The line "you end on reel one" could possibly refer to film--- i.e., an expendable character who dies in the first part of the movie, but when I first heard it, I thought it was referring to people's personalities being stored on magnetic tape, in keeping with the cyborg themes of a lot of his songs. Either one could fit with the idea that the protagonist is questioning his own reality and identity.
The line "you end on reel one" could possibly refer to film--- i.e., an expendable character who dies in the first part of the movie, but when I first heard it, I thought it was referring to people's personalities being stored on magnetic tape, in keeping with the cyborg themes of a lot of his songs. Either one could fit with the idea that the protagonist is questioning his own reality and identity.