Meds

Let me explain :)

I was alone, falling free (falling off the clif or building whatever..) Trying my best not to forget What happened to us, what happened to me What happened as I let it slip (Trying not to forget why he is doing it)

I was confused by the powers that be Forgetting names and faces (parania and self loathing)

Passers by were looking at me As if they could erase it (people judging him for considering such a thing)

Baby, did you forget to take your meds? (X2) (comments that people use to judge people in that way)

I was alone staring over the ledge Trying my best not to forget All manner of joy, all manner of glee And our one heroic pledge (Trying to convince himself not to jump)

How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me And the consequences I was confused by the birds and the bees Forgetting if I meant it (the confusion of life)

Baby, did you forget to take your meds? (X4) (same as it meant before)

I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget (his final decision to jump)

I think I take the same pills.

Honestly--this song seems to be about bipolar disorder (I was a psych major and suffer from bipolar myself and it makes a lot of sense).

I was alone/falling free/trying my best not to forget/what happened to us/what happened to me/ what happened as I let it slip.

This seems to refer to a manic episode. When bipolar 1 patients go off their meds, they don't want to go back on them and in the midst of mania they forget the reasons why they were on the meds in the first place or they choose not to. Which is precisely what this means to me. The narrator is alone because you often times isolate your friends and family when you're manic. You also feel free and happy because that's what mania feels like. And a manic individual may try to not to forget what he/she did to his/her self and his/her family members. But the overwhelming need to keep being manic overwhelms.

I was confused by the powers that be/forgetting names and faces/ Passers by, were looking at me/ as if they could erase it.

This talks about the confusion and upset a bp1 patient feels towards god. Why is this happening? Why is this wrong? Why should I try not to feel this? Also, this is the progression of the mania. First the narrator is trying not to forget and now he/she is forgetting or not caring about the things that stopped him/her from wanting to be manic. The passersby comment is also congruent with the bp1 because mania causes people to be rude, narcissistic and sometimes violent. They will go up to strangers and talk for hours about themselves. People might see a person like this and give him/her looks like who the hell is this person and why is this person continuing to talk and be such a jerk. The people probably literally want to escape and forget the person.

Baby...did you forget to take your meds?

When a group of people loves someone with this disorder and they see him/her losing it they all begin to ask the same question--"Did you forget to take your meds?" I can't tell you how many times when I've been really losing it that everyone I know asks about this.

I was alone, staring over the ledge/trying my best not to forget/all manner of joy, all manner of glee/and our one heroic pledge.

The next stage--depression. People with bipolar are VERY prone to suicidal ideation. This narrator is standing over the ledge trying to remember the mania, trying to remember the good times with everyone they know, trying to remember what matters. And the heroic pledge might refer to two things. When you are suicidal your counselor tends to make you sign a contract to not commit suicide. They make you promise and they make you sign it(not always--but sometimes--and they at least make you verbally pledge). Why is this heroic? Because to overcome suicidal thoughts takes a lot of courage. Because there is a we in this sentence it could also refer to taking that pledge with another person to work towards the narrator's mental health (it is often a group effort with the bp patient needing unyielding support). It could also be a personal pledge between two people in a relationship and making a pledge that they would stay together and the narrator would not kill themselves.

How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me/and the consequences./I was confused, by the birds and the bees/forgetting if i meant it.

Again this pledge and what it means to the two people in this relationship--and what the consequences of that pledge are (no committing suicide). Being confused by the birds and the bees could mean being confused about whether or not you actually are in love with the person who made you pledge, and forgetting whether or not you meant that pledge because of the confusion. When someone is suicidal they often attempt to logic out their reasons for suicide. "Well, I probably didn't really love you in the first place and it was possibly just about sex so the pledge is worthless and now I can jump off the ledge. " Because if you don't love the person you make the pledge with or aren't somehow connected to them, are you going to feel an obligation to go through with it?

And the sex and the drugs, and the complications.

When people are manic they tend to have lots and lots of sex. They also may take drugs when depressed in order to self medicate and also when they are manic in order to feel even higher than they already are. This causes so many complications, the entire experience of the disorder is extremely complicated.

