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Lie Still, Little Bottle Lyrics

Lie still, little bottle, and shake my shaky hand
Black coffee's not enough for me, I need a better friend
One pill at the bottom is singing my favorite song
I know I must investigate
I hope that I can sing along

There's no time for metaphors cried the little pill to me
He said, "Life is a placebo masquerading as a simile"*
Well, I knew that pill was lying
Too gregarious, too nice
But as he walked I had to sing this twice

Lie still, little bottle
Don't twist, it ain't twistin' time
With every move you make you just disintegrate my ever-troubled mind

Lie still, little bottle, and shake my shaky hand
Black coffee's not enough for me, I need a better friend
One pill at the bottom is singing my favorite song
I know I must investigate
I hope that I can sing along

Lie still, little bottle
Lie still
Lie still, little bottle
Lie still
Lie still
Lie still
Song Info
Submitted by
qshapadooy On May 15, 2002
6 Meanings

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Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

For all their efforts, none of the angst-rock bands of the 70s, 80s, and 90s ever quite captured the terror of drug addiction the way the imagery of this song does.

Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

i dunno i listen to this song and think that it's about taking a tylonol to stop a hangover after a hard night of drinking...there's only one pill left and drinking coffee wont stop the hangover...

Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

It's about amphetamines. TMBG specifically said it had nothing to do with alcoholism. "Black coffee's not enough for me...I need a better friend" - in other words, something similar to coffee but stronger (Amp); "lie still, little bottle and shake my shaky hand" - common side-effect of strong stimulants is shakiness. He needs the pill to lie still because he is shaky, and thus it's hard for him to grab his last amphetamine. He wants to "shake hands" -shaking hands with the pill in this case meaning making a connection, allowing him to grab the pill with his hand as one would normally grab or "shake" another person's hand

Song Meaning

@regenerator have you got a source / link for this?

Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

Terror? This song is fun.

Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

To me this song is someone intentionally overdosing on pills.. "one pill at the bottom.." he's going to eat them all. And the pill is gregarious, ie social.. Wants to be with others of it's kind.

Cover art for Lie Still, Little Bottle lyrics by They Might Be Giants

If any other band had written this, I would have said it is about suicide or drug abuse. As it was written by TMBG, I going to have to go with jingy23 and say it is about a hangover cure.

Though hearing it at college, that pill sounds like ritalin...

 
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