Genius Next Door

DROWNING "dreaming that the antidote is orgasm" - many believe that when a person drowns, they experience a euphoric sensation at the moment of death, comparable to an intense orgasm.

I believe maybe the lake had a reputation- the teenagers would go there to party, and dare eachother to hold their breath a long time underwater, hoping to achieve the fabled orgasm while still surviving to tell about it. Instead, many drowned- but this did not keep the kids from going back. They were foolish. Perhaps they joked that those young men who died had ejaculated in those waters... inspiring the humor in the consistency of the lake itself. The townspeople obviously did not find it appropriate to talk about what went down at the lake. "The neighbours were trying to keep it quiet But I swear that I could hear the laughter So they joke, and they nicknamed it the porridge Cause over night that lake had turned as thick as butter"

now the geek "genius" thought he'd try the theory out himself, without anyone knowing- he thought he was smarter than the drunk boys and would be sober enough to save himself, but he drowned alone in the lake, still hoping to acheive his orgasm, not realizing that there was no "antidote" to save him from death.

i'm not sure if i'm correct, but it sounds like the genius commits suicide in the lake. it is his secret... in the chorus it's like she's telling him to hold in his breath until he comes back out of the water in full. instead, i guess he lets it go and dies. she thinks he is a foolish child.

maybe he didn't value his life the way he should. the film crew and reporters come in to report what happened. and life goes on... like nothing happened... the kids wake up hung over, the garbage men etc. while the genius was maybe hoping something would come of his death. he was asleep "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm." i'm not really sure what that means, but i get the impression he had romanticized suicide somehow. he had made a mistake, but it was too late. he hadn't thought it through... a foolish child.

Boys ejaculating in the lake as they die? WTF?

I think people are reading too much into the line, "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm."

The way I see it, the "genius" is someone of higher intelligence, who under different circumstances could have changed the world, but instead he is stuck "busing tables," leading an unfulfilled and meaningless life, which perhaps causes him depression. The first time he is mentioned we learn that he gets high and wades naked into the lake in the middle of the night, which makes me think that he is seeking some kind of epiphany or rush that will elevate him to a higher standard of living. Everyone's favorite line, "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm," also reinforces that idea - that the he has convinced himself that the cure to his depression and aimlessness is a short moment of bliss, aka A CLIMAX!

I do agree with the idea that the genius drowned himself in the lake in his pursuit of a climax (not a literal orgasm). I also believe that the lake is a symbol for all the messy, everyday problems in the world that the neighbors try to keep quiet. The genius wading into it naked and eventually drowning in his desire for something greater is an incredibly powerful and tragic metaphor.

"If you just hold in your breath, till you come back up in full/ Hold in your breath till you thought it through, you foolish child." The chorus I think is advising him to wait it out and settle for what he has in life - basically GET THROUGH life until he breathes again in death. In this part of the song he is referred to as a foolish child for giving up and abandoning his life even though the alternative (holding in your breath) does not sound too good either.

This leaves open two possible theories: Either the subject of this song is a foolish child who could not handle mediocrity and over-intellectualized his life, or he really was a genius who found an escape from his trapped existence. After all, Regina swears she could hear laughter coming from the "haunted" lake. It could be in triumph.

Sorry if this is a more depressing take on it than diddling ghosts.

"Some said the local lake had been enchanted Others said it must have been the weather The neighbors were trying to keep it quiet But I swear that I could hear the laughter So they joke, and they nicknamed it "the porridge" Cause over night that lake had turned as thick as butter"

My interpretation of this song is that the lake is a metaphor for worldly problems, or more specifically:the problems that the youth faces today(drug/alcohol addiction? teen depression? violence? disease?risky behavior?), that society chooses to ignore and in doing so the problems accumulate thus turning the lake thick as butter. They continue to downplay its importance and take the problems lightly.

"But the local kids would still go swimming, drinking Saying that to them it doesn't matter"

The kids probably know these problems are harmful to them but still choose to play with it because like society,they also choose to downplay its importance, possibly for their own sanity since these are problems that they must face. Spektor seems to add "drinking" as a sidenote to possibly signify that the alcohol helps them to cope with these problems. Or maybe it is used as a metaphor to show that the teens are trying to force themselves to be apathetic/ignorant/blissfully unaware of the "porridge" and possibly forget that it is harmful to them.

"If you just hold in your breath 'Til you come back up in full Hold in your breath 'Til you've thought it through You fool"

I am not exactly sure how to interpret this just yet but I think it might be Spektor warning people that since it is too late to get rid of the "porridge" the best thing they can do is hold their breaths and dont try to jump into it and just think it through before you do something that will harm you.

"The genius next door was bussing tables Wiping clean the keptchup bottle labels Getting high and mumbling German fables Didn't care as long as he was able To strip his clothes off by the dumpsters At night while every one was sleeping And wade midway into that porridge Just him and the secret he was keeping"

The genius next door probably represents an innocent intelligent youth, a "neighbor" who no one would expect. His intelligence is wasted by "wiping clean the ketchup bottle labels." He is unfulfilled and the world fails to recognize his talents. He gets high and even in his lack of sobriety he is still able to recall literature further emphasizing his intelligence. His unfulfillment causes him to willingly make himself vulnerable to the "porridge" by stripping his clothes. His secret could be his misery, or whatever made him miserable. Another guess is that his depression caused him to get into heavy drugs and he went into the "porridge" every night, only this time he overdosed and died (or it could have been on purpose). So his secret may have been his drug addiction.

