The poetic lyrics here might not have any literal meaning so much as a general cautionary note about pricks who play games. “Knives in the back of me” sounds better when sung than getting ‘back stabbed’.
The song comes just after they started getting some national press, but they likely all still had day jobs. They were getting close to a 100K advance to jump to a larger indie label, but that’s not a huge amount of money split between 5 band members. So there must have been a lot of anxiety about who to trust (old record label, new label, various others trying to court you, day job). Who can you trust and who will either shiv you or not have your back if shit goes badly.
Whether this is more about romantic betrayal (“I’ve cheated so long”), clashing egos in a band, or the snobbery of critics (“When they’re attacking me”), only Bob Pollard might know. Then again he might have been so blitzed he can’t remember… but this song will forever testify on its own behalf.
The poetic lyrics here might not have any literal meaning so much as a general cautionary note about pricks who play games. “Knives in the back of me” sounds better when sung than getting ‘back stabbed’.
The song comes just after they started getting some national press, but they likely all still had day jobs. They were getting close to a 100K advance to jump to a larger indie label, but that’s not a huge amount of money split between 5 band members. So there must have been a lot of anxiety about who to trust (old record label, new label, various others trying to court you, day job). Who can you trust and who will either shiv you or not have your back if shit goes badly.
Whether this is more about romantic betrayal (“I’ve cheated so long”), clashing egos in a band, or the snobbery of critics (“When they’re attacking me”), only Bob Pollard might know. Then again he might have been so blitzed he can’t remember… but this song will forever testify on its own behalf.
[Edit: readability]