'Getting the needle' is possibly more Brit-specific slang. If you 'needle' someone, you are trying to annoy them with lots of little jibes and remarks; conversely, to get the needle is to become annoyed by such remarks - but theres a subtle shading of being quietly or privately annoyed, rather than snapping back or punching the wall.
So one of the needles is alienation from your friends through their tactless (or perhaps deliberately hurtful) remarks.
But that isn't the only needle in this song; overall we're in hypodermic territory I think.
'Getting the needle' is possibly more Brit-specific slang. If you 'needle' someone, you are trying to annoy them with lots of little jibes and remarks; conversely, to get the needle is to become annoyed by such remarks - but theres a subtle shading of being quietly or privately annoyed, rather than snapping back or punching the wall.
So one of the needles is alienation from your friends through their tactless (or perhaps deliberately hurtful) remarks.
But that isn't the only needle in this song; overall we're in hypodermic territory I think.