Isaac Brock has mentioned a few times that he’s very influenced by the Talking Heads:

The line:

“You’re starting conversations
You don’t even know the topic”

is a reference to a line in the popular Talking Heads song Psycho Killer:

“You start a conversation,
you can’t even finish it”

The line “You’re starting conversations/ You don’t even know the topic” reminds me of the lyric from Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” “You start a conversation you can’t even finish it.”

I disagree. I think this verse is about the ex described throughout the song. Implying that she acts too good for him and is a phony now, comparatively speaking.

“You’ve been living on fancy wine.
I’ve been drinking that turpentine.”

I think that you covered the gist of it pretty well. One thing that I think about when i hear the “broken time” line is substance use. It’s pretty well known that Isaac has a history of drugs- especially amphetamines and LSD. These completely fuck up one’s perception of time, beyond belief.

Amphetamines can make hours feel like minutes. This is particularly harmful because it becomes too hard to stick to your commitments, which fits with the rest of the lyrics. Meth users have a reputation for being late to pretty much every single commitment they make. “Just a few more minutes” easily turns into a few more hours. Sooner or later, this will negatively impact relationships, friendships, work, and every other area of life. Although one can often function and perform really well, if not better, under the influence of meth, you would have to first get to where you’re going before you can perform. Everyone will think you’re full of shit when you constantly fail to stick to commitments.

‘Broken time’ may refer to time not functioning at its normal, expected speed. It may mean that everything was responding to the change of time whether too slow or too fast.

Those aren’t really ups and downs, just downs. Additionally, this song was released in ‘96, necessarily before the '99 false rape accusation.

Also could be a callback to Interstate 8’s theme of going around an infinite loop!

There is a period in Art History called ‘Classical’ which encompasses a great deal of bronze sculptures. This verse implies that he’s used this excuse so many times that they could be collected into an entire period, and also implies that he’s so good at making excuses that it could be considered an art form.

Sometimes when trying to progress a relationship with another person, one tends to stay at a certain pace. May it be fast, straight forward or slow and steady. In this case, Isaac broke his pace of pursuing the relationship and had took too much time. Being full of shit can be interpreted two ways. Usually when people refer another as ‘full of shit’, it connotes that they are fake or fully of lies. Isaac may be referring to his own box of lies which has been casted upon his person of interest. Perhaps he did so to buy more time since he had kept at a certain pace or for pride-related reasons. Another interpretation is his method of progressing in a relationship. It wasn’t effective as he initially thought otherwise and therefore realized his methods were lousy and that he fucked up this time.

To me this verse implies his reflection on actions committed in his relationship that he regrets, for which his broken-hearted ex wants him to suffer in return for their suffering of those actions.

I think it’s more anger at the other person. Like, after a break-up, that angst turning into anger against the ex.

Broken hearts want broken necks- heart broken people would rather die?