I have been thinking about the lyrics to this song a lot lately.
"sunset yellow"
It has been pointed out that it might refer to this:
http://www.pdindustries.com/SUNSETYELLOW.htm -- specifically "Sunset Yellow FCF is described as the sodium salt" would echo the "sodium haze" in the 1981 classic "Lights".
talking at each other
walking into walls
walking into wishful
I've heard it all before
(...)
it's raining in the doorway
paint your face once more
paint the walls away now
I've seen it all before
I can't help to think about the Berlin Wall here. When it fell in 1989, people literally walked into the wall, into the wishfulness of succumbing the DDR. I remember seeing old footage of people talking across the wall when it was built in 1961.
Later, people would draw all kinds of stuff on the Berlin Wall, even phrases to remove it (at least on the western side), thus painting the wall away. But I'm still puzzling where "paint your face once more" fits, with this phrase being an analogy for nationalism - people painted their faces when going into battle, or when going e.g. to the stadium to support their team with the team's colours on their faces. I also can't quite capture what "rain" might be here, but the doorway next to the Berlin Wall is the Brandenburg Gate.
another shade of empty
another shade of blue
another shade of yellow, sunset yellow
another shade of you
can make it summer
and make it shine
Blue and yellow are the colours in the flag of the European Union. Eldritch referred himself to as being an Euro enthusiast back in 1997 - but it'd be interesting to hear if this is still his point of view, looking at the many struggles and challenges the EU has been facing lately. But maybe he would rather focus on the idea of the EU, which makes it summer and makes it shine - where borders wouldn't exist and people of different nations unite under one flag. I believe that "you" would address the EU.
But then, what about the "shade of empty"?
It goes like a freight train painted in the shiniest yellows and blues.
This was featured previously on the "Record News" page, referring to this song.
Thoughts?
"For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." (John F. Kennedy, 1963)
even though i know some people think this song is crap..
...or am I just deperate? 
