Seems to me like there's an auto-biographical element in the refrain in terms of writing lyrics, or generally creating art in order to make a point;
"Regained your self-control
And regained your self-esteem
And blind your success inspires
And analyse, despise and scrutinise"
A manic-depressive interpretation. Depression causes severe writer's block; mania regains the sharpness of wit and ability to write. 'Blind' is significant; although the artist can try to shed light on their subject, they cannot know them and describe their experience entirely, or in any real sense, at all; only their own interpretation and not the truth.
"Never knowing what you hoped for
And safe and warm..."
Sometimes writing aimlessly, or writing upon subjects so grandiose that your work could never have any impact but you still believe that some good may come of it. It's just a bunch of words; how could you have hoped to have an effect upon [x]? No, the artist is removed, can't express the truth, merely observes it, safe and warm.
"...but life is so silent
For the victims who have no speech
In their shapeless guilty remorse
Obliterates your meaning"
The people who lived what you're trying to expose; they should be telling this story, but they have no voice in the wider world, no means or ability to express their experience but seeing and knowing of the tragedies you're writing about nullifies and makes redundant your work. No matter how harsh and tragic your words are, they will only ever be words and the horrors faced by those who lived through the events you describe obliterates any deeper meaning you tried to contain in those words.
Seems to me like there's an auto-biographical element in the refrain in terms of writing lyrics, or generally creating art in order to make a point;
"Regained your self-control And regained your self-esteem And blind your success inspires And analyse, despise and scrutinise"
A manic-depressive interpretation. Depression causes severe writer's block; mania regains the sharpness of wit and ability to write. 'Blind' is significant; although the artist can try to shed light on their subject, they cannot know them and describe their experience entirely, or in any real sense, at all; only their own interpretation and not the truth.
"Never knowing what you hoped for And safe and warm..."
Sometimes writing aimlessly, or writing upon subjects so grandiose that your work could never have any impact but you still believe that some good may come of it. It's just a bunch of words; how could you have hoped to have an effect upon [x]? No, the artist is removed, can't express the truth, merely observes it, safe and warm.
"...but life is so silent For the victims who have no speech In their shapeless guilty remorse Obliterates your meaning"
The people who lived what you're trying to expose; they should be telling this story, but they have no voice in the wider world, no means or ability to express their experience but seeing and knowing of the tragedies you're writing about nullifies and makes redundant your work. No matter how harsh and tragic your words are, they will only ever be words and the horrors faced by those who lived through the events you describe obliterates any deeper meaning you tried to contain in those words.