Just to Get High

This song is so incredibly powerful. I can't even imagine how painful this kind of thing must be. I swear, I almost started crying halfway through. And I can't even say I relate that closely to this song because I don't know many people who do drugs, and certainly no one that's addicted. But Nickelback has progressed so much since their last album. I'm so surprised I haven't heard any buzz about them recently. Dark Horse is blowing me away.

By far the best song on the album.

Pretty clear what the lyrics are about. Addict doing whatever he can to score.

Not to mention a kickass solo.

wow this is a powerful song if you gone through it like i have. My best friend is like the guy he is singing about. This song is very heart felt and emotional. What i dont get is whether it about confronting your friend and never giving up on them. Or is about finaly realizing there is no hope for them and turning your back on them.

I've always listened to nickelback. I remember i was in high school when this song released. I also remember that was a very difficult and dark time for me. Yes in that time i would have been the drugged out friend. Its been many years. I am now on the verge of hitting the big 30. Its interesting yes i did put down the needle but not before it cost it me. My right knee(baseball batt) and quite literally all of my friends.

(Note: I don't pay attention to names of individual members of bands, so expect non-name designations in 'speaker' and 'subject')

"He was my best friend, I tried to help him, But he traded everything, for suffering, And found himself alone. I watched the lying, turn into hiding, With scars on both his lips, his fingertips, Were melted to the bone."

The speaker in this song is recounting a tale about the subject, his best friend, who at worst, died from or, at best, suffered the experience of an OD on a heavy drug. From the description given ("his fingertips were melted to the bone") I presume the drug in question being Methamphetamine.

[Chorus] "But I can still remember what his face looked like, When I found him in an alley in the middle of the night."

The speaker has found the subject in an alley, possibly after being called to take the subject home, and the subject's facial expression has been burned into the speaker's memory.

"Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now! Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now! Gun would do the trick, get it over with, You're better off, To take all you've got and burn it on the spot, Just to get high,(high)"

In a rage, the speaker shouts at the subject to tell him what the drugs where and where they were obtained, and informing them of the speaker's disapproval by telling them "If you're going to kill yourself, just use a gun and get it over with!" and that they'd be better off burning the subject's entire stash.

"Three days no sleeping, he gave up eating, He sold his mother's rings, she said nothing, And pretended not to know, He started stealing, to supply the feeling, Found out he pulled a knife, on someone's wife, And held it to her throat."

The Past-tense here reinforces the possibility of death by overdose, but still does not seal it as the only possibility. The subject stopped eating or sleeping, further lending credence to the idea that the drugs in question are Methamphetamine. The subject was so addicted and desperate for a high he resorted to theft, and selling his mother's jewelery. The mother ignores it, likely deep in denial, and the subject even robbed an innocent passerby couple by threatening the wife's life with a knife against her throat.

[Chorus] Tell me what did, where you gone and hid? Show me! What you really want, was it what you got? Slowly! Circling the drain, throw it all away, Just to get high, (high). High, oh!

(High, high) High (High, high) High

The subject has disappeared and/or died, and the speaker is metaphorically asking them where they went (be it place on Earth, Heaven, or Hell, or some other form of afterlife I'm not aware of), if the drugs were worth everything the subject has lost, and then pleads once more, for them to ditch the drug and come back, as his life is "circling the drain".

"Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now! Tell me what you know! Tell me what you gone and done now! Gun would do the trick, get it over with, You're better off, To take all that you've got and burn it on the spot, Just to get high, (high). Tell me what did, where you gone and hid? Show me! What you really want, was it what you got? Slowly! Circling the drain, throw it all away, Just to get high Just to get high Circling the drain, throw it all away, Just to get high."

A combination of both choruses, First repeating that if the subject wants to kill himself, a gun is much faster, and then once more asking where they went and if the drug was worth it.

But I can still remember what his face looked like When I found him in an alley in the middle of the night

Tell me what did, where you gone and hid Show me What you really want, was it what you got Slowly Circle in the drain, throw it all away Just to get high-igh, igh, igh, igh

this is a very well written song with incredible lyrics. It has so much meaning to it. It is definitely one of the best songs nickelback has ever had. Its surely one of my favorites. The album is just fantastic. This is the best lyrical song since "If Everyone Cared"

this one deserves a video.

this song is amazing, has so much emotion and very sad. but dark horse is just an awsome album and i think one of the best..i love it!!! : ) but this song describes exactly what happened to my dad and why my mom left him...very sad : (

this song is amazing, has so much emotion and very sad. but dark horse is just an awsome album and i think one of the best..i love it!!! : ) but this song describes exactly what happened to my dad and why my mom left him...very sad : (

this song is definetly about a friend who was a druggie and wouldnt get help, sold his mother rings for money to buy into his addiction. hed do anything just to get high.

i love this song, its so well written. then of course theres the guitar solo :P its really depressing tho, about some one whose addicted to crystal meth

"With scars on both his lips, his fingertips Were melted to the bone"

that would be from their crack pipe. since the pipe is just a little glass tube the who thing gets hot and burns your fingers and your lips