I listened to XTC's sacrificial bonfire, and the melody/timing is very similar, but the rhythm, chord progression, and tone all sound very different. I agree these lyrics come off very cryptic because of their sparsity, but there may be enough to spindle together a bit of insight. The most tangible clue to its meaning may be the image of Christians in black, which make me think they're at some kind of funeral event. From this we may presume the subject of the song has passed away.
When each stanza is broken down, we have a fragmented mosaic: the first shows a selfish mother, the second shows tension (perhaps from visiting divorced parents?) that inevitably lead to alcoholism for comfort, and the finally we are shown a death-like isolation, a meaningless and banal existence that does not resemble life, we are told it ought to be. I think this song is about a suicide.
I listened to XTC's sacrificial bonfire, and the melody/timing is very similar, but the rhythm, chord progression, and tone all sound very different. I agree these lyrics come off very cryptic because of their sparsity, but there may be enough to spindle together a bit of insight. The most tangible clue to its meaning may be the image of Christians in black, which make me think they're at some kind of funeral event. From this we may presume the subject of the song has passed away.
When each stanza is broken down, we have a fragmented mosaic: the first shows a selfish mother, the second shows tension (perhaps from visiting divorced parents?) that inevitably lead to alcoholism for comfort, and the finally we are shown a death-like isolation, a meaningless and banal existence that does not resemble life, we are told it ought to be. I think this song is about a suicide.