It's a difficult song to interpret. I think a number of Alun's songs refer quite specifically to things that happened to him, and songs like that can be particularly tricky.
There are several parts that seem to refer to heroin use - 'the marks upon their arms', 'find a vein...' These link to themes of addiction in other parts of the album. It's hard to know how just how literally to take this.
There seems to be the choice of a self-destructive and hedonistic lifestyle, "embrac[ing] the cowardly and the weak". This coincides with an ambiguous relationship with an old friend ("now you've got the rush/we're not in love"). There's the idea of (emotional/relationship or life?) opportunities coming when you're not properly prepared for them ("we don't know we're strong enough and chances come too soon").
There's a search for alternatives to conventional ways of living - the romantics, the footballs - and the rejection of a comfortable life in order to carry out this search. A rejection which throws the singer down among addicts, criminals and other damaged people.
In the end, like other Delgados songs, the story is hard to make out, but the emotion is clear - coming through pain, difficulty and fragility, to a tentative hope.
Incidentally, the single version is brutally chopped down, but I do love the children's choir.
It's a difficult song to interpret. I think a number of Alun's songs refer quite specifically to things that happened to him, and songs like that can be particularly tricky.
There are several parts that seem to refer to heroin use - 'the marks upon their arms', 'find a vein...' These link to themes of addiction in other parts of the album. It's hard to know how just how literally to take this.
There seems to be the choice of a self-destructive and hedonistic lifestyle, "embrac[ing] the cowardly and the weak". This coincides with an ambiguous relationship with an old friend ("now you've got the rush/we're not in love"). There's the idea of (emotional/relationship or life?) opportunities coming when you're not properly prepared for them ("we don't know we're strong enough and chances come too soon").
There's a search for alternatives to conventional ways of living - the romantics, the footballs - and the rejection of a comfortable life in order to carry out this search. A rejection which throws the singer down among addicts, criminals and other damaged people.
In the end, like other Delgados songs, the story is hard to make out, but the emotion is clear - coming through pain, difficulty and fragility, to a tentative hope.
Incidentally, the single version is brutally chopped down, but I do love the children's choir.