This song is about seeing someone you love and care for totally changing character and becoming their own worse enemy by hanging around with the wrong crowd.
"The bruise" could be drugs, alcohol (the most likely) or simply the emotional scarring this person has as a result of his upbringing or some event in it, and background. Whatever it is, it's turned a previously good, gentle boy into an aggressive, unpleasant individual (a terrible totem).
This person clearly drinks too much, and has become this character in an attempt to escape whatever trauma it is that has turned him;
"What is my friend trying to hide?"
In the end Guy wants his friend to go back to being his mate who sang along with him and implores his friend to stop mixing with these low-lives, the brambles, and not "run with those fuckers".
There's another meaning to the end of this song, I suspect the lines;
"When will my friend start singing again?"
....are aimed slightly at the band's departed best friend, Bryan Glancy. The Seldom Seen Kid.
This song is about seeing someone you love and care for totally changing character and becoming their own worse enemy by hanging around with the wrong crowd.
"The bruise" could be drugs, alcohol (the most likely) or simply the emotional scarring this person has as a result of his upbringing or some event in it, and background. Whatever it is, it's turned a previously good, gentle boy into an aggressive, unpleasant individual (a terrible totem).
This person clearly drinks too much, and has become this character in an attempt to escape whatever trauma it is that has turned him;
"What is my friend trying to hide?"
In the end Guy wants his friend to go back to being his mate who sang along with him and implores his friend to stop mixing with these low-lives, the brambles, and not "run with those fuckers".
There's another meaning to the end of this song, I suspect the lines;
"When will my friend start singing again?"
....are aimed slightly at the band's departed best friend, Bryan Glancy. The Seldom Seen Kid.
FYI, the lyrics isn't "the bruise turns a..." it is "the booze turns a..." Check out elbow's official site for their posted lyrics.
FYI, the lyrics isn't "the bruise turns a..." it is "the booze turns a..." Check out elbow's official site for their posted lyrics.