"I was laying in bed in the Holiday Inn and looking up at the ceiling at some hearts 'n' stuff that some lovers had carved, and I was feeling really down. So I rang my old lady but it was a bad phone call; lots of long silences. I felt even more depressed. Torch has run away from everything and everybody and gone in search of a dream that doesn't exist!"
"I love the lyrics on it as well. I wrote them in Milwaukee when we were out on a US tour. I ended up in some shit hotel, imagining what it would be like if somebody left their wife and kids in Scotland or whatever, and went half way across the world and ended up in a horrible hotel with a disgustingly sad bar downstairs. We checked in on a Sunday, and all you saw out the window was the dealers standing out on the corner, and that's kind of what the song was about."
"SINATRA, Frank (born 1915). The term bobby-soxers was first used in 1943-44 to identify the young audiences who sighed, squealed, sobbed, and swooned over Frankie Boy the original teen idol. Part of Frank Sinatra's appeal then was his vulnerable, slouchy look, and part was his way of caressing a lyric. He bent his voice like a trombone to develop an intimate style of provocative slurs and eccentric phrasing. Known to different generations as The Voice, Ol' Blue Eyes, and Chairman of the Board, he was a superstar for more than five decades."
Sugar Mice'
As seen on the cover, these are literally small, coloured mice made from sugar, with a string tail.
'Raincheck'
The original term was 'rain cheque'.
"A raincheck is something that is:
- given out at events when it rains, like a baseball game. Usually it means the game is being cancelled at the current time, and the raincheck will allow you into the rescheduled game.
- When you go to buy something at a store and it is on sale. If something is supposed to be on sale, but it's sold out, they can give you a raincheck to pick the item up later at the sale price.
- When talking about social occasions, as in "Would you like to come over for a drink?" "No thanks, I'll take a raincheck" meaning either a) Can't do it right now, how about later. or b) a polite way of saying bugger off."
'Clutching at Straws'
A forlorn hope; 'A drowning man will catch at a straw'.
"Sugar Mice" is a melancholic song about a broken, alcoholic ex-husband drowning his sorrows in a bar. The title phrase—"sugar mice in the rain"—metaphorically describes human fragility and how easily lives dissolve into nothingness when exposed to life's harsh elements
The Deadbeat Father: The song is written from the perspective of an estranged father who calls his children, only to face painful questions about his absence and their loneliness
The Barfly: He spends his time isolated in a bar, listening to the jukebox, drinking, and accepting full blame for the ruin of his family life
Personal Parallel:
Written by lead singer Fish, the track reflects deep personal regrets, isolation, and the emotional toll of touring and marital breakdown
- Fragility: Sugar mice are cheap, fragile British novelty sweets with string tails that melt instantly in water.
- Nihilism and Regret: Comparing people to sugar mice melting in the rain symbolizes how fragile human existence and relationships are.
- Resignation: The narrator uses the phrase to comfort himself in his despair, accepting that everything is temporary and ultimately taking the blame entirely on his own shoulders
