Is It Really So Strange? (Live in London, 1986)

Song Meaning

The narrator charts a restless journey, leaving the North for the South, then reversing course, only to find themselves back where they started. This circular movement, marked by increasingly bizarre and violent imagery – kicking, punching, breaking a face, killing a horse, killing a nun – underscores a profound internal disconnect. Despite the external chaos and physical harm, the core emotional state remains stubbornly fixed: "I can't help the way that I feel." The central tension lies in the perceived strangeness of this unwavering emotional core against the backdrop of extreme experiences. The repeated question, "Is it really so strange?" acts as a defiant challenge to an implied observer who finds the narrator's steadfast love or feeling inexplicable. The contrast between the narrator's assertion "I say no" and the other's "you say yes" highlights this conflict, with the narrator confidently predicting, "But you will change your mind." The lyrics employ a striking, almost surreal escalation of events to emphasize the narrator's internal resilience. The shift from physical assault to acts like "killed a horse" and "killed a nun" isn't meant literally but serves as a potent metaphor for the destructive impulses or extreme measures the narrator might undertake or witness. This bizarre imagery amplifies the feeling that the narrator's emotional state is an anchor, impervious to even the most shocking external circumstances. Ultimately, the effectiveness of these lyrics stems from their raw, almost defiant portrayal of an unshakeable inner self. The narrator's insistence on their unchanging feelings, even after a life of apparent turmoil and bizarre events, creates a powerful sense of conviction. The final realization, "I could never go back home again," suggests that this internal constancy, however strange it may seem to others, has irrevocably shaped their path, making the journey itself the only home they can now inhabit.