I think the cold war imagery evoking the "4 minute warning" is a metaphor for facing an uncomfortable reality, the moment of clarity when the consequences are inevitable, the hiatus between realising the unavoidable truth and consequences after the time when any action to avert the impending impact is futile. Hence the opening lyric "should've known way back". I think it's irrelevant whether that is a drug addict, alcoholic, criminal looking back on his actions prior to conviction, perhaps a morally wayward person contemplating the ruinous future. Just the literal, historical 4 minute warning seems a little prozaic to me.
I think the cold war imagery evoking the "4 minute warning" is a metaphor for facing an uncomfortable reality, the moment of clarity when the consequences are inevitable, the hiatus between realising the unavoidable truth and consequences after the time when any action to avert the impending impact is futile. Hence the opening lyric "should've known way back". I think it's irrelevant whether that is a drug addict, alcoholic, criminal looking back on his actions prior to conviction, perhaps a morally wayward person contemplating the ruinous future. Just the literal, historical 4 minute warning seems a little prozaic to me.