First of all, I think it's brilliant that McKay mixes happy, cheery music with depressing lyrics referencing insanity, promiscuity, and suicide. I think the first part is about how she thinks she is going crazy, and maybe she is right. I think the cat is literal, in the sense that her cat was the only thing she had in the world (she felt) and losing it made her come unhinged. Most of the verses are self-explanatory. "Talk for hours and never stop..." might refer to a therapist or someone she is working with to work thru her inner turmoil. Man in White is obviously a reference to a psychiatric ward or asylum. I think the "this man of letters..." indicates a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with different mental illnesses, for example bi-polar (BD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD). I think the second verse still ties into the insanity part, where she is losing touch with reality. The man in red is a lover, or a slew of lovers who all blend together to her as she uses sex to deal with her pain and emptiness. The third verse is obviously as she contemplates suicide, and then the final with the man in black is Death or the Grim Reaper as she commits the deed. The "as you drift off in the tide/maybe this jack the ripper lied/and you died." line is about how she thought that suicide would be the end of all her problems. But really she's just dead. No problems, but no good either. This is just my take...
Saying that someone is a "man of letters" just means that he is an intellectual, often by profession. It was originally used to differentiate between the literate and the illiterate.
Saying that someone is a "man of letters" just means that he is an intellectual, often by profession. It was originally used to differentiate between the literate and the illiterate.
First of all, I think it's brilliant that McKay mixes happy, cheery music with depressing lyrics referencing insanity, promiscuity, and suicide. I think the first part is about how she thinks she is going crazy, and maybe she is right. I think the cat is literal, in the sense that her cat was the only thing she had in the world (she felt) and losing it made her come unhinged. Most of the verses are self-explanatory. "Talk for hours and never stop..." might refer to a therapist or someone she is working with to work thru her inner turmoil. Man in White is obviously a reference to a psychiatric ward or asylum. I think the "this man of letters..." indicates a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with different mental illnesses, for example bi-polar (BD) or borderline personality disorder (BPD). I think the second verse still ties into the insanity part, where she is losing touch with reality. The man in red is a lover, or a slew of lovers who all blend together to her as she uses sex to deal with her pain and emptiness. The third verse is obviously as she contemplates suicide, and then the final with the man in black is Death or the Grim Reaper as she commits the deed. The "as you drift off in the tide/maybe this jack the ripper lied/and you died." line is about how she thought that suicide would be the end of all her problems. But really she's just dead. No problems, but no good either. This is just my take...
Saying that someone is a "man of letters" just means that he is an intellectual, often by profession. It was originally used to differentiate between the literate and the illiterate.
Saying that someone is a "man of letters" just means that he is an intellectual, often by profession. It was originally used to differentiate between the literate and the illiterate.