I always assumed the 'golden arm' was referring to the arm of a slot machine. I thought this was pretty obvious, considering the title is 'put a penny in the slot'. That it was some kind of heroin allusion had never entered my mind, but it sounds a bit extreme; wouldn't have put Regan down as a heroin kind of guy, but not that that makes too much difference to whether he might talk about it or not.
What I took from the 'golden arm' was that he was alluding to an emptiness, acting like an automaton for a few gold coins. It's quite a bitter song if you look at it that way. I agree with everyone that the nettle and the dock leaf mention is lovely.
I always assumed the 'golden arm' was referring to the arm of a slot machine. I thought this was pretty obvious, considering the title is 'put a penny in the slot'. That it was some kind of heroin allusion had never entered my mind, but it sounds a bit extreme; wouldn't have put Regan down as a heroin kind of guy, but not that that makes too much difference to whether he might talk about it or not.
What I took from the 'golden arm' was that he was alluding to an emptiness, acting like an automaton for a few gold coins. It's quite a bitter song if you look at it that way. I agree with everyone that the nettle and the dock leaf mention is lovely.