"Motorcycle Emptiness"

Another song that probably deserves the title "epic", and one that I often bandy about when talking about the Manic Street Preachers. But I can't think of any other way to describe the canvas they seem desperately to want to paint on. For me, this is a case where the song absolutely works, even if the lyrics mean less to me than they should. I read somewhere that the group were trying to out-do Guns 'n Roses' "Sweet Child of Mine" with this, and it's easy to see what they were going for. But "Sweet Child" is all about honking great signposts and instructions: "Feel sad here" or "Feel all choked up here", it seems to point you to what it thinks you should be feeling. "Motorycle Emptiness" is far more subtle... it doesn't reach for the highest highs, it's content simply to play itself out and let you sip from it, drink from it, gulp it down as you please. Where "Sweet Child" is "connect-the-dots", this song is "do it yourself".