Featuring Green Gartside from the band Scritti Politti, this song is about an Edvard Munch self portrait of the same name, one of many he created towards the end of his life, when he suffered from ill health and agoraphobia. He is reported as having told friends he did not want to die in his sleep, but wanted to be awake for the moment itself.
In the painting, Munch is haggard and hollow-eyed, arms stiff beside his sides as he stands between two metaphorical coffins, a grandfather clock (the ticking away of time) and a bed (where he was frightened to remain).
On a side note, the lyric 'still building the bypass in my head' could well be a reference to Nicky Wire's notorious Glastonbury 1994 line, when he yelled to the crowd something along the lines of "When are they going to get round to building a bypass over this shithole?!" A little heeheehee & reflective pause if it is so.
Featuring Green Gartside from the band Scritti Politti, this song is about an Edvard Munch self portrait of the same name, one of many he created towards the end of his life, when he suffered from ill health and agoraphobia. He is reported as having told friends he did not want to die in his sleep, but wanted to be awake for the moment itself.
In the painting, Munch is haggard and hollow-eyed, arms stiff beside his sides as he stands between two metaphorical coffins, a grandfather clock (the ticking away of time) and a bed (where he was frightened to remain).
On a side note, the lyric 'still building the bypass in my head' could well be a reference to Nicky Wire's notorious Glastonbury 1994 line, when he yelled to the crowd something along the lines of "When are they going to get round to building a bypass over this shithole?!" A little heeheehee & reflective pause if it is so.