I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
Covered yourself up in snow
Baby, tell me, where'd you go
For days and days?

Did they make you stay up all night?
Did they paint your face that pastey white?
You're thirsty but your appetite
Gets chased away

Sun turns us to stone
It's a cloudy day
But we still can't go home
I've been out that cellar door
Until we see the moon
We're invisible

No one ever takes the garbage out
A neighbor kid gets dared to touch the house
He runs back only to announce
"There's no one home"

Because we paint the foil with the flame
Smear the soda, taste butane
For every fear that can't be named
To calm you down

Your heart starts skipping steps
So you're farther gone
Than you might expect
If your thoughts should turn to death
Gotta stomp them out
Like a cigarette



Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget

Track duration: 04:33


Down in a Rabbit Hole song meanings
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110 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Yes, this song is about drugs.
    This song is about Speed not Coke. The lyrics describe everything that has to do with speed. There is a part of the song copy and pasted below that describes Goof-balling which is using speed and heroin together.

    "Because we paint the foil with the flame
    Smear the soda, taste butane
    For every fear that can't be named
    To calm you down"

    None the less this song is a great song with strong meaning! It relates to my life and many others.
    Flag sarikacaon August 17, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:This song is about drug use.

    "I heard you fell into a rabbit hole
    "Covered yourself up in snow
    Baby, tell me, where'd you go
    For days and days?"

    A rabbit hole = a drug den or when you "check out of normal society" to do drugs. Snow = cocaine. She would be gone for days and days because that's what typically happens when you "check out".

    "Did they make you stay up all night?
    Did they paint your face that pastey white?
    You're thirsty but your appetite
    Gets chased away"

    Staying up all night refers to the stimulant effect of cocaine. The next two lyrics also refer to side effects of the drug, it makes you look pastey and makes you thirsty and loose sppetite.


    Sun turns us to stone
    It's a cloudy day
    But we still can't go home
    I've been out that cellar door
    Until we see the moon
    We're invisible

    Suns turns us to stone means that the morning has come and you realize you've been up all night in the "rabbit hole" doing drugs. At that point, you're probably starting to come down, your circulation slows and you get very cold, hence "Sun turns us to stone". You "still can't go home" because you're afraid to check back in to normal society yet.

    No one ever takes the garbage out
    A neighbor kid gets dared to touch the house
    He runs back only to announce
    "There's no one home"

    This refers to the run-down and desolate appearance that drug dens usually have from the outside. The house probably has overgrown hedges, etc because the people inside are pre-occupied with drugs. During the day there is minimal activity, so it would seem as though no one lived there.

    Because we paint the foil with the flame
    Smear the soda, taste butane
    For every fear that can't be named
    To calm you down

    This refers to heroin use. Heroin is often cooked with a butane lighter on a piece of foil "Paint the foil with the flame/ Smear the soda taste butane" The next two lines refer to the calming effect of heroin. You can emotionally escape any fear or anxiety when under the influence of heroin, hence its appeal.

    Your heart starts skipping steps
    So you're farther gone
    Than you might expect
    If your thoughts should turn to death
    Gotta stomp them out
    Like a cigarette

    This refers to overdose. If "your heart starts skipping steps", that is a telltale sign of overdosing. If "you're farther gone than you might expect" That means that you expected relief from the drug, but you didn't think you were going to die. Then it basically says that if you think you're going to overdose, you have to stop thinking about it so that you don't have a bad trip or so that it doesn't become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
    Flag chiaseedson October 14, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song is obviously about a speed habit, Which Conor Oberst did have. I am addicted to speed and this sounds just like me. OH OH AND ALICE AND WONDERLAND WASN'T ABOUT DRUGS. Lewis Carroll never touched a drug in his life. He was becoming a preist before he died and was a strict Christian. Know your shit before you post
    Flag alexzandriaeon January 05, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Does anyone else notice the connection to Donnie Darko? The rabbit and the cellar door? Just a thought.
    Flag Insidexraindropson May 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:gah, i mean- freebasing crack.
    but conor did have a coke addiction as well
    Flag jennijayneon March 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this song is about drugs. Conor had a coke addiction- it is referenced in other songs, such as "Gold Mine Gutted". also, the reference on "paint the foil with the flame" is obvious- freebasing coke over foil, a flame beneath to heat it and inhale the smoke.

    i love Conor.
    Flag jennijayneon March 17, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Rahter amphetamins than Coke to me... Probably both mixed up.
    Flag Talibuon March 16, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:who sees the reference to smoking pills in the part where he says "paint the foil with the flame, smear the soda taste butane" when you foil pills it turns the foil a dark color and its bomb!
    Flag KennytheJet35on February 21, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:it's definately about cocaine.

    it sounds to me like conor stayed in a house with a few other users. the typical run down crack house/abondoned house that druggies would stay in.

    the younger kids in town must think it's scary looking, so they dare eachother to go up and touch it.
    No one ever takes the garbage out
    A neighbor kid gets dared to touch the house
    He runs back only to announce
    "There's no one home"

    i picture conor in a rundown house with his friends, using, or already high. and they can hear the kids talking and maybe come up to the door? but they don't respond or go outside, so the kid assumes that no ones home.
    Flag liesarelieson January 23, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I never understood this song when I used to listen to Bright Eyes.

    I started doing coke a few months ago, and today I decided, what the hell? and put on Digital Ash, and it suddenly came to me. Weird how things work.
    Flag recordplayeron January 20, 2009   Link

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