The song has been speculated to be about a veteran of Vietnam, who is drafted and suffers from PTSD; the lyrics are told from the man's point of view as a boy being drafted, how he gets no answers as to why he must join the war. "To Cut a Long Story Short" was Vince Clarke's inspiration to write Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough", to which the keyboard style bears a certain similarity.—Peter-Patrick76 (peter-patrick@mail.com)
