Never turn your back on' has two meanings. (1) somebody or something is worthwhile, valuable, not to be rejected or ignored for that reason. (2) if you turn your back on this person they may use the opportunity to attack you. Trust makes you vulnerable, predatable. I think the song initially seems to be predicated on (1) but as it develops you realise, with a growing horror it's (2). Mother Earth producing a violent storm hurling towns from A to B allegorises human agency. The predatory nature of man is the history of mankind. The song speaks as much to the Holocaust and to war as to a personal betrayal or crime, identifying the common predatory root hardwired into human nature so that there seems to be no hope. But then the sun comes up on this bleak landscape, in the warmth and relief of the repeated 'my friends' . This is the refuge - a place here you can safely turn your back. This unflinching song speaks to the catastrophe of man with the same complexity as Schubert lieder. It's a beautiful song.
Never turn your back on' has two meanings. (1) somebody or something is worthwhile, valuable, not to be rejected or ignored for that reason. (2) if you turn your back on this person they may use the opportunity to attack you. Trust makes you vulnerable, predatable. I think the song initially seems to be predicated on (1) but as it develops you realise, with a growing horror it's (2). Mother Earth producing a violent storm hurling towns from A to B allegorises human agency. The predatory nature of man is the history of mankind. The song speaks as much to the Holocaust and to war as to a personal betrayal or crime, identifying the common predatory root hardwired into human nature so that there seems to be no hope. But then the sun comes up on this bleak landscape, in the warmth and relief of the repeated 'my friends' . This is the refuge - a place here you can safely turn your back. This unflinching song speaks to the catastrophe of man with the same complexity as Schubert lieder. It's a beautiful song.