Now, this song was said to be about someone who is psychotic. Psychosis is literally when someone loses contact with reality which is exactly what happens to BP1 patients and BP patients are spoken about as being, when in their worst state, as being psychotic.

Well, anyway, that's my two sense. But the actual transition from falling free to standing over the ledge indicates two different mind sets to me--which is the bi of bipolar essentially.

The song is about commiting suicide..

First off I hate that people are using the term psychopath... a psychopath doesn't take medication usually.... and people with brain disorders are not psychopaths!

Personally and maybe this is what i find to identify with- the song is about Mania. The guy is Manic- the meds he refers to are mood stabilizers and possibly APs... he is hallucinating and delusional. The sex... the drugs... he's hypersexual, and often some people when manic will present drug seeking behavior- usually cocaine.

But... just a tip for all of you.. sociopath/psychopath is a personality disorder not a mood disorder... they are not the same thing. schizophrenia is not psychopathy and neither is schizo-affective disorder or Bipolar Affective Disorder.

'I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget What happened to us, what happened to me What happened as I let it slip.'

I think this is the psych patient going off their drugs. This person doesn't want their sanity to slip, so they keep the thoughts of their friends and family and how much hurt they've caused close to them, to try to help keep them sane.

'I was confused by the powers that be Forgetting names and faces Passers by were looking at me As if they could erase it.'

I think 'powers that be' refers to the drugs this person was on, and 'forgetting' was a side effect of the drugs. The people passing by seem to notice this person's angst, and they feel pity for them.

'Baby, did you forget to take your meds?'

This is the person's friend or lover or family member, noticing the odd behaviour, and starting to wonder.

'I was alone staring over the ledge Trying my best not to forget All manner of joy, all manner of glee And our one heroic pledge.'

The person is slipping back into their old behaviours- doing risky things, even though they don't really want to. So this person tries to remember making the promise to stay sane and become 'normal' once again.

'How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me And the consequences I was confused by the birds and the bees Forgetting if I meant it.'

The person starts off thinking these moments and promises are so important to them, but then is distracted by 'the birds and the bees', which I think means they're hallucinating again. When this starts to set in, the person 'realizes' that they never meant to stay sane, that meds are the enemy and they need to return to their dillusions.

'Baby, did you forget to take your meds?'

This time, the words take on a more urgent tone as the people around the patient see the odd dangerous behaviours.

'And the sex, and the drugs, and the complications.'

The person slips into doing all of these things because of their mental illness.

'Baby, did you forget to take your meds?'

Finally, the friends and family take action, and try to do something about it.

'I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget.'

The person gets back on their meds, and once again waits to go through the cycle again.

i love this song so much!! here is how i see it. it is about this guys that is one some physcological medication and stops taking them, his downfall and finally his death.

I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget (he has stopped taking them, he was on his own and is forgetting things) What happened to us, what happened to me What happened as I let it slip (it being his life)

I was confused by the powers that be Forgetting names and faces (he is trying to remember things,but can't, like what he is doing, names and faces. it also mentions someone else, possibly a girlfriend) Passers by were looking at me As if they could erase it (people can see what he is doing, and aren't helping, thinking he can sort his own life out) Baby, did you forget to take your meds? (X2) (someone is asking him if he has taken his meds) I was alone staring over the ledge (he is now alone, i think this ledge is his own mind and madness getting to him) Trying my best not to forget All manner of joy, all manner of glee (he was happy on his meds, he didn't have the isolation he has now) And our one heroic pledge

How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me And the consequences (he made this promise to someone (girlfriend) to take his meds and that what it did for him, the "consquences") I was confused by the birds and the bees Forgetting if I meant it (he was forgetting the birds and the bees and was lying to his girlfriend, not meaning what he was doing. also if he meant to live) Baby, did you forget to take your meds? (X4) (again, someone is asking if he has taken his meds) And the sex, and the drugs, and the complications (X4) (he is explaining what happened, and that it ruined him) Baby, did you forget to take your meds? (X6) (this is more powerful, the girlfriend is getting more anxious)

I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget (this is how how he died, he was alone, off his medication and trying to remember who he was)

yeah, that's how i see it, his insanity killed him, and he is reflecting on his life and how he died, and the chorus is his girlfriend after she found him. yes, my version is depressing, but that is how i see it. i'm loving the guitars in this. so good, i have heard it at least 20 times today. so haunting but so beautiful. i love placebo, this song is so simple!

oxweaselxo

Yes its about a psychopath forgetting to take their medication but its more than that.

