Lyric discussion by 44cable12 

Cover art for Cough Syrup lyrics by Young the Giant

To me, the meaning of this song is all contained in it's title. Cough srup is a REMEDY that we all use (well most of us)_ to alleviate systems brought on by colds and flu. It's noticable traits are the awful taste and a need for a hard swallow to get it down.

But our song hero is not suffering from a cold. His sickness is depression which was spawned from failure, disaapointment and quite possibly lousy treatment from judgemental people (the fishes) and small minded, cynical, people (the Zombies).

The REMEDY for depression involes swallowing your pride and seeking help from others. No one likes to have to do this, but at some point you cave in.

You must also swallow your regets so you don't get stuck wallowing in self-pity. Hisr life is at a standstill because of this.

This process is long and difficult. So he deals with it a spoonful at a time.