causes, such as PCP, LSD and even marijuana. But it's probably not as "well-documented" then, because "the man who wasn't there" actually isn't there, at least not influenceably much, so there is no need for soul-rapists to knock on...

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Shoot, looks like I've just "violated" intellectually property rights. Must be coming from the lunatic "fringe" myself.

Not Valid