Milk

In my opinion, this song is about unrequited love. It's very haunting and melancholic. It's one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. This first verse shows the distinct juxtaposition of her emotions, the "red hot kitchen/ketchup" lyric representative of her burning desire for the object of her affections. She is in love with the subject to the point where she doesn't want to live without him. The milk and ocean metaphors are symbols of the "cool" and slightly aloof exterior she must fake to hide these complex emotions she has, so she's cruel and manipulative (i.e. using her tears to bring him home) All she wants is him and for him to love her back and she will use her fragility to make him fall for her despite her flawed and undying passion for him. She feels lost in the vast sea of emotions towards him. He might not even know she exists. What she's waiting for is for him to reciprocate which results in her gentle, delicate facade deteriorating. She is filled with an aching longing as she desperately anticipates him to return his emotions and she is transparently shattered, infinitely waiting for someone to complete her endless and contrasting spectrum of infatuation, to dilute her capricious emotions. She doesn't want to be so polarized, she just wants to feel a more simple type of love that they both share, but she doesn't know and that's what's breaking her.

I think about all of this because I'm feeling the exact same way now. It may not be what it's about, but I feel this song to the bone. It gives me shivers because it describes me so well.

did anybody listen to the massive attack remix of this song? you'll be like OH MY GOD, the triphop sound fits perfectly in the background!

I think this song is about manipulating someone else, especially a woman who is acting weak and dependent in order to "make" someone else come back to them. The most obvious example of this is "I am weak/But I am strong /I can use my tears to/Bring you home," where she is saying that by crying and appearing weak she can make the other person come back to her. When she says "I'm waiting for you...," she is also demonstrating the same theme because it implies that the girl cannot live without the other person; that her life is on hold until the other person returns to her. Unfortunately I'm not exactly sure what the references to milk, red hot kitchens, or oceans has to do with the song. The kitchen part makes me think of a homemaker and the red hot part makes me think of a prostitute. What I make of this is once again, a girl is acting weak and dependent (stereotypical stay-at-home wife) but is seductive because of this supposed passive/submissive nature. The "I am lost/So I am cruel/But I'd be love and sweetness/If I had you" line once again is an example of manipulation. The girl's life has no meaning ("I am lost" without the other person and she is justifying her cruelness or negativity by blaming it on the person, saying she'd be sweet if he or she returned.

This song sounds a bit like a love song, but I saw Garbage in concert a couple of years ago, and I remeber Shirley saying that the song was about a close friend of hers who had a serious drug dependency ( herion I'm guessing) and how it affected the friend and those around her.

This song sounds a bit like a love song, but I saw Garbage in concert a couple of years ago, and I remeber Shirley saying that the song was about a close friend of hers who had a serious drug dependency ( herion I'm guessing) and how it affected the friend and those around her.

I really love this song. It's intense but there's something eerily lovely about it.

this was garbage at there best im not a real fan of their newer stuff this will always be my favorite

Maybe I'm just stupid... But I always thought the lines "I am milk/ I am Red Hot Kitchen/ And I am cool/ Cool as the deep blue ocean" were references to Shirley's own appearance. She's got pale and milky skin, her hair is red, and her eyes are blue/green aren't they? I dunno, I always just figured that's what the song was about.

Their saddest song, its also the most bare and straightforward, its just utter loneliness and pure sadness. Its an abosolutely heartbreaking note to end the album on, but i love it!

Sometimes I think its the drug talking; it is luring and crying and seducing and pining for the abuser and it can be intense like a red hot kitchen or calm and soothing like a deep blue ocean. And sometimes it appears weak so the abuser will feel he can handle it, but then it is strong and keeps him in its grasp. When lost (out of the abuser's system) it brings the cruel withdrawal syndrome promises sweetness if it could just reunite with the user... And heroin is white like milk.