I very much think the line "A lazy eye metaphor on the rocks" is a reference to Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe's friend. This means the whole song could be about Thom Yorke (who is known to over-intellectualize and drink a bit, which fits with other aspects of the character sketch). My thinking: Around the time that "Up" was written, the press was beginning to really obsess about Radiohead. Even if it was "good" press, there were plenty of lazy articles psychoanalyzing Yorke, filled with lazy metaphors. I recall one article which made a point of how Yorke's one paralyzed eyelid (his "lazy eye") was a metaphor for how he always had one part of him looking out at the world, and another part looking inward (his bad eye).
I very much think the line "A lazy eye metaphor on the rocks" is a reference to Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe's friend. This means the whole song could be about Thom Yorke (who is known to over-intellectualize and drink a bit, which fits with other aspects of the character sketch). My thinking: Around the time that "Up" was written, the press was beginning to really obsess about Radiohead. Even if it was "good" press, there were plenty of lazy articles psychoanalyzing Yorke, filled with lazy metaphors. I recall one article which made a point of how Yorke's one paralyzed eyelid (his "lazy eye") was a metaphor for how he always had one part of him looking out at the world, and another part looking inward (his bad eye).