Well, at first glance it seems to be about drugs, but drugs here are just a way of referring to some (positive) state you're in, whether it's happy, creative, or something else.
Downie loves to write about the creative process itself and there are signs of that here. Certainly the first and second verse should be familiar to anyone who has done creative work and then looked at what he's done after the fact; it's that continual, recurring spasm of doubt, the swing between "I rock" and "I suck."
The drugs hit you and all seems wonderful, even the nadir is aglow; they quit you, everything sucks, and your faith in yourself dissolves. And then the cycle begins again.
Well, at first glance it seems to be about drugs, but drugs here are just a way of referring to some (positive) state you're in, whether it's happy, creative, or something else.
Downie loves to write about the creative process itself and there are signs of that here. Certainly the first and second verse should be familiar to anyone who has done creative work and then looked at what he's done after the fact; it's that continual, recurring spasm of doubt, the swing between "I rock" and "I suck."
The drugs hit you and all seems wonderful, even the nadir is aglow; they quit you, everything sucks, and your faith in yourself dissolves. And then the cycle begins again.