Kristin's songs often tend to be about specific events interpreted in enigmatic verse to a point that they become symbolic of larger ideas. So this could very well have a genesis from a story from her willfully homeless teenage days (read Rat Girl/Paradoxical Undressing) in which she refused shelter in a rickety house and camped out with a friend under a porch.
But it also seems, to me, to be about not being able to rely on an unreliable friend (possibly a junkie) who instead relies on her and she's not going to be that persons source of amusement (plaything), pleasure(gin) and life support (water).
Kristin's songs often tend to be about specific events interpreted in enigmatic verse to a point that they become symbolic of larger ideas. So this could very well have a genesis from a story from her willfully homeless teenage days (read Rat Girl/Paradoxical Undressing) in which she refused shelter in a rickety house and camped out with a friend under a porch. But it also seems, to me, to be about not being able to rely on an unreliable friend (possibly a junkie) who instead relies on her and she's not going to be that persons source of amusement (plaything), pleasure(gin) and life support (water).