On the Surface:
The song concerns a chap who steals girls underwear drying on clotheslines by moonlight. It’s a morality tale, as Arnold ends up in prison for his deeds. Lesson learned.
Is that all there is to Arnold Layne?
What Else is Going On:
Already, the lyrics are oblique in describing Arnold’s crimes, but there might be something even more tawdry than simply stealing a pair of panties. The question becomes, what does our boy do with the undies once he’s swiped them?
The clues are in two lines of the chorus:
Oh, Arnold Layne, it’s not the same
Takes two to know, two to know, two to know!
What on earth could this be suggesting? Could dear Arnold be using the underwear to perform an act of self-gratification? The clue is in the (ironically) moralistic narrator is warning him against doing that, first claiming that it’s not the same as sex between two people.
Now one of the fictional admonishments that Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett may have heard growing up in post-war England is that self-gratification in all its forms can cause people to lose their eyesight.
This sets up the next line in the lyric:
Why can’t you see?
Appears that Arnold Layne has gone blind. Syd Barrett sings it like he means it. Truly one of the funnier lines in all rock ‘n’ roll. The lyrics are oblique, and there might be other right answers on what the song is about, but until a better one comes along, we’ll hear it like we see it.
