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Spasmolytic Lyrics
making time in a low rent high rise
no place to go
downtown
crushing crucifixion
particles aching
harmful descent
take a shot and hide
subway slamdance
stale mattress
slow throb bloating
freshly open grave
barefoot beggar
???
knotted finger
turning pages in a book descending
no noise
the great trees fall
calmly through the window
see backward elevation
faded spirit of the gold toothed whore
moon dances wondering
how could this ever be
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
possession in the flesh
love's made up melancholy
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
trip back and unleash all anger
emerging from the waterfall
branch fork horse rear snorted
downward
a vulgar desire
playing cards conjured on
fly blown
dimly lit
round a room of shadows
claw the side
phantom pinches
waking from a dream
half eaten candy
from some disordered heaven
swirling tastes
fornicate
rotted meat
swirling tastes
fornicate
rotted meat
a nested virus
feeds eating dish aging
she sits alone
in the worry she's created
more time put aside
sorry i'm fucked up inside
holy hatred
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
no place to go
downtown
particles aching
harmful descent
take a shot and hide
subway slamdance
stale mattress
slow throb bloating
freshly open grave
barefoot beggar
???
turning pages in a book descending
no noise
the great trees fall
calmly through the window
see backward elevation
faded spirit of the gold toothed whore
moon dances wondering
how could this ever be
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
possession in the flesh
love's made up melancholy
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
emerging from the waterfall
branch fork horse rear snorted
downward
a vulgar desire
playing cards conjured on
fly blown
dimly lit
round a room of shadows
claw the side
phantom pinches
waking from a dream
half eaten candy
from some disordered heaven
swirling tastes
fornicate
rotted meat
swirling tastes
fornicate
rotted meat
feeds eating dish aging
she sits alone
in the worry she's created
more time put aside
sorry i'm fucked up inside
holy hatred
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
kicking the habit
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
Well, while walking around trying to quit cigarettes can be a rather unpleasant time, I'm fairly certain that the racket, gut-wrenching screams, and general descriptions of a downtrodden, decaying place are referring to nothing less than heroin withdrawals. The lyrics could be taken a variety of ways but the song itself brings that to mind instantly to me. As an aside, I think Ogre's a great writer. Phrases like "low-rent high-rise" just seem so simple yet so creative and like I said, the vocals in this song sound almost as if he's gone too long without a shot himself. (For some reason, I recall reading that Too Dark Park actually IS a concept album roughly based on his own hard drug abuse experiences and that Dwayne and Cevin were less than excited about the idea).
Drug addiction, urban industrial paranoia, alienation... The best song on their best album. Every single second of Too Dark Park is brilliant.
The song is very obviously (to anyone who knows about it) about heroin/opioids. Firstly "kicking the habit" came about as a phrase because of the RLS (restless leg syndrome) that comes from opiate withdrawal. One line in the song has the words "horse" and "snorted"- Horse is a slang-term for Heroin and insuffilation is one of the two main methods of use. Thinking this song is about quitting smoking is just ridiculous... I would lose a lot of respect for Ogre if he were that much of a puss about a completely mental 'addiction'.
Also, opiate withdrawal causes body spasms- hence the name of the song.
Also, opiate withdrawal causes body spasms- hence the name of the song.
lmfao at the people who think this is about smoking cigarettes. that's hilarious.
as a former heroin addict, this song is 100% about heroin and life in the heroin underground, which is an extremely scary, dirty, yet alluring and seductive thing.
downtown (short for downtown brown) is slang for heroin, as it's usually bought downtown.
particles aching, the sickness when you don't have heroin makes you feel like every particle in your body is hurting so fucking bad.
take a shot and hide, I mean that's pretty obvious, you shoot up your dope and go hide away from others so nobody asks why you're nodding and because heroin makes most people not want to be around others, it's very secretive and isolated.
subway slamdance, well slam is a term we use to describe when you inject the heroin into your vein. I kinda feel like this is sort of a metaphor for when you are hiding in public shooting up while standing, and you kinda fidget around which may be where he came up with "slamdance". not sure but it makes sense to me.
stale mattress, again very obvious. lots of heavy drug users or drug houses have this dirty stale mattress on the floor that you nod out on. or it could even mean how when you're sick and sweating like crazy and it makes your mattress all stale and gross.
