112 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

This Bitter Pill Lyrics

Walking away.
It's not the same as running.
Is it to you now
that you've run this in the ground?
And you say take this.
This medicine is just what you deserve.
Swallow, choke and die.
And this bitter pill is leaving you with such an angry mouth.
One that's void of all discretion
such an awful tearing sound.
With its measure only equaled by the power of my stare
glaring over you and over you this feeling of despair
is never wearing out.

It's wearing off
and it's leaving you with such a heavy heart
and a head to match.
The bottle is waiting
the cap is twisted
begging to be used
and so are you.

And this bitter pill is leaving you with such an angry mouth.
One that's void of all discretion such an awful tearing sound.
With its measure only equaled by the power of my stare
glaring over and over you this feeling of despair
is never wearing out.
Song Info
Submitted by
oofus On May 11, 2001
112 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

Several points I'd like to make:

  1. Dashboard Confessional is not punk. Black Flag is punk. Minor Threat is punk. DC is not emo, either. Ever heard of Sunny Day Real Estate? Jets to Brazil? Texas is the Reason? sigh Please quit throwing around those labels because they're incorrect.

  2. I was too impatient to read all four pages of interpretations, but from what I DID read, no one seemed to realize that a "bitter" pill is an idiom. A "bitter pill" is something difficult to accept. Put that into the context of the song and it makes things a bit more obvious.

My interpretation is as follows: The person he's referring to in the song has spent a whole lot of time avoiding the consequences of a mistake he/she made, and instead of accepting defeat, he/she lashes out and shifts the blame to other people. Eventually this denial begins to "wear off," leaving this person deflated, remorseful, and lonely. As for the "begging to be used..." part, I'm not entirely sure, but assuming the bottle is filled with pills, I think this person is probably too scared to actually "use" the bottle - instead, he/she will resort to the other forms of self-destruction associated with a complete and utter loss of hope.

  1. I liked Dashboard more before he got the full band. The predominantly solo stuff is more honest, I think.

  2. Oh, and this is a beautiful song.

he was way better by himself. dont get me wrong, him and the band have created some hits. but by himself, you could understand, and feel what he was saying alot better. he sounded human.

he was way better by himself. dont get me wrong, him and the band have created some hits. but by himself, you could understand, and feel what he was saying alot better. he sounded human.

@UHmericanKitsch thank god there are some of us left that grew up in the 90s, listening to good music that they used to call alternative and then all of a sudden these people Didn’t come from our lifestyle and we’re introduced to this kind of music and then start calling out all these weird names and making their identity out of it and gave it a bad name. It’s just good music BTW, Northeast PA and New Jersey also, New York base is where this music came from. Labels need not apply.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

when i saw DB live a few yrs ago, he was crying when he sang this song and it touched everyone in the room. (not very much people in there though). I went again last month, he looked at the crowd and laughed and said "last time i came here, barely anyone knew about me..what happened?" but anyways the reason why i like DB so much is cause in his songs, you know exactly how he felt when he wrote it and expresses it well when he sings...he is the real meaning of emo.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

that's why i like dashboard... and the lyrics in this song..you're right, this is truely emo.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

i swear, i've always wondered how artists can sing sad songs and never cry. you'd think they'd be even more worked up, because they personally REALLY DO know what the songs are about. so i love how he cries at the end. i mean, it makes me feel bad, but you know.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

ohh lord. his voice at the end i can't even explain. i get chills everytime i hear it. i play it on repeat everytime. once i start i can't stop....it's just amazing. you feel the emotion behind that ending just deep in your soul. it sounds corny but it's definitely hits you right in that place where all amazingly emotional songs hit you.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

ohh lord. his voice at the end i can't even explain. i get chills everytime i hear it. i play it on repeat everytime. once i start i can't stop....it's just amazing. you feel the emotion behind that ending just deep in your soul. it sounds corny but it's definitely hits you right in that place where all amazingly emotional songs hit you.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

ahhh. speaking of listening to it on repeat, this will be my 7th time for right now listening. ohhhh it just hits me. you can actually FEEL his pain and it like tears at me inside when i hear it. i want to just cry with chris cause you can completely hear his pain in the ending....i just imagine how he feels and how personal that was to him....lordie begordie.

on a side note, chris used to babysit my boyfriend when he was a baby and his mom is best friends with my boyfriends mom. yes chris was like, 9 at the time, but hey it's cute all the same :)

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

Oh man, whenever i hear this song, i wanna cry. Chris is so amazing. I just went to a DC concert last week, and it was the best night of my life. this song is just so great... i love it

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

By far my favorite Dashboard song. It rips my heart out everytime i hear it, but that is a good thing. It so rare now days to find songs that carry the emotion like this song does.

Cover art for This Bitter Pill lyrics by Dashboard Confessional

I like it too but what is it about? You´ve got to know that I´m german and I often don´t understand the context of songs...

 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...