Surprised no one mentioned that the idea for this song probably came from the movie Straight Time or the book, which was originally titled No Beast so Fierce, by Edward Bunker (Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs).
Personally, I don't think this is a guy who has crossed "that thin line" - yet! My impression is that he has taken his first steps toward doing just that, though - it's possible he got sober in prison, as they say 80-90% of people in jail are there because of drugs, be it selling, using, or doing things to be able to get the money to continue using... Which would make the seemingly throwaway "sip a beer..." part of that line very significant...
But I think he's still trying to keep it together. The final verse begins with a double entendre ("can't get the smell from my hands" is, as others stated, his inability to escape the things he's done, especially in the eyes of others, but it is also a direct reference to his job at the rendering plant, which must be an awful place to work. Not to mention he's bored to tears, and the smell is representative of that boredom's inescapability. Laying his head down and "drifting off into foreign lands" is his only respite from his desperate, daily, workaday existence. I'm reminded of the line from John Cougar Mellencamp's 'Minutes To Memories' - "An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind".
Surprised no one mentioned that the idea for this song probably came from the movie Straight Time or the book, which was originally titled No Beast so Fierce, by Edward Bunker (Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs).
Personally, I don't think this is a guy who has crossed "that thin line" - yet! My impression is that he has taken his first steps toward doing just that, though - it's possible he got sober in prison, as they say 80-90% of people in jail are there because of drugs, be it selling, using, or doing things to be able to get the money to continue using... Which would make the seemingly throwaway "sip a beer..." part of that line very significant...
But I think he's still trying to keep it together. The final verse begins with a double entendre ("can't get the smell from my hands" is, as others stated, his inability to escape the things he's done, especially in the eyes of others, but it is also a direct reference to his job at the rendering plant, which must be an awful place to work. Not to mention he's bored to tears, and the smell is representative of that boredom's inescapability. Laying his head down and "drifting off into foreign lands" is his only respite from his desperate, daily, workaday existence. I'm reminded of the line from John Cougar Mellencamp's 'Minutes To Memories' - "An honest man's pillow is his peace of mind".