The Saddest Thing I Know

Sounds like the singer is paying out on someone who is out of control with their substance abuse.

You keep coming up for air To find your own foot pushing on your head Say man you are the saddest thing I know "I see the dried up lotus(?) in your hair" You got the old kaleidoscopic stare Say man you are the saddest thing I know

i believe it's actually "I see the dried up blood is in your hair"

I agree that it's about a gambling and drug addiction, but I think the last part

"When you gonna finally admit It's the end of the line you've been hammered and hit Your body is a wreck and your mind is amiss I know what you want I think this is it"

isn't about the singer killing the addict, or the drug, but about the singer wanting the addict to wake up, snap out of it, get clean.

This is backed up by them saying "I hope that you wake up in time to scream" i.e. become aware of what's going on and that it's ruining their life, and "You keep coming back for more/To find me almost knocking on your door" describing the addict going back to get more all the time and seeing the singer wanting to talk to them about the problem.

Therefore the line "I know what you want I think this is it" is the singer saying they know better than the addict what they want (=to be aware and get out of it) and them telling the addict straight that what they are doing needs to stop, which will help them snap out of it.

Love this band.

Yep, agree with drunk. The song is about having absolute disrespect for a loser who wrecked his life with drugs and alcohol. I'd even go as far as saying the very last line is about killing the loser.

"I know what you want. I think this is it" Then the song ends suddenly. What he wants is to be put out of his misery.

Orichalcon, you're almost there. I think it's not about drugs or alcohol, rather a gambling addiction. "Race me for tail or for heads" - tails and heads, usual gambling choices "Your attitude is mud and your promise is dead" - gamblers will always promise "never again", and "just this once", I know a few "Your numbers all come up now you're king of the town" - sounds like gambling to me :D "You got a cold sweat begging for a score, you lose it all as you stumble to the floor"

This definately sounds like a person has been mixing drugs and alcohol with gambling. "how long you been asleep at the wheel" meaning how long has he been stuck on the same gambling machine gathering up speed. So it's non stop consuming alcohol and gambling "Race me for tail or for hits" is the gambling part of things. "Your numbers are come up now your king of the town" At a start he's hitting up big money, and he feels amazed by the amount that he's winning. Closer to the end it's now beginning to speak on the persons' downfall. He keeps coming back for more but is out of luck. He keeps "stumbling to the floor" The alcohol and the drugs are getting to his head. Drawing to the end, he's not looking so good, he doesn't know when to stop. "Your body is a wreck and your mind is amiss" "I know what you want I think this is it" Possibly saying he can't go further, by being so intoxicated with drugs and alcohol, and losing everything that he had, he wants to be "put out of his misery", as to what Orichalcon So I agree with both Orichalcon and travarizza opinions

I thought it was about drugs. But from the drugs' perspective.

I dont think it would be about the dealer/friend saying you are the saddest thing cus dealers have to make their money and they dont give a fuck.

Theres alot of songs about drugs where alot of writers call them a 'she', they become this metaphor.

The line about chasing a new thrill, thats the thing about drugs is that you constantly look for that high but you wont get it after the first time or after a while..

I think this song is about drugs, alcohol, gambling, drink driving. I think the song is bagging out all the loser's who give humanity a bad name. The people who gamble all their money and spend everything on alcohol. The people who decide to drink drive and kill someone else in the process but don't care and keep doing what they're doing.

Birds of Tokyo is appalled by today's society and the negative rammifications which the loser's bring.

It sound to me like the lyrics are that which the substances says to the addictee