"Hold in your breath 'Til you thought it through You foolish child"

Spektor seems to be directing her warning to this genius, but this time it seems to be more of a chastisement. She elongates the word fool and then seems to add on "-ish child" as an afterthought and there appears to be anger/dissapointment in her voice. It is almost as if she is warning a group of people, trying not to point out anyone specific and then after a while she is overcome with so much anger/dissapointment that shes like "screw it, im talking about you foolish child" haha. She calls the genius a fool (paraodox) signifying that algthough he had a lot of intelligence he was not smart enough to avoid his fate of "drowning in the porridge." He did not think logically and he was childish, foolish, and immature in his actions.

"In the morning the film crews start arriving With donuts, coffee and reporters The kids were waking up, hung over The neighbors were starting up their cars The garbageman were emptying the dumpsters Atheists were praying full of sarcasm And the genius next door was sleeping Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm"

Here it seems as if no one cares about the death of a "neighbor" who was also a genius. The film crews are basically distracted by coffee and donuts, people are going about their daily lives, and the atheists use this as an opportuniy to mock faith, basically saying there is no God because he did not prevent the genius from "sleeping"(dying). About the antidote being an orgasm I might be stretching it a little but ill say it anyway: an orgasm, although there are other ways, is produced with another person. So maybe an orgasm is a metaphor for love and a human connection. The genius was alone and ignored in this song and if he was given some happiness and attention he would not have had to wade into the porridge. So maybe he wished the world were a little nicer to him or just nicer in general and not as apathetic and ignorant to all the problems that are right under their noses.

I probably could have explained all this a little better but I hope this at least makes a little bit of sense im kind of just rambling :p

I think most of you are taking one line in the song and using it to define the entire thing.

I think the first verse is just an intro, setting the scene and introducing the lake. I think the 'porridge' line is just that the lake is scummy and I think it happened long ago because she makes it sound like the teens have been swimming in it like that for a while. The genius next door is probably a smart teenager with a high school food service job, very antisocial and secretly very depressed. I think the rest is fairly straightforward, he decides to commit suicide in the lake, which is ironic because it's the same lake that other teens hang out at a lot, but he is not part of that crowd. He goes in the middle of the night and drowns himself. I think the orgasm line may have to do with potentially having an orgasm when you drown, but that is not the focus of the song. I like the idea that maybe he was really just looking for love, and that the orgasm may relate to that if he only had found love he would have been happy.

Overall, Regina is the narrator here and she says he's a foolish child because even though he's apparently a "genius" of some sort, he really doesn't realize that there's so much more to live for.

I think the chorus is amazingly beautiful,

"If you just hold in your breath 'Til you come back up in full Hold in your breath 'Til you thought it through"

But in the end, she's just telling a story and the poor boy dies. Life goes on, and basically nobody even notices that he's gone. I think the "secret" that he might be keeping is that he's so unhappy. People may think he's so satisfied with his life being smart or something, but really he's very lonely and depressed.

I also really like the concept somebody proposed that he wanted to make a big scene, and that he just wanted to be noticed. It's sad really.

As ridiculous as some Regina songs can be I just can't see her writing a song about a porridge-like lake and meaning it is filled with sperm, in a sad story of a boy drowning himself for an orgasm. It just doesn't seem as probable as a song about suicide and a depressed teenager. But like I said, there are some strange Regina songs too, so who knows.

I like the way it seems to be a little folklore-y, with the "Some said a local lake had been enchanted". But then that's just me. I also like the way she plays on "trying to keep it quiet", being both the rumours, and the lake itself, in that she can hear laughter.

i'm not sure if i'm correct, but it sounds like the genius commits suicide in the lake. it is his secret... in the chorus it's like she's telling him to hold in his breath until he comes back out of the water in full. instead, i guess he lets it go and dies. she thinks he is a foolish child.

maybe he didn't value his life the way he should. the film crew and reporters come in to report what happened. and life goes on... like nothing happened... the kids wake up hung over, the garbage men etc. while the genius was maybe hoping something would come of his death. he was asleep "dreaming that the antidote was orgasm." i'm not really sure what that means, but i get the impression he had romanticized suicide somehow. he had made a mistake, but it was too late. he hadn't thought it through... a foolish child.

I like the drowning/orgasm theory, but I have another one I prefer, mostly because it seems a thousand times more common.

Imagine a guy who lives what seems like a normal life, all the while secretly hoping for greatness - seeking fulfillment in any way possible. To everyone around him, he's normal - better than normal - in fact, he's doing fantastic. But he can tell that he's not. He can tell that he's secretly drowning in his secrets and his desires and his disappointment.

Anyways, that's all I got right now. I was inspired by an ex who actually makes me sick to my stomach these days...

I feel as if there's still more to it.. but at the same time thats all there is to it.

I can't stop listening to this song. The melody is so soothing, and the words really sink in.

This is my own theory: The genius in the story is sort of an oucast and a loner, and while he has a lot of potential to be great, he lives a mundane life because of his anti-social behavior -- "The genius next door was bussing tables Wiping clean the keptchup bottle labels Getting high and mumbling German fables"

While his peers are all having a good time at the enchanted lake, he's all by himself.

And so one night he gets sick of missing out on life that he goes to check out the lake alone. I don't think he kills himself in it, personally, but all your theories are quite possible. Although, I wouldn't be so quick to accept what DeeBabes said, as we have no real proof to know if Regina actually said that. ;)

And the line, "And the genius next door was sleeping Dreaming that the antidote is orgasm"....I think spending time in the lake made the genius realize he wasn't living, only existing, and perhaps the "orgasm" was not meant in a literal sense, but "orgasm" as in living life to the fullest.

Regina writes such amazing songs! They can be interpreted in countless ways.