Cold Blue Steel is a gun. Sweet Fire is heroin addiction. Lady Release can be both death and the heroin high. Down the Dark Ladder is death, the ultimate outcome. Sweet Fire leads the Junkie through playgrounds and slums using the lure of Lady Release. The Junkie uses Cold Blue Steel in burglaries and robberies so Sweet Fire will bring Lady Release. Either Cold Blue Steel or Sweet Fire can take the Junkie Down the Dark Ladder by suicide, violent death or overdose. This is too often the way heroin addiction ends. Further dark symbols in this song reference the squalor, sickness and desperation of the Junkie's world. It is easy to let Joni's lyrics and music transport you through this nightmare. Further explanation would be redundant. Joni is a treasure! I love you Joni. Here's to you! May your Father Time never be unkind.
Cold Blue Steel is a gun. Sweet Fire is heroin addiction. Lady Release can be both death and the heroin high. Down the Dark Ladder is death, the ultimate outcome. Sweet Fire leads the Junkie through playgrounds and slums using the lure of Lady Release. The Junkie uses Cold Blue Steel in burglaries and robberies so Sweet Fire will bring Lady Release. Either Cold Blue Steel or Sweet Fire can take the Junkie Down the Dark Ladder by suicide, violent death or overdose. This is too often the way heroin addiction ends. Further dark symbols in this song reference the squalor, sickness and desperation of the Junkie's world. It is easy to let Joni's lyrics and music transport you through this nightmare. Further explanation would be redundant. Joni is a treasure! I love you Joni. Here's to you! May your Father Time never be unkind.