Theres a girl hus in a relationship with the guy whos on medication. and he is going through a rough time... mabey they had a bit of a fight and that got to him even though it wasnt really big... but hes on the edge and it ends up that hes on the edge both mentally and physically (he kills himself) so hes on the edge of a clif about to jump and hes trying hard not to forget who he is but hes batteling himself and he jumps and as hes falling hes all alone and hes still trying not to forget.

Then when he is found dead his girlfriend is so upset ("babey, did you forget to take your meds?") and she thinks about their relationship and she thinks about the sex and drugs (as in his medication not ilegal drugs) and the complications (obviously it would have been a very difficult situation and there would have been lots of comlications.

This song, to me, isn't about medication at all. From a past relationship, I take it differently, and I think 'meds' is just a colloquial way of saying 'Are you crazy?!'

He says: 'I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget What happened to us, what happened to me.'

I think this is him saying that after they (the guy, whose bit is sung by Brian, and the girl, whose bit is sung by Allison Mosshart), split up, he was alone, and he felt like his life was spiralling downward, which I'm sure we can all relate to. He's trying his 'best not to forget' the relationship, but also what it did for them both during it. Because although he's admitting that it's over, he doesn't want to forget the time they had together.

'Forgetting names and faces' He feels as though he's forgetting all the good times they had together, but he knows he loves her, and there must have been some.

'Passers by were looking at me As if they could erase it'

He felt as though everyone was trying to make him get over the relationship, because it was over, but he didn't want it to be.

She then says, 'did you forget to take your meds?' because she's trying to show him that the relationship was, well, rubbish, and she's glad it ended.

'I was alone staring over the ledge Trying my best not to forget All manner of joy, all manner of glee And our one heroic pledge'

He felt like rubbish, and he wanted to remember all of the good times they had, because she's almost convincing him it was bad, when he knows it was good. Their 'heroic pledge' being to love and be with eachother.

'How it mattered to us, how it mattered to me And the consequences'

It mattered to them during the relationship, and the consequences of the breakup were clear, but he's trying hard not to forget why he's not with her, because he knows there's a reason they aren't together now, even though he loves her.

'I was confused by the birds and the bees Forgetting if I meant it' He's confused by having sex with other girls after the breakup, because he's thinking 'Maybe I didn't actually love her.'

She then repeats that he's probably crazy to think that it was good enough a relationship to be having this conversation/argument. She says 'And the sex, and the drugs, and the complications.' to remind him what was bad about the relationship.

He then says 'Baby, did you forget to take your meds?!' He's shouting it back at her, because he's convinced that the relationship was good, and that SHE'S the one being crazy.

But even at the end of this whole argument, he's still alone. But still trying not to forget about the relationship.

That's my interpretation.

I think what this song is about is a combination of the other interpretations submitted by users on the site. First of all, after watching the videoclip, it's obvious that the guy taking the meds is Molko (or the guy), and not the girl. The song is obviously about a relationship between a guy who had problems and a girl who is still hurt by the way it ended, and she's blaming it on the meds ("Baby, did you forget to take your meds?") thus implying that what he did was out of character and irrational. I also think the song might have some references to suicide, as it is written in the past tense, so it could be that he is viewing his life and his mistakes retrospectively, after death. This can be easily seen if you look closely at the opening lines of the song:

"I was alone, falling free Trying my best not to forget What happened to us, what happened to me What happened as I let it slip"

I think these lines show the relationship element, and that maybe he had some reasons for the breakup which he is now trying to still force upon himself, maybe because he was having doubts about what he did. This becomes obvious from the way he moves from 'us' to 'me', showing that he is blaming himself for letting 'it slip' (it being the relationship).

I think death is signified more by the way the song ends, with the abrupt way Molko sings 'forget', as if until then he was 'falling free' (maybe he jumped off the ledge he mentions later) and he hits the ground.