Consider the era this was written. The lyrics have two characters: one is a young man, late teens early twenties. He is out of work or in contract jobs in manual labour or service. "Blunder stones" is a play on the brand name or a pair of work boots. So he is wandering around working, getting hired and getting fired. He has dreams of fame and fortune, but no real idea of why or how, he has problems and is overwhelmed by them, but he has a friend worse than him.
Compared to this friend he is a king. The one-armed man is a symbol from a remake of The Fugitive, which was released about the time this song was written. The one armed man is both himself, a fugitive from his true identity, and the condescencion of his own ambition towards anyone else.
The second character is a young woman who drinks heavily and tarts herself up to forget about her never-was-or-will-be future. If the tune was American, it'd be called teen angst, but this was the UK - the future really was stolen.
She's a symbol of everything he has to let go to move forward and the destructive way young kids form relationships designed to push themselves apart and forward to something else. She "crucifies" herself for him and her and the dream of anything.
Consider the era this was written. The lyrics have two characters: one is a young man, late teens early twenties. He is out of work or in contract jobs in manual labour or service. "Blunder stones" is a play on the brand name or a pair of work boots. So he is wandering around working, getting hired and getting fired. He has dreams of fame and fortune, but no real idea of why or how, he has problems and is overwhelmed by them, but he has a friend worse than him.
Compared to this friend he is a king. The one-armed man is a symbol from a remake of The Fugitive, which was released about the time this song was written. The one armed man is both himself, a fugitive from his true identity, and the condescencion of his own ambition towards anyone else.
The second character is a young woman who drinks heavily and tarts herself up to forget about her never-was-or-will-be future. If the tune was American, it'd be called teen angst, but this was the UK - the future really was stolen.
She's a symbol of everything he has to let go to move forward and the destructive way young kids form relationships designed to push themselves apart and forward to something else. She "crucifies" herself for him and her and the dream of anything.