what do you think the song "a swallow on my neck" is about?

It is about Moz getting a hickie/hicky.

Definition: A mark left on the neck due to sucking

Hickeys are the physical proof of passion's violent nature – that strawberry-stippled blemish is caused by internal bleeding, an alarming phrase that conjures images of car crashes, not liquid hours of heavy petting, a persistent suck at your throat giving you a shivery thrill. It's a hard sensation to pull away from, even when you know that for the next week you'll be wearing turtlenecks, inventing odd new neckerchief fashions, and telling '80s-era lies involving curling irons, or in California & other places where people surf, "wetsuit rashes."

Hickeys are scandalous. They make you look like you've recently been f***ed animal-style by someone so consumed with desire that he or she longed to bite a chunk out of your throat, like you entered the altered state of consciousness that rabid sex can bring about, in which pain feels like pleasure and good sense goes out the window and some primitive part of your date's brain is inflamed with the need to territorially mark up your neck, like a Vampire. And brave are the souls who wear their hickeys brazenly – even in these permissive times, those who flaunt their sex bruises run the risk of public scorn.

Hmmmmmmm,...entertaining choice of adjectives. Sweet, in way. Far from the mark, however. It goes back to Jake era / flirtation with skinhead imagery period of his life. Quite a lot of them (skinheads,...even rockabilly people in fact,...among general felons and others cast by the wayside) actually have swallows tatooed on their necks. Story goes many people get it done in jail...you can see why; birds flying free/they never will be/hence the term jailbird/ etc etc.

In addition to these vague kind of aspects in common with his previous mini-fixations on different kinds of characters,....there are in fact also a few people very close to him who have the swallows tatooed on their necks.

It is quite common.

No information futher on this from me, I'm afraid. My lips are sealed from now on.

> It is about Moz getting a hickie/hicky.

> Definition: A mark left on the neck due to sucking

> Hickeys are the physical proof of passion's violent nature – that
> strawberry-stippled blemish is caused by internal bleeding, an alarming
> phrase that conjures images of car crashes, not liquid hours of heavy
> petting, a persistent suck at your throat giving you a shivery thrill.
> It's a hard sensation to pull away from, even when you know that for the
> next week you'll be wearing turtlenecks, inventing odd new neckerchief
> fashions, and telling '80s-era lies involving curling irons, or in
> California & other places where people surf, "wetsuit
> rashes."

> Hickeys are scandalous. They make you look like you've recently been
> f***ed animal-style by someone so consumed with desire that he or she
> longed to bite a chunk out of your throat, like you entered the altered
> state of consciousness that rabid sex can bring about, in which pain feels
> like pleasure and good sense goes out the window and some primitive part
> of your date's brain is inflamed with the need to territorially mark up
> your neck, like a Vampire. And brave are the souls who wear their hickeys
> brazenly – even in these permissive times, those who flaunt their sex
> bruises run the risk of public scorn.

I doubt the hickey explanation very much.

What you have to understand is that here in the UK there is a type/class of person who drinks lager, goes to the footy, wears sovereign medallions, plays pool, dies early, and gets into trouble with the law.

It is very common indeed to see these people with a swallow tattoo on their necks, along with "MOTHER" or "LINDA" or whoever - I couldn't tell you the origin of this phenomenon, but go into town on a Saturday night and you'll see hundreds of the buggers. Eight Ace out of Viz would be one example. Sort of older urban scallies.

In this context then A Swallow On My Neck would be about a badge of honour, or joining this type of clique. Seems to me a throwback to the type of folk sung about in "We'll Let You Know"

That's all,

UnckeSk.

The meaning of this song...

This topic comes up once or twice a year.

I think it refers to the famous swallow (bird) tatoo that's sometimes found in rockabilly subculture or prisons. In prison in can signify one of two things: freedom or "I swallow".

I've always taken the lyrics as having a double-entendre:

"He drew a swallow/Deep and blue (read: blew)/And soon everyone knew"

It's a great song anyway. I've always thought it sounded like The Smiths might have if they continued.

What's the common ground here?

Having a hickey (in the UK also known as "a love bite") & having a blue swallow (indicating some association with criminals or social deviants), both attract some kind of public scorn.

In addition, the lyrics hint of sexuality:

"He drew a swallow deep & blue and soon everyone knew."

I'd say Moz having a sexual/romantic relationship would attract just as much attention ("everyone knew") as having a blue bird on his neck with all its (the bird's) connotations, because of his claims of celibacy.

And hickeys are caused by sucking on flesh (i.e. biting, SWALLOWING, etc.)

Also more lyrics:

"And more I will not say."

Erm, I think he's saying that, I'll tell you about the hickey, but not anything more about my relationship with this person, because Moz does not kiss & tell...as we all know.

> What's the common ground here?

> Having a hickey (in the UK also known as "a love bite") &
> having a blue swallow (indicating some association with criminals or
> social deviants), both attract some kind of public scorn.

> In addition, the lyrics hint of sexuality:

> "He drew a swallow deep & blue and soon everyone knew."

> I'd say Moz having a sexual/romantic relationship would attract just as
> much attention ("everyone knew") as having a blue bird on his
> neck with all its (the bird's) connotations, because of his claims of
> celibacy.

> And hickeys are caused by sucking on flesh (i.e. biting, SWALLOWING, etc.)

> Also more lyrics:

> "And more I will not say."

> Erm, I think he's saying that, I'll tell you about the hickey, but not
> anything more about my relationship with this person, because Moz does not
> kiss & tell...as we all know.

It's not a "Hickey"! It's a Nookie Badge

I knew a girl in high school who'd come to school with massive and I do mean MASSIVE hickeys. She'd wear an off-the-shoulder top those days to maximize their exposure. Once she had a rash of small hickeys all over her neck and several hickeys the size of baseballs all over her decollete and chest. And yeah, she did get a lot of public scorn.

Re: The Queen's Tattoo?

Oh! what you can find with a Google: lots of police reports of them looking for people who have swallow tattoos. The Queen of England has a tattoo doesn't she?

"Gun raid terror at city shop"

AN ARMED raider threatened a terrified shop assistant with a gun and forced her to hand over the takings.
The man demanded the money after telling the woman at the Sun Rise gift shop in Burleigh Street, Cambridge, that he had a gun.
The woman working in the store, which sells jewellery and clothes, did not see the weapon.
After the robbery, which took place at about 4.45pm yesterday, the man ran off towards East Road with cash from the till.
Two police armed response vehicles were called to the scene and a police dog was drafted in to try to track down the robber.
Police spokeswoman Libby Hill said: "Somebody must know this man and we have an excellent description of him.
"We would urge anyone who recognises his description to contact us immediately.
"The robbery took place at a time when there were lots of people milling around so somebody must have seen him.
"We are asking anyone who saw him to come forward or call Crimestoppers anonymously."
The raider was white, aged 25 to 30, slim, about 5ft 8ins and had brown eyes.
He was wearing a green woolly hat, cream anorak, blue jeans and he had a swallow tattoo on his neck.
A woman worker in a nearby shop said: "Guy who owns the shop called me at about 4.50pm to say that the girl who works there had had a bit of bother.
"He wanted me to go and see if she was OK. She was a bit flushed.
"There was someone there with her when I got there and by the time I left the police had arrived."
Anyone who knows anything about the robbery should call police on (01223) 358966, or Crimestoppers on (0800) 555111