Personally, I believe this song is about someone going through self-injury (cutting possibly) and the friend that's trying to get them through it. I think the SI'er doesn't want anyone to know what's going on, which makes sense, since the world does not accept cutting or other forms of self-harm as reasonable or sane coping mechanisms. "Throw away the very old shoelace that tripped you again. Shrug it off, it's only skin." Many self injurers lie how they hurt themselves when people notice their wounds, such as running into doors, falling, etc. ("As Clumsy as you've been, there's no one laughing.") However the friend isn't falling for it, and knows "there's nothing fake about this," and he wants to be "let in," or know how that person is feeling. But the fact still remains that the friend is on the outside, waving his hands happily, not because the friend doesn't care, but because the SI'er won't let him know what's wrong(pretending his life is just fine), even though the friend already knows. He's calling his bluff basically. I also get this idea because Automatic Flowers is on the same cd, and many believe it too is also about self-injury.
Personally, I believe this song is about someone going through self-injury (cutting possibly) and the friend that's trying to get them through it. I think the SI'er doesn't want anyone to know what's going on, which makes sense, since the world does not accept cutting or other forms of self-harm as reasonable or sane coping mechanisms. "Throw away the very old shoelace that tripped you again. Shrug it off, it's only skin." Many self injurers lie how they hurt themselves when people notice their wounds, such as running into doors, falling, etc. ("As Clumsy as you've been, there's no one laughing.") However the friend isn't falling for it, and knows "there's nothing fake about this," and he wants to be "let in," or know how that person is feeling. But the fact still remains that the friend is on the outside, waving his hands happily, not because the friend doesn't care, but because the SI'er won't let him know what's wrong(pretending his life is just fine), even though the friend already knows. He's calling his bluff basically. I also get this idea because Automatic Flowers is on the same cd, and many believe it too is also about self-injury.