I think this song is about using drugs in the context of a romantic relationship. At the beginning he uses to try to escape reality. He then starts to realize he has a problem but is so used to being high that he doesn't know how to properly connect with his surroundings. Finally we learn his partner started using after being with him when he had hoped she would save him.
This is just my interpretation based on my experiences. I heard this song for the first time as an addict. It made me cry then and it sometimes still does.
"Just a little rush, babe
To feel dizzy, to derail the mind of me
Just a little hush, babe
Our veins are busy but my heart's in atrophy
Any way to distract and sedate
Adding shadows to the walls of the cave"
This is when he first starts using. "Rush", "dizzy", "hush", and "sedate" indicate getting high, probably off of a depressant like an opioid. "Derail the mind", "distract", and "adding shadows..." (Plato's cave) all indicate that the purpose is escapism . At this point he thinks he'll be fine as long as it's "Just a little..".
"Our veins are busy but my heart's in atrophy"
The veins being busy indicate shooting up, and while he hopes to gain positive feelings from what he's doing (the connection between veins and heart and the word "but") he is actually having a harder and harder time accessing emotions (like love) because he is going about it the wrong way and is going longer and longer not truly feeling or loving.
"You and I nursing on a poison that never stung
Our teeth and lungs are lined with the scum of it"
We think of "nursing" as helpless infants or injured creatures feeding on or drinking something they need to survive. However here they are nursing on poison (drugs), so it gives a pretty pitiful/pathetic picture, which is fitting for addiction. Drugs poison (physically and emotionally), but "never stung" because it doesn't feel that way when taking them. "Teeth and lungs...scum" refers to smoking, or just generally to how it actually is poisoning and defiling them, despite how it feels. "Never stung" may also refer to shooting up.
"Somewhere for this, death and guns
We are deaf, we are numb
Free and young and we can feel none of it"
"Death and guns" refers to all the violence that goes on around the world "for this" (drugs). People are literally dying and then they are "deaf" and "numb" to it because of what they're doing and because they don't have to see it ("somewhere"). It's such a terrible thing and the line "Free and young" is a stark contrast which drives home the lack of concern for what happens in order for them to have their escape.
"Something isn't right, babe
I keep catching little words but the meaning's thin
I'm somewhere outside my life, babe
I keep scratching but somehow I can't get in"
This is when he first starts realizing that his life has changed and "something isn't right" - things are no longer in his control the way he thought. Use has become addiction and he sees what has happened as a result of constantly trying to escape reality. He feels disconnected ("the meaning's thin", "outside my life","can't get in"), even when he tries to be connected ("I keep scratching").
"So we're slaves to any semblance of touch
Lord we should quit but we love it too much"
The only feeling of closeness or lessening of loneliness they get is from touch. It's "any semblance" because it isn't true connection or closeness, but they're so desperate for "any semblance" of connection they'll take whatever they can get. The second line is pretty straightforward - by this point they really realize it's a problem but they don't even want to try to give it up. Despite how removed he describes being elsewhere he uses the word "love" to describe how they feel towards using, which underscores how problematic his relationship to drugs is.
"Darlin', don't you, stand there watching, won't you
Come and save me from it
Darlin', don't you, join in, you're supposed to
Drag me away from it"
So far the song has been pretty chronological, but this verse jumps back to the beginning of their relationship when his partner wasn't using. It is also different from the rest of the song in that we learn about his partner's experience separate from his. She has only been included so far when it has been both of them ("our/we") and when it has been about what being an addict as part of a pair is like: the chorus about how dependent they are while at the same time being purposefully oblivious and in the last 2 lines of the 2nd verse about loneliness and choosing not to quit despite knowing how much you should. We haven't learned about her in the "story" parts of the song so far. She wasn't in the 1st verse (other than "our veins are busy") about when he starts using or in the first 4 lines of the 2nd verse where he starts to realize this is no longer a temporary escape, but a problem. He has been 'talking to her' throughout the song ("darling","babe","you and I") and it feels sad because when we finally learn something about her it's how she started using through his perspective of it being a failure to save him. The contrast between this verse and the rest of the song highlights the message it sends about the tragedy of their situation: These two people are not a unit - a "we" or "us" - helping each other get through, but rather two damaged individuals dragging each other down.
