Skin Trade

The lyrics portray a world where people work constantly and make compromises to earn money. A woman works through the night, smiles even when she feels differently, and seems caught in a system she does not fully understand. The repeated question about “strange behaviour” turns private frustration into a broader criticism of how people act under pressure. The mood is questioning and uneasy, rather than simply angry.

“Working for the skin trade” suggests that people are treated as goods or made to sell some part of themselves—perhaps their labor, appearance, or personal values. The phrase is deliberately open, so it may point to exploitation in more than one form. “A jump into the deep end” usually means facing a difficult situation without much preparation; here, the experience seems to give the woman proof she needed. “Steel” may suggest toughness or emotional hardness, while the polite “yes, please, thank you” hints at the small acts of obedience expected in everyday life.

The lyrics move between describing one woman and speaking as “we,” widening the concern to include many people. The speaker says they know the answer but still asks for an explanation, which sounds like a challenge: knowing that exploitation exists does not make its causes or persistence easy to accept. The song does not specify exactly what is being sold or who is responsible, so its central image can remain deliberately ambiguous.