This seems to be a song about people who are acquaintances or distant friends who have strong differences of opinion and yet are trying to remain civi with one another in spite of this. Verse one refers to a distant friend. Perhaps they know the same people, see each other at the same gatherings, etc. The songwriter refers to them as a "friend". The writer of the song appears to see the friend as someone of greater means or a higher class status since the songwriter downplays his money as being in copper (pennies) and not being as proper.
Verse 2 seems to refer to someone else. Someone they just met, a foreigner from Europe. They may be very opinionated, proud, and judgemental even at first meeting. The songwriter doesn't want to get to know them any further but still wants to get along even if just for their short time together until they can go their separate ways.
The conflict is that the songwriter gets "carried away" sometimes and says things out loud that can stir others up even more. They hace a tendency to make a bad situation worse and they are conscious enough of this to try and avoid it if they can.
This seems to be a song about people who are acquaintances or distant friends who have strong differences of opinion and yet are trying to remain civi with one another in spite of this. Verse one refers to a distant friend. Perhaps they know the same people, see each other at the same gatherings, etc. The songwriter refers to them as a "friend". The writer of the song appears to see the friend as someone of greater means or a higher class status since the songwriter downplays his money as being in copper (pennies) and not being as proper.
Verse 2 seems to refer to someone else. Someone they just met, a foreigner from Europe. They may be very opinionated, proud, and judgemental even at first meeting. The songwriter doesn't want to get to know them any further but still wants to get along even if just for their short time together until they can go their separate ways.
The conflict is that the songwriter gets "carried away" sometimes and says things out loud that can stir others up even more. They hace a tendency to make a bad situation worse and they are conscious enough of this to try and avoid it if they can.
That's pretty much the impression I've got...
That's pretty much the impression I've got...