The Modern Leper

I agree that this song doesn't necessarily have to be about a drug addict/alcoholic/depressive/all of the above, although it does seem a likely option with the type of personality he's describing. The thing is, whatever he might or might not be addicted to, to me this song is about the fact that he isn't the only addict--they are addicted to each other and the sick cycle that they have together. I love the way the lyrics nail his confusion and contempt for her willingness to swallow his failures over and over again. He needs her to absolve him so he doesn't go completely off the deep end, but the fact that he knows she stays for bad reasons gives him someone to blame other than himself, and gives him a reason to try to cut her free, which the part of him that loves her wants to do even though he knows he needs her. He's angry at himself for screwing up all the time, but feels that he has no alternatives. And even though he is in some ways better off with her because she's the only one who truly cares for him, she does him equal damage because the ways that he hurts her are apparent but inexplicable to him. He hates himself for not being able to figure out a way to stop hurting her, and he half hates her for staying and making him watch what he's doing to her. He doesn't fully understand that she's as addicted as him, because all he can see are his own problems.

I don't see any hope at all in the last lines, because he's already said unequivocably that he won't change, so basically he's just begging her to ignore his behavior for one more day, ignore him trying to push her away one more time, because that's what most people in such unhealthy situations do--enable each other to maintain the status quo, no matter how broken it may be.

A great song, beautifully written. I listen to it sometimes to remind myself of a few things it can be easy to forget if this song makes a lot of sense to you because you've lived it.