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Medicine Bottle Lyrics
Giving into love and sharing my time
Letting someone into my misery
I told it all step by step
How I landed on the island
And how I swam across the sea
And it crosses my mind
That I may wake to a knife in me
No more breath in my hair
Or ladies' underwear
Tossed up over the alarm clock
Blood dripping from the bed
To a neatly written poem
A heartfelt last line reading
There is no more mystery
Is it going to happen my love
It's all in your head she said
Morning after nightmare
You're building a wall she said
Higher than the both of us
So try living life
Instead of hiding in the bedroom
Show me a smile
And I'll promise not to leave you
It happened under a rainy cloud
Passing through the dark south
We went into a big house
And slept in a small bed
I didn't know you then
As well as you of me
We talked of our sad lives
And we went off separately
I found your overseas souvenirs
Holiday greeting cards
And some long forgotten high school fears
It's all in my head I said
Banging a piano
I've not been so alone I thought
Since kicking in the womb
I drank so much tea
I wrote my letters in kanji
Around the block I walked and walked
Pretending you were with me
Not wanting to die out here
Without you
The hurting never ends
Like birthdays and old friends
We forget what is flesh blood and bone is human
Turning phone lines to airlines
Unwilling to face
That love is found on the inside not the outside
And like a medicine bottle
In the cabinet I'll keep you
And like a medicine bottle
In my hand I will hold you
And swallow you slowly
As to last me a lifetime
Without holding too tight
I do not want to lose
The thrill that it gives me
To look out from my window
And scowl at the houses
From my world in the bedroom
It's all in my head she read
In her girlfriend's self-help book
It's all his own making
A war with himself
Like two sides of a wall
That separates two countries
He shuts out the world
And wants only to love you
Not wanting to die out here
Without you
Letting someone into my misery
I told it all step by step
How I landed on the island
And how I swam across the sea
And it crosses my mind
That I may wake to a knife in me
No more breath in my hair
Or ladies' underwear
Tossed up over the alarm clock
Blood dripping from the bed
To a neatly written poem
A heartfelt last line reading
There is no more mystery
Is it going to happen my love
Morning after nightmare
You're building a wall she said
Higher than the both of us
So try living life
Instead of hiding in the bedroom
Show me a smile
And I'll promise not to leave you
Passing through the dark south
We went into a big house
And slept in a small bed
I didn't know you then
As well as you of me
We talked of our sad lives
And we went off separately
I found your overseas souvenirs
Holiday greeting cards
And some long forgotten high school fears
It's all in my head I said
Banging a piano
I've not been so alone I thought
Since kicking in the womb
I drank so much tea
I wrote my letters in kanji
Around the block I walked and walked
Pretending you were with me
Not wanting to die out here
Without you
Like birthdays and old friends
We forget what is flesh blood and bone is human
Turning phone lines to airlines
Unwilling to face
That love is found on the inside not the outside
And like a medicine bottle
In the cabinet I'll keep you
And like a medicine bottle
In my hand I will hold you
And swallow you slowly
As to last me a lifetime
Without holding too tight
I do not want to lose
The thrill that it gives me
To look out from my window
And scowl at the houses
From my world in the bedroom
It's all in my head she read
In her girlfriend's self-help book
It's all his own making
A war with himself
Like two sides of a wall
That separates two countries
He shuts out the world
And wants only to love you
Without you
Song Info
Submitted by
threemilesdown On Dec 17, 2001
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i love this song. i think it's about a guy who's really depressed and melancholy and falls in love with a girl who's pretty happy. she keeps trying to get him to see past his depression, but he can't and it causes problems between them. these lines pretty much point that out : it's all in your head she said morning after nightmare you're building a wall she said higher than the both of us so try living life instead of hiding in the bedroom show me a smile and i'll promise not to leave you they seperate for the last time in the second verse "it's all in my head i said banging a piano i've not been so alone i thought since kicking in the womb i drank so much tea i wrote my letters in kanji around the block i walked and walked pretending you were with me not wanting to die out here without you" He misses her alot. The part about the medicine bottle, he's going to hold onto her memory and "swallow her you slowly" or in other take it all in. at the same time, he wants her back so much and he doesn't care about anything else "it's all his own making a war with himself like two sides of a wall that separates two countries he shuts out the world and wants only to love you" Oh yeah, and instead of him being depressed, he could also be struggling with a drug addiction.
I know your post is eight years old and that you personally probably won't come back to reply, but I get the vibe that the girl is in the wrong. As if, she's the cause of his depression while she's telling him to stop being depressed. Kind of a cruel circle of emotions.
I know your post is eight years old and that you personally probably won't come back to reply, but I get the vibe that the girl is in the wrong. As if, she's the cause of his depression while she's telling him to stop being depressed. Kind of a cruel circle of emotions.
I disagree that they separate in the song. I think that verse ("I've not been so alone...") emphasizes his dependance on her; it's not that they broke up but just that when she's not around he feels so alone and walks around pretending she's with him. This builds up to the medicine bottle confession– that he needs her like a drug that makes life tolerable but with too much he'll lose himself, or perhaps the part of himself which is so isolated.
