Lyric discussion by Jurgenrap 

Cover art for The Sphinx in the Face lyrics by Van Der Graaf Generator

This song feels to me like the man is expressing his anger about having hopes and dreams when he was young, until he got hit by the ugly truth that he cannot achieve these things and has to settle down. He then becomes angry because he realises people are annoyed by his anger over everything and falls into a downward spiral...

My Interpretation