I could literally break this entire song down. he alludes to the life of a heroin addict, the drug, the places you hang out, people you hang out with... it's a really amazing piece of art.
Even in the music video, the woman who has brown hair (brown alluding to heroin) keeps telling him to come to her, and no matter what he cannot grasp her (chasing the dragon). it shows all these people telling him they need him to pay his bills, but he has no money because heroin took it all. he's strapped to the chair and the brown haired lady (which is heroin) is taking his money from him and making him into a slave. then at the very end the other person who made him into a slave is not only heroin, but himself. which is EXTREMELY true and real, because it's not just the drug's fault, it's our fault for hurting so bad that we needed heroin to help us. then he stands up and tries to catch the heroin lady one more time and ends up flying through the window which I think means dying.
@sanctuary92 dying from overdose after you've become a slave, is what I meant at the very end there, when he smashes through the window
@sanctuary92 dying from overdose after you've become a slave, is what I meant at the very end there, when he smashes through the window
@sanctuary92
@sanctuary92
I agree with a good majority of your interpretation of the song, as well as the music video (which is easily my favorite music video of all time).
I agree with a good majority of your interpretation of the song, as well as the music video (which is easily my favorite music video of all time).
To expound a bit on the video: the Ogre, whose cyanotic (a symptom of low blood-oxygenation; suffocation -- as well as blue's association with sadness) head is wrapped, seems to be experiencing all of the external stimuli of the world around him, which generally consists of binding/fettering traditions, institutions and constructs whose ultimate aim/goal seems to be control (i.e. economic/financial, government, religious [marriage], etc.). Control, or perceived control, seems to be...
To expound a bit on the video: the Ogre, whose cyanotic (a symptom of low blood-oxygenation; suffocation -- as well as blue's association with sadness) head is wrapped, seems to be experiencing all of the external stimuli of the world around him, which generally consists of binding/fettering traditions, institutions and constructs whose ultimate aim/goal seems to be control (i.e. economic/financial, government, religious [marriage], etc.). Control, or perceived control, seems to be the idea, here, as the "internal Ogre" is clearly shown restrained; he's strapped to a chair and is at the hands of two disguised "doctors" (medical, medication, medicine, etc. -- which is also to illustrate the kind of blind trust/faith we put into the hands of complete strangers, who are associated with medicine or who allegedly "know better" at how we are to "better" ourselves/make ourselves feel better: "control").
You can see how unenthusiastic "blue Ogre" is, and how sympathetic the brown-haired woman appears to be: so while the external world chases after him, he chases her, to escape: from what is around him, from what is within him or both.
Meanwhile, the Ogre who is strapped to the chair ("internal Ogre" - or, rather, how he perceives himself) looks to be the part of him that's receiving/desires self-medication. He is clearly in pain, injured and undergoing a type of "surgery" or operation that is meant to alleviate these ailments.
Once the masks are removed from the two "surgeons", we see that, in a way, he's taken responsibility for what he's doing to himself, in tandem with the brunette woman (who is also inside of him, now).
Rather than medicate/aid himself, he's been contributing to his own torture/torment and injuries. Ultimately, the "aid" of the brown haired woman leads to a quicker death (permanence), via a temporary solution: chasing the allure of perceived relief or solace.
...or maybe I'm just up my own ass about all of this... :p
This song is the shit! it was the first cassette that I bought from Skinny Puppy "Too Dark Park". that album changed my life....I realized that music was life.
This song kicks ass.
this could be in a horror clown movie or something, but yeah, its fucking tight
This song takes the viewpoint of a bum on the street trying to kick any kind of habit. Drinking, drugs, sex... It's also about life on the streets and how f***ed up it is.
It sounds like it's a very clever way of describing a walk around town. A lot of the descriptions are things that one would think and see.
It's not a bum because he mentions leaving his apartment. Kicking the habbit sounds like he's trying to quit smoking or other drugs which is why he mentions 'possession' any addict would feel possessed, but by the amount of times its mentioned, I think it's smoking, especially because he's in public.
I don't think it's about sex, a lot of it is just normal things you would see in a busy city if you live downtown. prostitutes, homeless people... Riding the subway is mentioned multiple times. I think he's walking and describing what he sees as he's walking, home and back perhaps because the subway is mentioned twice.