This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
Go on and taste your dreams
Leave me with the bill
and miss me half as much as you say you will
You can make me believe you'd need me still
Love may be a curable disease
Those dreams, they are like pills
They may dangle you like a worm out on a line,
or make you the household name just like they have advertised
Does it concern you now, does it even cross your mind?
That "love" could be a misquotation
Your dreams, they are not mine
And in the light of day, what have you got?
Are you for sale or are you bought?
Is there a best "if used by" date written on the top?
I don't believe that it's wrong to have heard love and dared the cost
but love can be a misquotation and lines can be crossed
If you can taste your dreams and leave me with the bill
and miss me half as much as you say you will
You can make me believe that you need me still
Your dreams have been a false I.D. that made you look like someone else
and the writing on the wall looked just like water on the windowsill
It said love can be a curable disease
Leave me with the bill
and miss me half as much as you say you will
You can make me believe you'd need me still
Love may be a curable disease
Those dreams, they are like pills
They may dangle you like a worm out on a line,
or make you the household name just like they have advertised
Does it concern you now, does it even cross your mind?
That "love" could be a misquotation
Your dreams, they are not mine
And in the light of day, what have you got?
Are you for sale or are you bought?
Is there a best "if used by" date written on the top?
I don't believe that it's wrong to have heard love and dared the cost
but love can be a misquotation and lines can be crossed
If you can taste your dreams and leave me with the bill
and miss me half as much as you say you will
You can make me believe that you need me still
Your dreams have been a false I.D. that made you look like someone else
and the writing on the wall looked just like water on the windowsill
It said love can be a curable disease
Lyrics submitted by prettybird
Curable Disease Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
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Blake has slowly but surely become one of my favorite artists, and I always liked this one, but the brilliance of these lyrics just dawned on me today after realizing I had misheard a piece. Personally, I think he’s musically creative enough that he could mumble anything over it, but when you have the music, vocal melody, and lyricism like you have in this song, it’s something else.
Anyway, like the other commenter said, I do think this song is about unrequited love in a way, but a little more complicated than that. I imagine the song’s narrator was in a mutually loving relationship that ended because one of them decided their personal plans/dreams were incompatible with and more important than the relationship. AND I imagine that the conversation went something like, “I love you, BUT . . . I have to follow my dreams . . . So I’m Leaving.” The two opening lines set the stage for this and also have a neat effect of putting characters in a scene. As if the narrator was dumped over dinner and then was left to pay the bill—a slap in the face regardless of the dumper’s motivation.
That kind of breakup—one person leaving under the pretense of following their dreams—is somewhat common I think, and it’s confusing for everyone. But I think this song is a cathartic exercise in calling BS on the logic behind it. I read a lot of it as sarcasm. The line “Love may be a curable disease” sounds like a feigned epiphany, and comparing the person’s dreams to pills—presumably curing them of their love for the narrator, at least enough that they can walk away—is almost like a non sequitur. It’s like saying, “If you loved me, you wouldn’t leave.” Or saying “because you’re leaving, you must be ‘cured’ of your love for me.” Even though the person leaving may have more complicated/conflicted feelings than that in reality, this paints it black and white.
Later lines continue to question how legitimate the love of the person leaving is, calling it a “misquotation” or “mistranslation,” because in the narrator’s mind true love does not equal you leaving me. That person’s love can’t be real based on their actions.
Still, the narrator wonders. The lines “In the light of day what have you got? // Are you for sale or are you bought?” could just as easily be directed at the person leaving or the narrator. In either case, it’s asking, “where does that leave us?” Are we hanging onto some “love” for one another, or is this really it? Are we going our separate ways? Both of them may not know the answer until long after they’re separated.
Then, the “curable disease” line is turned on it’s head at the end, taking on a hopeful tone I think. Because if the relationship is really over—if love can really be a curable disease—then maybe the narrator’s heartbreak can too. Maybe the leftover love for and frustration with the person leaving will fade away and be cured with time. That’s a bit of an overreach based on the lyrics alone, but that’s how I read it.
