Why are Nicky's lyrics in the EMG, TIMT and KYE eras his best?

[Flint]

Originally Posted by tzb

'And on the street tonight an old man plays / With newspaper cuttings of his glory days'?

Amazing, poignant and incredibly powerful in the context of the whole song. The entire song has an element of hopelessly getting swept away by the events around you; and one day all you have left from a once wonderful life are just old paper clippings.

Also despite the direct lyrical references to fascists etc I wonder how many non-fans realise Tolerate is actually written about the Spanish Civil War? In my very limited experience not that many.

Which isn't a bad thing. It allows for personal interpretation and gives the lyric space to breathe, instead of bluntly hammering a THIS IS POLITICAL/HISTORICAL message. It makes for a far stronger lyric.

Tolerate is the best thing the band has ever written in every single way possible, including lyrically.

As for ADFL being 'obtuse', it isn't exactly saying anywhere it's reflecting on UK's social class issues and goes about the whole thing fairly vaguely until you're clued on the matter; I would have never seen it in such a way personally if I hadn't eventually read about it. The fact that it isn't spelling the whole thing out bluntly is, once again, better for it.