So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
Is there a way to find a cure for this
Implanted in a pill?
Is it just the name upon the bottle
The determines if it will?
Is the problem your allergic
To a well familiar name?
Do you have any problem with this one
If the results are they same?
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
Well strip the bark right off a tree
And just hand it this way
Don't even need a drink of water
To make the headache go away
Give me a sugar pill
And watch me just rattle
Down the street
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
You have no faith in medicine
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
Is there a way to find a cure for this
Implanted in a pill?
Is it just the name upon the bottle
The determines if it will?
Is the problem your allergic
To a well familiar name?
Do you have any problem with this one
If the results are they same?
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
Well strip the bark right off a tree
And just hand it this way
Don't even need a drink of water
To make the headache go away
Give me a sugar pill
And watch me just rattle
Down the street
Acetaminophen
You see the medicine
Girl,
You have no faith in medicine
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This song to me is pretty obviously about the placebo effect. Sometimes the ability to get better, to be well, is in your mind, but you think you need something to help the process. It's all in this girl to be well, and while she's refusing to take her 'medicine' and being miserable, the answer's right there.
This was a jingle written to sell Alieve. Jack, the seller, is talking to girl, who is the consumer, about the benefits of acetaminophen. There is a disclaimer about a possible allergic reaction to actetaminphen in the song (this is very rare and was not found over the course of studies on several random groupings). The FDA needs to require that possible side effects of the medication, including headache, dry mouth, and sexual dysfunction, be included at the end of the song.
I agree with Lilybart...totally.
this song is so sarcastic, i love it
i think this song is about the 'bad' kind of drugs, and how people have a ridiculous aversion to them yet readily take their acetaminophen [the most common analgesic in america]. 'Is the problem you're allergic / To a well familiar name? / Do you have a problem with this one / If the results are the same?' people are alright with something called acetaminophen, but not something like cocaine [a well familiar name].
I love the paart of the song after he says, "rattle down the street", and it seems like he's gonna say something else, but he doesn't.
I agree with lilybart.
And the rest of you, this is songmeanings, not song-this-song-has-a-good-guitar-solo.
drugs.
lmao this song is perfect!
1st name- YES! that bit when you think he's going to say something but doesn't is total genius.
i think jack is poking fun at this girl. every adolescent at some point has had this attitude, "no one can possibly understand me. no one has ever felt the way i do. no one or nothing can help me now." this girl is just going through that stage. she refuses to take her "medicine" because she's convinced herself that she's without hope but jack mocks that she's merely "allergic to a well familiar name." it's not that she can't be helped, its that she doesn't want to be helped because that will make her just like all of the other pill poppers out there.
even though the subject of this song is the girl, jack also mocks modern medicine. there are drugs for everything and merely "the name upon the bottle" will determine what it can do for you.
i agree with lillybart--the line "give me sugar pill and watch me just rattle" is definitely in reference to the placebo effect.
so much sarcasm. gotta love it.