Still working my way through understanding this, but here's what I've got so far:
The first two lines seem to be about feeling old and remembering with longing that carefree feeling of being young.
The bit about the "needle's repeat" suggests a broken record -- something she keeps feeling, or doing, or experiencing over and over, and it's driving her mad, a rut she can't get out of. This could be anything -- habit, addiction, not being able to get over someone...
"Sang my weight in metric trash" is harder to parse. Assuming this one is autobiographical, maybe she's dismissing her own work as a singer-songwriter. (She does this in "Night Still Comes" when she talks about "if I puked up some sonnets...") Metric could refer to the meter of the lyrics -- the rhythm of poetry, like iambic pentameter or trochaic tetrameter. Her weight is just her considerable body of work, which details so much of who she is and where she's been.
"Trip the light" is a reference to tripping the light fantastic, or dancing joyfully, but instead of "fantastic" it's in "Saturn's embrace" -- in the grip of sadness. Is she doing this, or telling someone else to do it?
"You'll give up some local girl, while our lights...blot out her face." Maybe she's talking again about the naive young people around her, losing themselves in show business (a spotlight can wash out a performer's face if it's too bright). Or maybe she's addressing an individual; maybe he's breaking the local girl's heart because he and the narrator bring out that "light" in each other.
"All of you lie..." sounds like a guilty conscience nagging in the back of your mind.
"God damn the time/miles that take me away from you/and change your face..."
She's definitely speaking to a partner here, maybe an ex or soon-to-be ex. Long distance and a long time apart are making her forget what he's like. "And change the way I love you" changes to "loved you." She's growing numb about the loss in spite of herself.
Still working my way through understanding this, but here's what I've got so far:
The first two lines seem to be about feeling old and remembering with longing that carefree feeling of being young.
The bit about the "needle's repeat" suggests a broken record -- something she keeps feeling, or doing, or experiencing over and over, and it's driving her mad, a rut she can't get out of. This could be anything -- habit, addiction, not being able to get over someone...
"Sang my weight in metric trash" is harder to parse. Assuming this one is autobiographical, maybe she's dismissing her own work as a singer-songwriter. (She does this in "Night Still Comes" when she talks about "if I puked up some sonnets...") Metric could refer to the meter of the lyrics -- the rhythm of poetry, like iambic pentameter or trochaic tetrameter. Her weight is just her considerable body of work, which details so much of who she is and where she's been.
"Trip the light" is a reference to tripping the light fantastic, or dancing joyfully, but instead of "fantastic" it's in "Saturn's embrace" -- in the grip of sadness. Is she doing this, or telling someone else to do it?
"You'll give up some local girl, while our lights...blot out her face." Maybe she's talking again about the naive young people around her, losing themselves in show business (a spotlight can wash out a performer's face if it's too bright). Or maybe she's addressing an individual; maybe he's breaking the local girl's heart because he and the narrator bring out that "light" in each other.
"All of you lie..." sounds like a guilty conscience nagging in the back of your mind.
"God damn the time/miles that take me away from you/and change your face..."
She's definitely speaking to a partner here, maybe an ex or soon-to-be ex. Long distance and a long time apart are making her forget what he's like. "And change the way I love you" changes to "loved you." She's growing numb about the loss in spite of herself.