Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks

Alright, this has nothing to do with any Palahniuk books, as Panic! at the Disco confirms. You guys have basically just been taking out a couple lines and thinking up some reference from a past book... but the song has a coherent meaning that if you read over the words makes sense. It might not be perfect but I'll take a stab at it and if you have any suggestions I'd like to hear.

The setting is a hospice... there is a person there who may be suicidal or might just be mentally unstable or very depressed or has some other problems, but somehow he or she is on the edge of dying. He or she comes to and fro from the hospice pretty often and it's a recurring problem.

"Watch your mouth, your speech is slurred enough that you might just swallow your tongue. I'm sure you'd want to give up the ghost with just a little more poise than that."

Right here the person on the hospice bed is basically rambling on and not making much sense; the person he's talking to can't understand him, and says to the patient to regain his poise, and to start making some sense so that he can help him. "Give up the ghost" means to die (think about it... when you die some say a ghost of you stays behind). The patient doesn't want to die acting like that does he? Does the patient want people to remember him like that?

"Or was it God who chokes in these situations? Running late? No, no, he called in."

Or was it God.... - he's basically asking, is it God's fault you're here? is he to blame? Maybe God is just running late? No, he's not just late, he's not even coming in today (the big question is why: I think maybe it's that the patient is so hopeless - he's done this so many times - that God is basically letting him be. Not quite sure. I think mostly it's a statement to stop blaming God.

"That's when you stutter something profound to the support on the line. And with the way you've been talking every word gets you a step closer to hell."

You've been rambling on for so long but you've finally made a bit of sense... up to this point everyone on support thought you were coming closer and closer to death (closer to hell).

"A pessimist? No I just can't help it, to say what everyone else is thinking."

He's said a few times that the patient is about to die - "give up the ghost..." and "a step closer to hell." Is he a pessimist for saying that? No, or if he is, he's not the only one who's a pessimist - all the support team thinks the person is nearly beyond hope.

"The problem: the hospice is a relaxing weekend getaway, where you are a cut above every sick sad patient. When you're on first name basis with all the top physicians."

Stay with me. Up to this point it sounds like the person is basically mentally unstable... The patient is not making a lot of sense to the doctors. Here is more evidence that the patient may be bringing this on to himself - the place the patient is brought to, a hospice, is pretty nice and relaxing. It's better than what most patients get, and all the physicians know you."

"The Solution: Prescribed pills to offset the shakes.. to offset the pills you should take a day at a time (fix a vice with a vice)."

So to appease him the doctors give him pills... apparently the patient is already supposed to be taking pills but he isn't, so these will offset the results from not taking pills.

"I am alone in this bed, house and head. She never fixes this but at least she makes me forget."

This is the most important line. It's almost an epiphany. The patient puts himself in "these situations" so many times. Maybe here the patient realizes to stop blaming the doctors and God and to start taking care of himself. Notice he's not just alone in his bed and house, but in his head - maybe the patient realizes he needs to start taking care of himself more.

Also I want to go back to the line "stutter something profound to the support on the lie.." which gives the doctors a clue that the patient isn't as bad as he's making himself out to be and just needs to get his act together.

The doctor never fixes his problem but makes him forget his troubles (more evidence he might be depressed/mentally unstable or what). It's a vicious cycle.

So basically what it means to me is there are many people who claim to have all these problems and take all these pills and keep going to doctors to get help... The person needs to stop feeling so hopeless and blaming other people and start taking more care of himself. Stop playing all these games.

Feedback?

I think it's about someone contemplating, or perhaps failed, a suicide because of depression.

I think the beginning is about how they are blaming everything on God.

The hospice is A relaxing weekend getaway --- The suicide failed, and they're at the hospital, but being away from his own life for a couple days is like a vacation.

