This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Travelling swallowing Dramamine
Feeling spaced breathing out Listerine
I'd said what I'd said that I'd tell ya
And that you'd killed the better part of me
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I'd said and you know what I mean
But I still can't focus on anything
We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves
Travelling swallowing Dramamine
Look at your face like you're killed in a dream
And you think you've figured out everything
I think I know my geography pretty damn well
You say what you need so you'll get more
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I said and you know what I mean
But I can't still focus on anything
Feeling spaced breathing out Listerine
I'd said what I'd said that I'd tell ya
And that you'd killed the better part of me
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I'd said and you know what I mean
But I still can't focus on anything
We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves
Travelling swallowing Dramamine
Look at your face like you're killed in a dream
And you think you've figured out everything
I think I know my geography pretty damn well
You say what you need so you'll get more
If you could just milk it for everything
I've said what I said and you know what I mean
But I can't still focus on anything
Lyrics submitted by rojazz, edited by demward, hankwarner, TheJester, truthlover557, danahk, rvrar, Unwoundx
Dramamine Lyrics as written by Isaac Brock Eric Judy
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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if this song doesn't make you contemplate your existence, then i don't know what the fuck your problem is. that's all.
I've been listening to this song a lot since last summer when I first heard it. The playcount on iTunes is well over 1,000 times. I think the artist is trying to express a dysfunctional relationship by paralleling it to the experience of motion sickness. I think he is angry at his partner because she uses him for whatever she needs, and never has a true relationship. He is "spinning" in a world where he cannot tell the difference between true personality and a fake persona. Just my take.
Thank You Thank You! GATHER ROUND', WE HAVE A WINNER FOLKS! An actual thoughtful interpretation. There are Way too many people caught up on the whole drug bussiness. Its getting old people!
Damn, only +4 out of 259 comments? I don't even want to wade any further, there are likely decent explanations further down but who has time to scroll and read 259?! This guy nails it pretty well. They're a touring band, Isaac maybe takes Dramamine for motion sickness and has this clingy using girlfriend or bandmate (kiss on the mouth could just be a euphemism for how closely they are living and traveling together in the van). As a young touring band, they drove a ton of miles through all kinds of windy roads I bet.
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.
that's really good but have you thought about the idea of it just being about the chaos of life and how that's making him sick hints the Dramamine
I actually think "Feeling spaced, breathing out Listerine" could also be a reference to actually having ingested Listerine as a way to get drunk. This especially fits if he is taking Dramamine as a way to hallucinate, because both are meant for a more health-preserving purpose and are being deliberately misused.
@groovexchild This is a really nice analysis. It's actually geonomy, not geometry, though, and I think Isaac is saying that he knows how the world works to his girlfriend.
@groovexchild i always thought he said i know my geography.
I think Modest Mouse is one of the best bands ive ever heard... end of story
when i listen to this song i feel that it's about being in a relationship with someone who uses you and leaves you feeling drained
an interesting perspective...."traveling"...through life, maybe? "swallowing dramamine" may refer to human being's uncanny ability to "swallow" anger/grief/disenchantment and convince ourselves that we are actually fulfilled. We prefer to endure a lifetime of torture to avoid the brief and temporary despair associated with a break-up/separation/divorce...which is often the most liberating experience of one's life...ironic?
I have no idea what this song is "actually" about, but sometimes i don't think the original intent really matters. I recently discovered my fiance was a heroin addict....this song.....reminds me of him. Dramamine, to me references the nausea i feel. "You killed the better part of me..If you could just milk it for everything" somehow i feel like my fiance would use me for everything, including my weaknesses...anything that would make him "feel" better. "You say what you need so you'll get more" He would LIE! even to himself, so he'd "get more"....I still can't focus on anything....in my life for that matter...to me, "dramamine" refers to the nausea of heartache..
First off, love the song, love the band. I think this song has a lot to do with nihilism, the belief that life has no purpose or meaning. The lyrics are hard to decipher and the guitar drowns out most of what he is saying, like it doesn't matter what he is saying in the end it means little whether you receive the message or not. The song has an emotion of anger and frustration, which are exactly the emotions tied to the knowledge that life has no purpose.
modest mouse is pretty cool, one of my best friends likes them a lot, so thru her i got to hear some of their music...its good stuff ; )
the intro is absolutely mesmerizing.