Lyric discussion by riemann 

Cover art for Lately lyrics by British Sea Power

"the past is a foreign country" is the first line of The Go-Between, a book by L P Hartley ; i would agree with prettybaby's meaning...there are a number of friends I have drifted apart from over the years and no amount of effort is likely to re-kindle the friendship.

When BSP used to do this track live as an end to their show, they used to extend it well beyond the 14 minutes on the album version...euphoric is the only description I can give.