The song title is supposed to be a title of a book and the lyrics are novelistic in their approach. Lots of characters and themes for a pop song. If pressed to encapsulate what it all means I would say that the song is about the tension people feel when they wrestle with dissappointing themselves, making mistakes, etc.. and the rather thankless moments when one knows they have done something good, honest or empathetic but will likely make further mistakes and/or continue to disappoint others/themselves.
Also, Stuart Murdoch suffered from chronic fatigue I believe. It's possible the characters here all reflect himself. He was in a sense "crippled" and ultimately saved himself, became a rock star and went on to write a bunch of stuff about hyperliterate kids wrestling with good and evil.
The song title is supposed to be a title of a book and the lyrics are novelistic in their approach. Lots of characters and themes for a pop song. If pressed to encapsulate what it all means I would say that the song is about the tension people feel when they wrestle with dissappointing themselves, making mistakes, etc.. and the rather thankless moments when one knows they have done something good, honest or empathetic but will likely make further mistakes and/or continue to disappoint others/themselves.
Also, Stuart Murdoch suffered from chronic fatigue I believe. It's possible the characters here all reflect himself. He was in a sense "crippled" and ultimately saved himself, became a rock star and went on to write a bunch of stuff about hyperliterate kids wrestling with good and evil.