Afterhours

[nick the stripper]

It's about a suspected Heroin user being arrested by the police afterhours, isn't it?

This is one of the few Sisters' songs which I'm convinced is about Heroin and not amphetamines.

one more night spent on your mirror

A self explanatory reference to cutting and snorting Heroin, speed or coke on a mirror.

black maria

clicky

in your eyes
this stuff so strange and lonely

Stuff
5. offensive term:
an offensive term meaning to have sex with a woman
9. drugs:
a drug, especially Heroin

I reckon it means the latter, but it could be the former or both.

England fades away
in your eyes

Tunnel vision caused by the Heroin.

two o'clock in the morning
ninety-four degrees

through the stillness through the heat
the cars go by on Fifth and
breathing slow

Helps sets the scene and atmosphere for the reader/listener.

Police cars?

get up off the floor and angel
put your clothes on
it's time for us to go

let's take a ride

This part should be in Quotation marks. I believe it is the Heroin user being arrested and that it's a cop telling her it's time to go...

one more night spent on your mirror
black maria, in your eyes
this stuff so strange and lonely
England fades away
in your eyes

two o'clock in the morning
ninety-four degrees

through the stillness through the heat
the cars go by on Fifth and
breathing slow
get up off the floor and angel
put your clothes on
it's time for us to go

let's take a ride

Any ideas about what it's about?

[Dark]

I always thought it was a song that described a speed junkie late at night, not being able to sleep, during his come-down.

Bizarrely, I am reminded of New Model Army:

Four o' clock in the morning and still we can not sleep
Turning over, turning round, twisting in our sweat
They say there is No Rest for the wicked ones
Dear God, what have we done?

[nick the stripper]

I always thought it was a song that described a speed junkie late at night, not being able to sleep, during his come-down.

Bizarrely, I am reminded of New Model Army:

Four o' clock in the morning and still we can not sleep
Turning over, turning round, twisting in our sweat
They say there is No Rest for the wicked ones
Dear God, what have we done?

Makes more sense than my idea. The thing that gave me the idea about the police was the line black maria. what do you think he means by it?

[CellThree]

Some Sisters interview from 1984 :

INT: And Afterhours is really quite good. 94 degrees and 2 o'clock in the morning? Or something? Pretty, quite. Sounds like it's in the middle of a city or something, very very hot, very...
AE: 44th street. Yeah. But I shifted it a few blocks down so I wouldn't actually get pinned down to the actual occurrence which lead to that being written.
INT: That was in the New York Hotel was it?
AE: Yeah. You can tell can't you? I mean there's so much amphetamine. To me that song is pure amphetamine. It's the most amphetamine sort of, song ever, it works in a completely different time scale to everything else. It's not the sort of all-out gonzo amphetamine song. Although we got a couple of those, but it's sort of one of those "tingle tingle tingle. Was that a minute or was that an hour?" songs. There's a lot of cars hiss by my window in it as well. Which is a very L.A. song and the thing which prompted the writing of Afterhours is very similar to something in L.A. which might have prompted the same song. So it's like L.A. and New York rolled into one.

[eastmidswhizzkid]

one more night spent on your mirror
black maria in your eyes

these two lines have always said speed to me.since the proliferation in the late seventies/early eighties of "brown",ie.smokable heroin,you hardly ever hear of anyone snorting smack-at least,not your average "lend us a tenner" street-junkie.
so "on your mirror"is speed or cocaine.

however, "one more night" sounds like hes been awake for several nights already and this is another;(rather than staying up all night taking drugs,then eventually crashing out at dawn) .
because coke is nowhere near as powerful a stimulant as amphetamine people dont tend to get as "strung-out" ,ie suffering from extreme sleep-deprivation;which is a feeling that this song's atmosphere conveys well.so yeah,its uncle andy singing about his"favourite favourite" again.(Logically)


by the by,i like the ambiguity of the next two lines and how it can be read as it is stressed in the song
"so strange and lonely/
england fades away

or as
"so strange,and lonely england fades away"[/b]

[aims]

I always saw "England fades away" as a reference to the idea that women shouldn't enjoy sex but instead should "lie back and think of England"

[Obviousman]

I always saw "England fades away" as a reference to the idea that women shouldn't enjoy sex but instead should "lie back and think of England"

Ah, finally someone going for the Eldo (=terribly funny) interpretation (though the others are quite good too )

[mh]

Thread necromancy city!

Just hit me that it's possible that this song is written from the perspective of a line of speed/coke/whatever.

[eotunun]

Stuff
5. offensive term:
an offensive term meaning to have sex with a woman
9. drugs:
a drug, especially Heroin

I reckon it means the latter, but it could be the former or both.

Then:

Needles make love to the junky

[markfiend]

*ahem* Trust me on this, eastmidswhizzkid knows what this song is about.

You have to have been there.

[eotunun]

I don´t doubt that. I´ll rely on the tales from his journey there..
The Marillion quotation just jumped at me when I read Nick´s post.

[markfiend]

Oh Marillion! Stupid me, I didn't get "Derek W. Dick alias Fish".

[eotunun]

You disapoint me!

[Enid]

Afterhours reminds me of the film Mulholland Drive.

[Ahráyeph]

Could be any drug, really. When I first heard 'Afterhours', it just was instant recognition of a song conveying a drug high, as I've had several times. In that respect, the song drives the point home entirely.
Interesting you're quoting 'The Web', Jümlaut. Those passages, also very subdued soundwise, also convey the use of, in this case, opiates and were a magnet to my state of mind even before I started to cruise through The Doors of Perception. Just writing about these songs bring back a lot of memories. What a way to start a new working week after a hazed week in Slovenia...

[markfiend]

Afterhours is, and can only be, a speed come-down. Fact.

NEXT!

[Ahráyeph]

I'm not talking about the lyrics here, which are of course geared towards a speed comedown. I'm talking about the vibe, which could fit any, er, stimulated state of being. Or most of them anyway...

PREVIOUS!

[markfiend]

OK. Fairy nuff then.

My misunderstanding

[Izzy HaveMercy]

And we always thought the lyrics were:

Belgium Fades away
In your eyes...

Our bad

IZ.

[Nadia81]

Just listened to this again for the first time in ages-it's amazing -there's an entire movie in this song.

[stufarq]

This is one of the few Sisters' songs which I'm convinced is about Heroin and not amphetamines.

Anaconda...

[Being645]

I think, referring this song to drug usage devaluates it somehow.
(Though, drug usage might have played a role when it was written.)

And of course, drug users are reminded of certain moments
... but these moments are encountered by non-users as well
... I think the point here is not the state of intoxication but the
state of loneliness.

[7anthea7]

Just listened to this again for the first time in ages-it's amazing -there's an entire movie in this song.

I listen to Echoes IV primarily for the three versions of Afterhours...and I do so ridiculously often...

[paint it black]

'fear and loathing' holds the majority of the key phrases of this song. great as it is

[Being645]

... read this in German at that time, so thanks for the reference.

Under circumstances as such, certain interpretations are self-explanatory ...

Schade eigentlich ...