"It’s sort of being pissed off at any kind of abandonment. Abandoned by a past state of mind, or someone you love. I can’t remember who it was, but there was some Australian poet talking to another one – someone like Peter Porter – and he was going to live in the UK. His friend didn’t want him to go, and said, “Don’t fucken’ do that: You’re Australian, they’ll kill you.” Meaning they’ll kill what is you. It’s not a patriotic thing. The main thing in this song is telling someone who I love, “Don’t fucken leave – ‘cause you’re abandoning me, and they’ll fucken kill you…”, which may or may not be true. It’s me being manipulative.
The second verse, that’s like at a funeral, where everyone stands out the front on the street. Hangs around. Just fucken get on the bus, go home. But everyone just mills about, even though it’s over, as though someone might come out and say something to make everything OK. Like a postscript to ensure none of this repeats again … which never happens. It’s weird."
From FasterLouder:-
"It’s sort of being pissed off at any kind of abandonment. Abandoned by a past state of mind, or someone you love. I can’t remember who it was, but there was some Australian poet talking to another one – someone like Peter Porter – and he was going to live in the UK. His friend didn’t want him to go, and said, “Don’t fucken’ do that: You’re Australian, they’ll kill you.” Meaning they’ll kill what is you. It’s not a patriotic thing. The main thing in this song is telling someone who I love, “Don’t fucken leave – ‘cause you’re abandoning me, and they’ll fucken kill you…”, which may or may not be true. It’s me being manipulative.
The second verse, that’s like at a funeral, where everyone stands out the front on the street. Hangs around. Just fucken get on the bus, go home. But everyone just mills about, even though it’s over, as though someone might come out and say something to make everything OK. Like a postscript to ensure none of this repeats again … which never happens. It’s weird."