I think that you're both right about this being a confession for drug-abuse, but I think it also preaches to stand by what you've done, in this case drug-abuse, rather than to hide from it or deny it;
"Speak the truth and speak it ever
Cost [fixed] it what it will,
Cause he who hide the wrong he did
Did the wrong thing still"
Also;
"One day my time will end
And who I've been, I've been"
Don't think he's clean, though. "St. Andrews" sounds as a church on the surface, but it could also be the name of a square or a street, and in the second stanza he sings:
"And down on St. Andrew,
I'll buy it back from you
But you ain't no lover,
No, you're just a pusher"
"St. Andrews", and other christian references, serve as allusions for the drug-culture, for example; "I've song midnight choires, with baseheads, drunks and liars." Whereas choires would usually bring up the image of purity and innocense, it is used here as a methaphore for getting together and doing a whole lot of drugs.
This might be a stretch, but the ending of the last stanza, "and the bells they are ringing, and the band it is marching, marching" may signify that he has just done a hit and is peaking, all the while repeating to himself ("Love come save me soon") that he's going to get out of this somehow, at some point.
This reading of the song doesn't match the cheery feeling of the song, though.
I think that you're both right about this being a confession for drug-abuse, but I think it also preaches to stand by what you've done, in this case drug-abuse, rather than to hide from it or deny it;
"Speak the truth and speak it ever Cost [fixed] it what it will, Cause he who hide the wrong he did Did the wrong thing still"
Also;
"One day my time will end And who I've been, I've been"
Don't think he's clean, though. "St. Andrews" sounds as a church on the surface, but it could also be the name of a square or a street, and in the second stanza he sings:
"And down on St. Andrew, I'll buy it back from you But you ain't no lover, No, you're just a pusher"
"St. Andrews", and other christian references, serve as allusions for the drug-culture, for example; "I've song midnight choires, with baseheads, drunks and liars." Whereas choires would usually bring up the image of purity and innocense, it is used here as a methaphore for getting together and doing a whole lot of drugs.
This might be a stretch, but the ending of the last stanza, "and the bells they are ringing, and the band it is marching, marching" may signify that he has just done a hit and is peaking, all the while repeating to himself ("Love come save me soon") that he's going to get out of this somehow, at some point.
This reading of the song doesn't match the cheery feeling of the song, though.