So, that’s my overall take. I didn’t mention every line, but I think each one serves a purpose, and the song as a whole is pure musical and lyrical poetry.
Thanks, Blake.
@Bestern okay, one more thing. I think the lyrics actually justify why the ending sounds comparatively hopeful. <br /> <br /> I mentioned that the narrator questioned his interest’s love throughout the song, wondering if it was ever “real” given the fact that they’re leaving. I think that’s something any rational person would do in the situation I’ve laid out—with one person leaving in spite of the love they claim for the other. And I mentioned a “feigned epiphany” the first time the narrator brings up the term “curable disease.” <br /> <br /> I think the second use and closing line is an actual epiphany. It says “IF you can taste your dreams and leave me with the bill // IF you can miss me half as much as you say you will.” This reads like a logical “if, then” statement. I think the “then” is implied with the line “you can make me believe that you need me still” in this instance. The narrator’s still hooked (see “worm out on a line” lyric). <br /> <br /> In that context, the statement that “your dreams have been a false ID that made you look like someone else” reads like forgiveness. It’s like saying “I too am wrong for having mistaken your ambitions for your identity.” Because, assuming everything I said in my previous comment were true—that the narrator and the person leaving both felt they were in love at one point—the black and white assumptions about love from earlier in the song might not hold water. They weren’t ever THAT black and white in the first place. I may have been off pase there. <br /> <br /> “Misquotations” and “mistranslations” sounds like honest mistakes that anyone can make. People in loving relationships aren’t immune from those mistakes. What some of them might be immune to though is resentment. <br /> <br /> I think that’s what the penultimate line means. “And the writing in the wall looked just like water on the window sill.” Writing on the wall is a common turn of phrase that alludes to a warning sign—often one that’s realized too late. It’s taken from a biblical story that involves a king misreading literal writing on a wall, which serves as a literal warning sign from god, and later he pays the price for it. It’s honestly an alarmist phrase that contrasts well with the idea of “water on the window sill.” Writing on a wall sounds inherently more permanent than water on a window sill. I think of ink or crayons, sharpies or chalk, charcoal or paint, or (as a horror movie fan) blood. All of which sound much more difficult to remove from of a wall than water would be to wipe from a window sill. <br /> <br /> That characteristic is important to my theory. Because the last line is “IT SAID love can be a curable disease.” The antecedent of “IT” in this case looks something like water, which can be easily wiped away. Easily forgiven/forgotten. If I’m reading this (talk about extended) metaphor right, it means that the very idea that “love can be a curable disease” can now be dismissed as bullshit in the mind of the narrator. Musically and lyrically, it seems like both the climax and resolution to the song. In one fell swoop, the narrator wipes away the idea that real love can be “cured,” as well as the doubts about his/her own love and the love of the person leaving. I read the very last line as the narrator laughing at their own expense after a necessary but incorrect rant.
This song took a few listens before I realized how good it really is. I interpret it like this-
A boy can fall in love with a girl. He reads her attitude like she loves him too, and then he does everything in his power to bring the two of them together. His love for her is completely sincere, but she doesn't actually have any true intentions of being with him. So he ends up putting everything he has on the table, "like a worm out on a line," only to find that she didn't want the same thing.
The best line to me is "I don't believe that it's wrong to have heard love and dared the cost, but love can be a mistranslation, and lines can be crossed." He loved her, and held onto the hope that she loved him too. Sadly she did not feel the same way. His dreams were different than her's.
I love the hopefulness of the last line:
"...the writing on the wall looked just like water on the windowsill, it said love can be a curable disease."
It's pretty interesting to refer to unreciprocated love as a disease. Either way, there is solace in this song. In the instrumental, in the lyrics, all of it. I think Jeff Tweedy said something about the best songs being written in spite of pain. This song is a good example of that.