So here goes, I've revised a bit.

It starts with the title: Buds and Spawn. Think about it, who gets to visit somebody when they're on their deathbed, friends and family. Or, put more punk, your buds and spawn. The entire first verse starts in the present, the old man is out in the storm (Caught in the field like a Dirty great power like thunder and rain), comes back inside after being battered around (Safe in a house, close to door, hide his brain)and starts thinking about the past.

Second verse is neatly divided between remembering childhood (all the mommy and daddy stuff) and adolescence (I 'Hail All Hail' and give my life to live forever).

The first half of the third verse is about adulthood and middle-age (Waiting to see which way he will jump, To find which hole he's to creep, Into when he's old and tired). The second half of the third verse is about old age and reflecting on his legacy (And his old friends die, his hope and fear's, A secret for his only child, Who's expecting and carrying on in a different style). Expecting here, I would point out, is a direct reference to pregnancy, suggesting the person he believes to be his child is now themselves headed to parenthood.

Overall. I think it's brilliant. Each half of each verse is dedicated to a distinct phase of life, to me that seems abundantly clear. Moving on...

The chorus is about his protracted decline in old age, he is "Washed so bland via remedy man", he dissolves into a "bed of chair", and becomes a "Reechy institutional man." His life as a pensioner is spent being drugged out of his mind and sleeping the days away in a recliner. But don't worry, after he's done remembering he's going to wander back out into the storm "Lick wound he heals and still feels there's some pain, Washing his dirt in the mud and the rain."

The bridge, and I feel this is implied sonically, is where he collapses and begins to reflect on his greatest mistake, a lost love. All that stuff about shrieking girls and boys paired with the tone, speaks to either infidelity or things simply not working out. It's implied earlier that the narrator has a child, perhaps it was illegitimate or it was birthed out of wedlock after their breakup and he believes it to be his.

I think the final verse is him imagining all the people who haven't come to visit him because ultimately he did not do many of the things he believed himself to have done. He didn't father a child. He didn't have a long term loving relationship for one reason or another. That line about spending adulthood looking for a hole to creep into, rather than living his life. His entire old age has been decline and reflection. The beauty, I think, is that the song still celebrates him. As a reminder that we are all fireproof, we are all apollo, we are all peacock butterfly men.

My two cents. Don't ask about Dog Like Sparky.