I disagree that they separate in the song. I think that verse ("I've not been so alone...") emphasizes his dependance on her; it's not that they broke up but just that when she's not around he feels so alone and walks around pretending she's with him. This builds up to the medicine bottle confession– that he needs her like a drug that makes life tolerable but with too much he'll lose himself, or perhaps the part of himself which is so isolated.
I also don't think this song is written as a narrative. It's more of a stream...
I also don't think this song is written as a narrative. It's more of a stream of thoughts, feelings and reflections, maybe memories, that are all connected. Brilliant song writing really. What makes it so great is that it's not all there. The song is like a still from a movie or a page from a diary. It leaves so much to the imagination but at the same time it's very direct and clear, not to mention powerful.
and im aware this post is 11 years old, it was just a prompt to me
@matrixmouse7 although this post was made 22 years ago, it’s comforting believing that you will see this someday. This song is angelic and beautiful. I think the song is just the writer’s imagination. “Its all in my head she said” could be implying that he lives in his head all too much, inevitably making himself “depressed”. I think he becomes so stuck in his sorrow he kills himself. The last little bit “ its all in my head she read” could just be his suicide note. I think the girl was incapable of understanding he may have a chemical...
@matrixmouse7 although this post was made 22 years ago, it’s comforting believing that you will see this someday. This song is angelic and beautiful. I think the song is just the writer’s imagination. “Its all in my head she said” could be implying that he lives in his head all too much, inevitably making himself “depressed”. I think he becomes so stuck in his sorrow he kills himself. The last little bit “ its all in my head she read” could just be his suicide note. I think the girl was incapable of understanding he may have a chemical imbalance in his brain, leading him to be depressed without reasoning. She thought she could “fix” him, they fell inlove, then she left because he is a wreck of emotions she can not deal with, I know that I am going back and forth in this, im just putting myself in his shoes.
Also, he says “i may wake to a knife in me” and “blood dripping from the bed” prompting the fact that SHE killed him. he mentions a poem after this, maybe telling us that she wrote a note trying to frame his depression for taking his life.
i have trouble listening to this song as it is too close to home sometimes
very powerful song
A very haunting complex-layered song with superb lyrics
I love how there are no really difficult metaphors and the like in this and it is just him expressing his emotions.
Fascinating song, but who's heard of the band?
Fascinating song, but who's heard of the band?
Formed in 1989. Here are the band's albums: Down Colorful Hill (1992) Red House Painters aka Rollercoaster (1993) Red House Painters aka Bridge (1993) Ocean Beach (1995) Songs for a Blue Guitar (1996) Old Ramon (2001)[1]
Formed in 1989. Here are the band's albums: Down Colorful Hill (1992) Red House Painters aka Rollercoaster (1993) Red House Painters aka Bridge (1993) Ocean Beach (1995) Songs for a Blue Guitar (1996) Old Ramon (2001)[1]
This is the song I always put on to cry to. The image of a sad boy in his room scowling out at the world through his depression just breaks my heart because I feel such a kindred spirit to Mark.
Such a difficult song to listen to. It's amazing.
I wonder if he could even be schizophrenic, based on the line about his mind being divided like two countries. Either way, it's so fucking upsetting.
THE song about the pain and misery of heartache. The absolute depression caused by breaking up, or being dumped by someone. It's awful and like a bereavement and it doesn't get talked about enough. It's so so bad.
10/10 song. anyway, my perception is that he's stuck in a cycle where the thing he wants/lusts after is the thing bringing him down. and he keeps relying on the lust object to make him escape the pain that comes after the indulgence. basically, a song about co-dependence on sexual intimacy. he's let himself be convinced that it will/ can last forever and he's planning in his mind to scheme/ reproduce the intimacy, but it's not actually in his control, and he's reluctantly seeing the sober reality as the fantasized one dissipates. the medicine bottle represents an inability to let go of the fantasy. the sober reality is expressed by the knife in the back and the underwear tossed over the alarm clock. basically, he knows deep down the intimacy is not actually about him getting his dreams fulfilled, but being merely objectified by someone else for a short time. the pain, i think, comes from the disparity in how long the objectification lasts between the 2 of them, where he doesn't truly get what he wants for as long as he wants it, but she does. and the fact that he has this intense fantasy about what it meant is recognized by the lover, but when she says it's all in his head, he gets bitter/ jaded and begins to trust the sober feeling once she removed the rosey part. this is expressed by hiding in his room, as a way to isolate from the world that promised things falsely and added to his pain. the other side of the wall, the world and life he has to live to get that initimacy to come to him again, is something he doesn't want to deal with. but he is addicted to how the intimacy made him feel, so the cycle between punishing codependency and being realistic and safe from his own delusions keeps going on. this interpretation is largely funnelled through my own experience of serial masterbation high and being convinced a girl was into me based on one showing of interest, where i began to believe every delusion that offered me the rosiest feeling, because i wanted to. i've had a need to keep a high going, and it's been hard to accept the reality not controlled by me. basically, my medicine bottle is one i actually can keep on the shelf (porn/masterbation high) and bring out whenever i want. in Mark's case, the medicine he wants is one he can't have as often as he wants.