Private Investigations

Being a not very "deep" person and taking it literally, and the song could very well have a much deeper meaning(s), but to me it's obviously simply about someone who's lover is cheating on him. Even the "spoken" singing style sounds like someone who is down & heartbroken having discovered this and this is his "Private Investigation":

• "It's a mystery to me": Either why she'd cheat &/or with whom "For the usual fee, plus expenses": Maybe the fee is the sorrow and the expenses the time wasted in the relationship and the "usual" that it has happened to him before or what everyone feels when this happens???

• "The game commences": to catch them red handed and find out with whom

• "It's in a diary": He found out about it by reading her diary

• "This is my investigation, it's not a public inquiry": He's investigating this himself

• "I go checking out the reports": Now he's asking around and there are rumors of her cheating

• Digging up the dirt": Looking for more clues now that he knows

• "You get to meet all sorts in this line of work": Maybe she's cheating on him with someone he knows, possibly a good/best friend???

• "Treachery and treason, there's always an excuse for it": He finds out who it is and confronts her/them and of course they have an "excuse"

• "And when I find the reason I still can't get used to it": He still can't believe she/they'd do this to him

• "And what have you got at the end of the day?" Even though he knows, its of little consolation

• "What have you got to take away?": Nothing, Still an empty/worse feeling knowing???

• "A bottle of whiskey": Drinking to ease the pain

• "and a new set of lies" thinking back, all the lies she told

• "Blinds on the window": a dark time in life

• "and a pain behind the eyes": the deep pain that only time heals when one is heartbroken

• "Scarred for life,": One always remembers being cheated on &/or one loses a little bit of trust in any future relationship

• "no compensation" His own investigation, so wasn't paid &/or there was no satisfaction in doing it

Mark has stated that once the lyrics are done, the guitar still speaks and I can imagine the rest of the music being them arguing and fighting. Then @ the end, as pointed out above is the breaking of the wine glass as he throws it either against the wall or @ her & misses, then as I pointed out in my reply above the chambering of a round in a semi-automatic pistol and finally, there is another odd sound a few seconds later - Maybe a gunshot, or blunt force trauma but definitely something there.

Definitely one of my favorite MK songs, although there are SO many good ones - Some with deep meanings and IMHO some that are exactly what they seem on the surface (e.g. A lot of the hits that paid the bills, which allowed for the deeper ones) & to me that level of diversity and realization of the artist vs. the business side is but one indication of MK's intelligence. Just my 2¢ fwiw:).