| Modest Mouse – Dramamine Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I just did a song lyrics analysis for class and chose this song so I thought I would share it with you all: The song “Dramamine” by Modest Mouse is a complexity beyond my understanding, yet I will make an attempt to analyze it’s meaning. The name of the song itself and the repeated lines, “Traveling, swallowing Dramamine,” in my opinion refers to one of two things. Dramamine is a drug meant to alleviate nausea, but when taken in large dosages can create hallucinations. Therefore, his reference to Dramamine could be a metaphor for him feeling sick of being in a bad relationship, or it could be a simple reference to a really bad trip. Due to his multiple references to another person, I am going to assume that the true reason for the “Dramamine” is because of his relationship. The line “feeling spaced, breathing out Listerine” makes me think of two people not physically distanced but emotionally spaced and yelling at each other with harsh words that burn the same way Listerine does. I think he purposefully used Listerine and capitalized it to make a reference to the mouthwash in a metaphorical way. So another theory I have for that line is that their words are cold and burning like the cold sensation you feel when you literally breathe out Listerine. “You killed the better part of me” doesn’t mean that she literally killed him, but is figuratively referring to the fact that she has hurt him immensely and he will never be the same because of it. “I’ve said what I’d said and you know what I mean” makes me feel as though he is having to repeat himself over and over again to her and she is twisting his words, yet deep down she understands him. I absolutely love the line “We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves,” and it was this line that made me choose this song to analyze. I feel as though it is a metaphor that could be taken many different ways, but to me it is exemplifying a relationship that looks pretty on the outside but in truth is falling apart. Like they put on an act for everyone, but they both know what’s truly going on. “Look at your face like you’re killed in a dream” is definitely imagery. I see a woman who is absolutely torn apart from the fighting and looks like hell. Probably red eye, makeup smeared, snot dripping; Death. Or, he could be referring to the way he looks at her. As if his hatred towards her is so immense that he dreams of her dying. He then says “And you think you’ve figured out everything” referring to the way she has learned to play his emotions, his tolerances, possibly even his wallet. The next line confused me a little bit, “I think I know my geometry pretty damn well,” but I have a theory. Geometry is the mathematical science that deals primarily with shapes. Now you’re constantly connecting points and adding things up with geometry so what I think he is trying to say with this metaphor is that he’s not an idiot and he has connected the dots, and added everything up and has figured her out. He knows now who she is and what she is all about. I think that whether this poem was about drugs or not, I do know that Isaac Brock was an addict and with an addict, drugs rule every part of their lives. I feel as though this song refers to Brock coming home on drugs and getting in a fight with his girlfriend. He then ends by saying, “but I still can’t focus on anything.” He’s drugged out, upset, yet doesn’t have the state of mind to fully focus on his anger or the argument, and therefore knows it will be a never-ending, nauseating circle which will probably call for more Dramamine. |
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