Julien

'Julien' most likely refers to the character Julian Kay in Bret Easton Ellis's novel 'Less Than Zero', who was a heroin addict and male prostitute. This makes sense in the context of the "slow motion suicide" idea. Brian Molko name-checked the character of Julian Kay in the intro to their live version of the song "Special K" played at the Myspace Live Streaming Wednesday, on August 22nd 2007, so it's not some left-field guess.

The line "you're being taken for a ride" could be a reference to the movie version of Less Than Zero, where Julian (played by Robert Downey Jr) dies of an overdose during a car ride at the end of the movie.

The song where they mention the character: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZNlxRyIits Trailer for the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQSGS5-7QI4

I understand the numbers to refer to drug addiction. You take "one more hit" to make you feel good, to forget about your problems "to make it right". But you can't stop there, it feels so good you have to do it again, so every time you have just one more hit, it ends up being more like seven "but every one turns into seven". "Now that it's snowing in your brain" is describing what it feels like after taking so much of whatever drug. "Even ten will not placate you" - not even ten hits will make you feel better, you can't forget your problems/pain

That being said, I think "slow motion suicide" refers to how, by doing large amounts of drugs, you're just slowly killing yourself. I get a picture of a guy sitting in a dirty room doing heroin ~ slowly killing himself

"Even ten will not placate you"

I think it's interesting that Placebo is latin for "I will please/ I will placate"

As if the drugs will never fully please him. Makes me feel like the music itself is a "placebo" or a way to please someone who is looking for something else. And I adore the concept of "slow motion suicide" like he's slowly killing himself but, it's not quick and painless. It's a drawn out torture.

I'm pretty sure this is a drug song, specifically cocaine. "Snowing in your brain" is a pretty universal coke reference, and the whole "every one turns into seven" is a pretty common description of how one line of coke tends to lead to another and another and another. It's not necessarily even an addiction thing, it's just that taking a line or two of coke very rarely means only doing that much. Usually one or two lines put your brain into what I call "coke mode" where you don't think you're that fucked up and doing another line is comparable to having another beer. That's just my personal experience with coke though.

I'm glad Placebo released this song cause the way I interpret the lyrics (accurate or not) gives me a song that asks me questions and makes me check my life for a second to make sure I'm sane and safe. I'm heavily into the club and rave scene which means things can get a little crazy in the party department and this song makes me stop for a second and evaluate my life to make sure I'm not going too fast or getting in too deep.

This song reminds me somewhat of Dorian Gray (by Oscar Wilde). I know it isn't about that, though (or else the song would be called "Dorian" x_x). Am I the only one having this association?

it is really easy guys... just replace the word "julien" with cocaine. that's all you need to do.

best song since "commercial for levi". 3 albums later i finally have a new favourite.

'You thought you'd never shed a tear So this must astound and must confound you' seems like the all is lost moment for the protagonist's friend. He's finally hit rock bottom after having become a drug addict, and the protagonist uses his chance to try and talk sense into his friend. He's understanding of how quickly someone can get addicted to that stuff and he reveals to his friend the ending of where drug abuse leads to: to death.

this is my favourite songs from the new album by now. like the lyrics very much,a lot stronger that these in Meds album The song is obviously about revenge imo.

"Fallen angels in the night And everyone is far from heaven" ..should be: "...And everyone is barred from heaven"

LOVE this song!! i love how Brian's opening "The payback is here" and his catchy "slow motion suicide".. I imagine an attempt at suicide to be quick with as little pain as possible, but a "slow motion suicide" implies a prolonged suffering or a slow death that someone is bringing onto themself. I feel this other individual had a caustic nature about them, and now, like freckle93 said, Brian's getting his revenge.

Can someone please explain his use of numbers in this song! like: "Just one more hit to make it right, But every one turns into seven" and "Now that's it's snowing in your brain, Even ten will not placate you" I really don't get these parts :(.. Thank you in advance!!

Here's a shot - since a lot of Placebo's lyrics contain Christian symbolism, these particular numbers could be viewed in the context of Biblical numbers as follows: one = unity of God and God is the creator of all; seven = completeness/ spiritual perfection or sanctification; ten = divine order through judgment of law (i.e. 10 Commandments).

With this in mind, even though the lyric states that the angels have fallen (from grace?) and are "barred from heaven", the mere pursuit of this ideal of unity God and the continued attempt to live by God's law ("just one more hit will make it right") is enough and "every one turns into seven". As such, everyone can still achieve spiritual completness and perfection by believing in the unity of God even if they are flawed and commit sins. Obviously, poor Julien, who may be using religion as a crutch to get through life and is pacified by false hopes of a better afterlife, is not going to reach heaven and achieve unity and spiritual perfection anyway. Suicide, albeit a slow one, is against spiritual law and therefore divine judment will be harsh and not rule in his favor ("even ten will not placate you"). The lyrics advise that he seek someone or something else other than God or religion for comfort and placation because his actions undermine any chance of comfort and salvation ("...you're being taken for a ride"). Yet, after writing all of this, I am thinking that this could just be another warning against the perils of substance abuse and how drugs/alchol can offer a false sense of control and power over one's destiny and why people must seek out more positive outlets and support systems during tough times.