[Tim]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

Wasn't Nicky touring with a slipped disc for the JFPL tour? Might explain being subdued. One date he was so bad he had to sit down and stop playing. Brave boy to keep going. Regardless they were great gigs

Now this rings a bell, yes. That could well be the reason why then but knowing the loss he still feels for him it couldn't have been easy performing these tracks every night with him not being there.

Originally Posted by starfucker

This is a good point you make here and it makes me wonder even more now if these words were written not only from a post-catharsis state, but also in a looking to the future point of view.

The Holy Bible was clearly written from an incredibly dark perspective by someone going through a traumatic time. I've often heard stories about people who were depressed and went on to take their own lives whose friends and family say that, if anything, that person seemed much happier just before the final act, like once they knew they were going to go through with it, the main mental hurdle was over in a way. The dark and morbid humour you reference in the JFPL lyrics perhaps show that Richey was in a better place mentally not just due to having gotten The Holy Bible out of his system and going through recovery but also maybe as a product of knowing what he knew - ie that he had been planning his disappearance and was looking forward to some kind of freedom from the mental torment and anguish he must have felt leading up to that.

I am familiar with this as well and it's a grim thought to ponder, i think the manics have mentioned in interviews in the past that richey was seemingly happier toward the end and with the benefit of hindsight the explanation can seem clear. To me the words speak of that morbid humour with regard himself, his surroundings and other damaged people but certainly a kind of resignation at the end of it all - 'the more i see, the less i scream'.