| Butthole Surfers – Lonesome Bulldog Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| Nobel Prize-quality writing here | |
| Butthole Surfers – Cough Syrup Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[ZStar930:23232] I definitely agree that this song is almost certainly about drug use. It name-drops cough syrup too much to be about anything else. People have known about chugging cough syrup since at least the 70s. | |
| Butthole Surfers – Cough Syrup Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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@[thomhale:23231] I agree with the new words you put here, but I disagree with your conclusion (yeah, I know it's 9 years later.) I view the song as being one of Butthole Surfers' many songs about escapism through drug use. "If you wanna touch the sky you must be prepared to die;" does this band seem like one that falls on the side of believing in a heavenly afterlife? That just seems to me like an acknowledgement that life sucks, and must be escaped in some way that involves throwing your time down one of life's many optional sinkholes. What are some ways to spend your time to avoid life's misery? You can spend that time on love. The first few verses depict a love story between two people whose differences can't really be reconciled. A summer had been completely stolen, and the love tale isn't treated like a romantic story, but as an event that is being gambled on. The next verse is in the fall, and not only are things not any better, but friends tell the man that there's no use even acknowledging the problems. A couple of verses later seem to depict the natural conclusion of love as an escape from life's misery versus the romantic view of love: an alcoholic nobody who doesn't do anything around the house, still holding to hope that something will change without actually wanting to do anything about it. Not to mention, apparently the brother solved a similar problem with a gun barrel. So love is out as a successful way of escape. What else is there? Well, the singer would rather just escape the problems outright than try to fight them. Trying to fight the world's problems gets you John Wilkes Boothed, or shot down by the mafia, and always the focus of attention whether you succeed or not. Not to mention that the singer would rather burn out than be a catalyst for others. It seems like we're settling on chemical escapism now. And who doesn't hate chugging cough syrup? Can't say I've tried it, but it seems unpleasant. Oh, and travel doesn't work either if you don't like eating foreign cuisine. Seriously, I dunno if anyone in Butthole Surfers ever did heroin or any hard drugs like that, but at least one of them certainly tried LSD or possibly shrooms at some point. This song almost definitely is about drug use. The cough syrup connection alone is enough to draw that line for me. Almost no one above the age of 8 is using cough syrup. Most people I know just suck it up. |
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