Take Your Medicine

from an interview

"is not about antidepressants, but about the more general experience of facing the sources of one's depression and adjusting brain chemistry without medication: "Take Your Medicine" is literally about conjuring up the strength to face the ugly things in yourself that most of us prefer to deny exist. In the case of this song, taking one's medicine is not about popping a pharmaceutical but is more accurately about having the guts to do some not-so-fun inner psychological work. Scientific studies have shown you can alter your brain chemistry simply by choosing to practice thinking in a different way. In that sense, ‘taking your medicine' means having the discipline to break some bad mental habits and thereby changing your brain chemistry. Letting go of the inner monsters referenced in that song has helped me feel much better. But it wasn't an easy psychological process getting through that."

I view this song as more about depression, and how hiding it and beating yourself up about it isn't going to help overcome it.

yeah, craig minowa lost his child in 2002. nearly all of his music revolves around coping with his loss. this guy has a reason to be emo. absolutely love this band.

This song is about accepting and confronting awful things from your past. Forgiveness of others, and of yourself. Moving past guilt and self-pity, and acceptance that you can't control everything. The message is that until you confront your past, get the skeletons out of the closet and into the light you won't be able to move on.

I love the part towards the end of the song, before the last verse, when the song goes quiet and builds, with the competing lyrics "we found beautiful babies sleeping in our ribs" and "you can take it in stride or you can take it right between the eyes ..."

Such a beautiful musical representation of the message that until you face the hard things can you move on and find those "beautiful babies" within yourself. Listen to the live version that was released as a part of their documentary - it's amazing.

the whole album is fucking fantastic, with this as my favourite song. oh my, love it to pieces already.

this is such a good song. but it gets creepier and creepier every time i listen to it. it also reminds me of fetuses.

I disagree on the anti-abortion stance people are placing on the song.

I don't know much about the band's personal beliefs, but because of who recommended them to me, and my own personal beliefs, this is how I see it:

I'm relating everything to meditation practice and general Buddhist world-views ("now, is where I guess I belong" and "Remind, remind, that it's bigger than me")

"These are things that I keep hidden in belly, I can't see them but they control my life"

^It is often said that secrets and unacknowledged pain and suffering are held in are bellies as a hardness that causes us more confusion and suffering. We must soften, despite the difficulties of facing reality. v

"t's a good day, it's a good day To face the hard things"

Get your pain out of the dark, and meet your true self.

Yeah, I also have to disagree with the anti-abortion thing, depression seems like a much more clear interpretation.

Also Craig Minowa from what I know is quite the leftist, I'd be surprised to find out he isn't pro-choice. Though I could always be wrong.

leisure you got it. Also, if anything the baby lines refference the child the lead singer and celloist lost to SIDS I believe(don't quote me on that though). I saw this song as coping and trying to move on after that.

yeah i also read somewhere about the singer's loss of a child... and i think a lot of the new album is about that. and this song. obviously. since it's part of the album...