This song really grew on me over time. I think the Ramp of Death is the big plunge into adult life you take with your friends, you know, in your late teens and early twenties, embarking on whatever course of adventure you decide to go on. He's thinking back on those times, when you're up there poised on the edge, there's no time to breathe! Now it's a mall on a weekday, null, dull, old friends avoid each other. But it's not as sad as all that. It reminds of of a line by Auden --
Put the car away; when life fails
What's the good of going to Wales?
This song really grew on me over time. I think the Ramp of Death is the big plunge into adult life you take with your friends, you know, in your late teens and early twenties, embarking on whatever course of adventure you decide to go on. He's thinking back on those times, when you're up there poised on the edge, there's no time to breathe! Now it's a mall on a weekday, null, dull, old friends avoid each other. But it's not as sad as all that. It reminds of of a line by Auden --
Put the car away; when life fails What's the good of going to Wales?