I think this song is about using drugs in the context of a romantic relationship. At the beginning he uses to try to escape reality. He then starts to realize he has a problem but is so used to being high that he doesn't know how to properly connect with his surroundings. Finally we learn his partner started using after being with him when he had hoped she would save him.
This is just my interpretation based on my experiences. I heard this song for the first time as an addict. It made me cry then and it sometimes still does.
"Just a little rush, babe To feel dizzy, to derail the mind of me Just a little hush, babe Our veins are busy but my heart's in atrophy Any way to distract and sedate Adding shadows to the walls of the cave"
This is when he first starts using. "Rush", "dizzy", "hush", and "sedate" indicate getting high, probably off of a depressant like an opioid. "Derail the mind", "distract", and "adding shadows..." (Plato's cave) all indicate that the purpose is escapism . At this point he thinks he'll be fine as long as it's "Just a little..".
"Our veins are busy but my heart's in atrophy"
The veins being busy indicate shooting up, and while he hopes to gain positive feelings from what he's doing (the connection between veins and heart and the word "but") he is actually having a harder and harder time accessing emotions (like love) because he is going about it the wrong way and is going longer and longer not truly feeling or loving.
"You and I nursing on a poison that never stung Our teeth and lungs are lined with the scum of it"
We think of "nursing" as helpless infants or injured creatures feeding on or drinking something they need to survive. However here they are nursing on poison (drugs), so it gives a pretty pitiful/pathetic picture, which is fitting for addiction. Drugs poison (physically and emotionally), but "never stung" because it doesn't feel that way when taking them. "Teeth and lungs...scum" refers to smoking, or just generally to how it actually is poisoning and defiling them, despite how it feels. "Never stung" may also refer to shooting up.
"Somewhere for this, death and guns We are deaf, we are numb Free and young and we can feel none of it"
"Death and guns" refers to all the violence that goes on around the world "for this" (drugs). People are literally dying and then they are "deaf" and "numb" to it because of what they're doing and because they don't have to see it ("somewhere"). It's such a terrible thing and the line "Free and young" is a stark contrast which drives home the lack of concern for what happens in order for them to have their escape.
"Something isn't right, babe I keep catching little words but the meaning's thin I'm somewhere outside my life, babe I keep scratching but somehow I can't get in"
This is when he first starts realizing that his life has changed and "something isn't right" - things are no longer in his control the way he thought. Use has become addiction and he sees what has happened as a result of constantly trying to escape reality. He feels disconnected ("the meaning's thin", "outside my life","can't get in"), even when he tries to be connected ("I keep scratching").
"So we're slaves to any semblance of touch Lord we should quit but we love it too much"
The only feeling of closeness or lessening of loneliness they get is from touch. It's "any semblance" because it isn't true connection or closeness, but they're so desperate for "any semblance" of connection they'll take whatever they can get. The second line is pretty straightforward - by this point they really realize it's a problem but they don't even want to try to give it up. Despite how removed he describes being elsewhere he uses the word "love" to describe how they feel towards using, which underscores how problematic his relationship to drugs is.
"Darlin', don't you, stand there watching, won't you Come and save me from it Darlin', don't you, join in, you're supposed to Drag me away from it"
So far the song has been pretty chronological, but this verse jumps back to the beginning of their relationship when his partner wasn't using. It is also different from the rest of the song in that we learn about his partner's experience separate from his. She has only been included so far when it has been both of them ("our/we") and when it has been about what being an addict as part of a pair is like: the chorus about how dependent they are while at the same time being purposefully oblivious and in the last 2 lines of the 2nd verse about loneliness and choosing not to quit despite knowing how much you should. We haven't learned about her in the "story" parts of the song so far. She wasn't in the 1st verse (other than "our veins are busy") about when he starts using or in the first 4 lines of the 2nd verse where he starts to realize this is no longer a temporary escape, but a problem. He has been 'talking to her' throughout the song ("darling","babe","you and I") and it feels sad because when we finally learn something about her it's how she started using through his perspective of it being a failure to save him. The contrast between this verse and the rest of the song highlights the message it sends about the tragedy of their situation: These two people are not a unit - a "we" or "us" - helping each other get through, but rather two damaged individuals dragging each other down.