I think this song describes a volatile and dysfunctional relationship between a man and a prostitute, both participants are coasting through life, in their miserable existence, "Is this the pace you've been crawling?". The man uses drugs to escape reality, "I'll pick up drugs, they coarse through me", he also regularly uses the 'services' of prostitutes; "Out of all the girls, I most do touches" (I'm taking 'touches' to mean he is touching the woman's body). The references to the woman being a prostitute are fairly subtle "Why'd you go and get me going? Then drinked me like a cup of tea", you get the picture with this one.
"All the boys splashing out in the city", this would be mean spending their money on prostitutes.
The man feels some pity for the girl/woman he is using, "I will pity you 'til you're pretty" but can't get over the fact she's a whore, "You're a slut, I stitch your knuckles up".
If there was any remaining doubt about the occupation of the woman the message is solidly reinforced, "Out with all the corners. You've been cutting your teeth again", the 'all the corners' is a reference to street prostitutes who 'pawn their wares' on street corners, moving around to avoid the police and get more 'customers', hence 'all' the corners. "Cutting your teeth again" in this context is referring to the act of sexual intercourse, she is becoming a professional prostitute as it were.
I'm not too sure what the fear is of in the last verse is though. Perhaps the man has killed the woman, after all in the first verse, a dead girl is mentioned, although i take this to mean emotionally dead. Perhaps the fear could be of the future.
I think this song describes a volatile and dysfunctional relationship between a man and a prostitute, both participants are coasting through life, in their miserable existence, "Is this the pace you've been crawling?". The man uses drugs to escape reality, "I'll pick up drugs, they coarse through me", he also regularly uses the 'services' of prostitutes; "Out of all the girls, I most do touches" (I'm taking 'touches' to mean he is touching the woman's body). The references to the woman being a prostitute are fairly subtle "Why'd you go and get me going? Then drinked me like a cup of tea", you get the picture with this one.
"All the boys splashing out in the city", this would be mean spending their money on prostitutes. The man feels some pity for the girl/woman he is using, "I will pity you 'til you're pretty" but can't get over the fact she's a whore, "You're a slut, I stitch your knuckles up". If there was any remaining doubt about the occupation of the woman the message is solidly reinforced, "Out with all the corners. You've been cutting your teeth again", the 'all the corners' is a reference to street prostitutes who 'pawn their wares' on street corners, moving around to avoid the police and get more 'customers', hence 'all' the corners. "Cutting your teeth again" in this context is referring to the act of sexual intercourse, she is becoming a professional prostitute as it were.
I'm not too sure what the fear is of in the last verse is though. Perhaps the man has killed the woman, after all in the first verse, a dead girl is mentioned, although i take this to mean emotionally dead. Perhaps the fear could be of the future.