Prescribed pills To offset the shakes To offset the pills You know you should Take it a day at a time ---They were prescribed pills for the depression but they starting taking more than the prescribed amount

I am Alone in this bed, house, and head And she never fixes this But at least she I am Alone, in this bedroom She never fixes this But at least she...---They are alone, which is a part of their depression, and whoever 'she' is is part of it, and never changes her actions, keeping them depressed

this song is about suicide.

here we have a character who is depressed, and is prescribed pills "[he] knows [he] should take" but he doesn't.

in his depression, he has attempted suicide because he is not taking the proper medication, and his suicide attempt has failed. now he is in hospice. when he describes the hospice as

"A relaxing weekend getaway Where you're a cut above all the rest Sick and sad patients On first name basis with all the top physicians"

he is being completely sarcastic. he has tried to slit his wrists, and because of his fragile condition, he has been placed in higher priority than other patients that may have been at the hospice longer. when he says he is "a cut above all the rest" he is being completely sarcastic. his use of the word "cut" is ironic because it almost seems like he purposely cut himself to be sent to hospice, because it's "a weekend getaway" better than his "lonely bedroom".

he is now in the hospital bed, at the hospice. he is on the antidepressants he had previously refused to take. however, he shakes as a side effect to the antidepressants, so he is medicated even more to deal with this problem. he is so drugged his speech is slurred.

is god to blame for this situation? no no, he called in. it's actually the character, because he has tried to take his own life. god has nothing to do with this. it was his own choice.

when P!ATD says "I am Alone in this bed, house, and head And she never fixes this But at least she makes me forget I am Alone, in this bedroom She never fixes this But at least she Prescribed pills..."

I think he is referring to a psychiatrist or doctor when he says "she". the character says he is alone. while the "she" does not fix that problem (he is still lonely) she just prescribes him pills that make him forget his is lonely. perhaps this doctor is a love interest? ...hmm...perhaps...if that were so, it is possible that he is resentful that she only prescribes him pills, instead of fixing his problem of being lonely.

this is my favorite song bye P!ATD and i like the album version waaay better. the demo is slow, whiny, and disgusting. lol.

I totally understand this song, differently then most. My Mom is an alcoholic as well as addicted to drugs, illegal as well as RX. This song reminds me of the nights I had to care for my autistic six year old sister, while my mother's slurred ramblings woke her. The nights where I had to pick my mother up off the floor. The nights where my mother would cut herself & cry that no one loves her. The nights where I had to hide the vodka bottle, despite being hit & screamed at for it, for she would finish the entire 250ml bottle in a couple hours. After "giving up the ghost" of vodka, she turned to coke & heroine, as well as xanax, soma, vicodin, & more. So I may not know the books you are talking about, or the exact story behind this song... but I know what this song means to me. I have lived through these lyrics... I survived. I enjoy this song, because it has made me feel strong enough to detach myself from my mother, & leave her in the past... Anyway, just wanted to put that out there for people who think this song is different then an alcohol or drug user.

i don't think the god part has anything to do with people blaming stuff on god and it's not his fault. it's more like you're waiting for god to work his so-called magic ("running late?") but he never pulls through for you ("he called in")

I agree mostly with Malfoy here: this song is the beginning of a STORY. This story runs until either the end of the CD or "There's A Good Reason...". Looking at the rest of the songs in relation to this one, I think this song is introducing us to the doormat-ish boyfriend of a depressed/suicidal girl. She's obviously unwell, but refuses to take responsibility for herself, gets drunk (perhaps in a downward spiral after a death?):

Watch your mouth Oh, oh, oh, because your speech is slurred enough That you just might swallow your tongue I'm sure you'd want to give up the ghost With just a little more poise than that...

And blames God:

Or was it God who chokes in these situations? Running late? No no, he called in.

He realizes his relationship with her is not a healthy one, but he's so lonely and meek that he can't bear being alone:

I am Alone in this bed, house, and head And she never fixes this But at least she makes me forget I am Alone, in this bedroom She never fixes this But at least she--

Any thoughts?

In an interview, Ryan said this song was about his alcoholic father.

The meaning of this was obvious to me on first listen - I've been hospitalized for depression in the past and this speaks exactly how I feel about it still. "Alone in this bedroom, she never fixes this, but at least she prescribed pills." In this setting, you're pretty much stuck in a room you're not allowed to leave for six hours a day. It has a bed, a bathroom, a desk and chair, and my personal favorite, a single window with a large seat for you to sit on and wonder where your life has gone... I'm getting off topic. My point is, he's saying that everyone is telling him they can help, but all they do is drug you.

I love this song. I wish it had more acoustic in it though.. I'd love it even more.

ah man this song. it wins at life.