sometimes it's better not to know

Harry unnerved me by referencing Lloyd Cole's "Trigger Happy" today.

I've listened to the song many, many times in the past two weeks. I assumed it was about a woman until tonight. Perhaps it's the first person manner in which Cole speaks. Or that he clearly loves the person to whom he's speaking. Or that I'm an impossible girl.

Trigger Happy
I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you`re young and you know it
There ain`t nothing you can't do
Because you know there ain`t nothing you can`t do

I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you know there is no connection between old and what`s new
And there ain`t nothing you can`t do
Oh, nothing at all

And you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
Summertime blue, summertime blue
Yes you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
If not for you

The way you walk, I love the way you wear contempt for my sort
Oh, should I give you my money?
A steady hand, a little trigger happy angry little man
Oh, pull the trigger take it all, oh you take it all

But you know that gun is loaded, sure you do
Summertime blue, summertime blue
And you know that gun is loaded, sure you do

I love your head, I love the way you hold your head
Because you're young, and you know it
A steady hand, a little trigger happy?
And we`ll tell you how to live
Then we`ll take away the reason
And we wonder why we wonder
How you`re not the way that we were

My curiosity piqued, I started looking for live show reviews, where I might find some context via Lloyd's remarks about the song. I stumbled on this narrative of a recent show:

Moving to a delightfully gentle trickle of an intro, Lloyd began quietly singing "Trigger Happy" from Love Story, with the charming, 'I love the way you hold your head because you're young / there ain't nothing you can't do.' At the end of this song, which was clearly written for his son, he added to the closing line of 'how you're not the way that we were', a comment on his son's taste for rap: 'with your Eminem, you're not the way that we were, with your 50 Cent,' before adding slowly, half-speaking 'Which is not to say we got it right.'

And now I'm sad, knowing what the song is really about.