To me this song is about a musician that the narrator really likes and respects. ("I bought your record out on cherry red" - Cherry Red is a record label. They release some Voxtrot-ish indie-pop or twee stuff every now and then, so that may or may not be what he is talking about. My guess would be it's Momus, who is signed with Cherry Red and notoriously wrote an album of songs about people or groups who paid him $1000 a piece to write a song about them, hence the "He's just busy counting coppers")
Then he starts to hear rumors about him, that he does drugs ("Somebody told me you're a junkie now"), and is just in it for the money ("He's just busy counting coppers"). Some of the lyrics sound like being on tour with the guy (being in Berlin and London, running around town, etc).
In the end, the line "Underneath it all there's a motive to the voice" basicly sums up his feelings for the musician.
To me this song is about a musician that the narrator really likes and respects. ("I bought your record out on cherry red" - Cherry Red is a record label. They release some Voxtrot-ish indie-pop or twee stuff every now and then, so that may or may not be what he is talking about. My guess would be it's Momus, who is signed with Cherry Red and notoriously wrote an album of songs about people or groups who paid him $1000 a piece to write a song about them, hence the "He's just busy counting coppers")
Then he starts to hear rumors about him, that he does drugs ("Somebody told me you're a junkie now"), and is just in it for the money ("He's just busy counting coppers"). Some of the lyrics sound like being on tour with the guy (being in Berlin and London, running around town, etc).
In the end, the line "Underneath it all there's a motive to the voice" basicly sums up his feelings for the musician.