Possibly a kind of ode to the United States by a band touring from the UK, recounting the highlights of their time in the U.S. From the amazing sky in Arizona, to the amazing music on the streets of Manhattan, to a (brothel? bar? nightclub?) in uptown Chicago where they overspent.
"Venice is sinking fast" may be alluding to the fact that they enjoyed Venice, but that it paled in comparison to the excitements to be found in America. "Decorate, paint if for the union" may mean, "paint the scene" of their experiences of America, for the "union" in this case being listeners back home in the United Kingdom, the union of Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In this vein, "Take comfort and possession of yourself" and "No reason to give up on the illusion", are possibly self-affirmations along the lines of, "We can make it here", "We can maintain the illusion of being exotic British rockers", even though we really have imposter syndrome in the face of all this wonder.
Possibly a kind of ode to the United States by a band touring from the UK, recounting the highlights of their time in the U.S. From the amazing sky in Arizona, to the amazing music on the streets of Manhattan, to a (brothel? bar? nightclub?) in uptown Chicago where they overspent.
"Venice is sinking fast" may be alluding to the fact that they enjoyed Venice, but that it paled in comparison to the excitements to be found in America. "Decorate, paint if for the union" may mean, "paint the scene" of their experiences of America, for the "union" in this case being listeners back home in the United Kingdom, the union of Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In this vein, "Take comfort and possession of yourself" and "No reason to give up on the illusion", are possibly self-affirmations along the lines of, "We can make it here", "We can maintain the illusion of being exotic British rockers", even though we really have imposter syndrome in the face of all this wonder.
[Edit: Made some additional changes.]