Placebo from the garden of Eden
Rub it on bone watch the skin grow
Blissful cocktail makes a god from heathens
Changing your life to a perfect glow

Tie a knot and hang it up high
Your battered corpse is bitter and sore
Our lethal nectar will distort your body (liquor)
We'll make you better than god did before

Oh child of Balem, I hear you wailing
Your love muscle refuses to grow
When nature fails reach for the elixir
Boldly rush where angels won't go.

Bound up perfected 5 inches inflated
You'll be an overnight extrovert
Pattern the body, beauty by numbers
breathe in tight, this is going to hurt

Excess into muscle
Jesus pill binge
Water into wine
Devil in a syringe

Suckling frenzy at rubber breast
Beheaded busted a doll infect
Salty lotion, rubbed in open scratch
Removes hair and all self respect

you need it trust me you need it.
inject potion peel back your face
lacerate on your armor inflict
uncut beauty underlines grotesque

you don't get it you just don't get it

You will obey me
You will become me
We will control you
Time for your medicine baby



Lyrics submitted by Garbage.Fairy

Elixir song meanings
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11 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    I personally think it's about unnatural modifications in general, INCLUDING drugs.

    'O child of Balem, I hear you wailing Your love Muscle refuses to grow When nature fails reach for the elixir Boldly rush where Angels won't go.'

    I believe Balem might be a figure who appeared (briefly) in the bible as some sort of idol. Therefore it is highly likely that 'Boldly rush where Angels won't go' refers to Sodom and Gomorrah, the city of sin from which the term sodomy (A term that refers to 'unnatural sex' such as oral, anal, and most probably homosexuality.) is coined. However, in this context Sodom does most likely refer to anal sex. In Sodom and Gomorrah, their sin was said to be the men's tendency towards their own gender. Historians have said that Sodom was probably full of homosexuals. It was also made infamous for rape, which is proven when Lot, Abraham's relative, received two angelic visitors and the people begged for Lot to surrender his beautiful guests to them so that they could sleep with the visitors. Instead, Lot sent out who wife and daughter, who were raped and tortured.

    'Pattern the body' might be speaking of the lines drawn on one's face before plastic surgery to ensure proper cuts. At least, that's what it seems like to me.

    'Blissful cocktails make a God from Heathens' might speak of drugs used to get high. Hence the 'bliss.' You take these drugs and start to feel better about your shitty life. Therefore it makes you feel powerful, making you a 'god' from a 'heathen.' This line also may speak of beauty products that people use. You suck it in and viola! You have godlike plastic skin-deep beauty. Miracle, Eh?

    Well, that's all I have to say. Make of this what you will.

    HeartlessHatefulon June 09, 2008   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    This is a really long post. Bear with me, please.

    “Placebo from the garden of Eden Rub it on bone, watch the skin grow” The implication here is that Eden’s promise of pure, eternal bliss for its inhabitants are achieved via the placebos it produces, which means that it doesn’t create proper bliss at all, just the illusion of it. Because it is a placebo, when it is being rubbed onto the bone, the bone is just as skinless as ever but the placebo creates the illusion of skin, which means one’s still going to bleed to death. These lines introduce us to the people talked about in the song as those who will easily fall for an illusion, and to the song’s theme of drugs and religion being intertwined.

    “Blissful cocktail makes a god from heathens Changing your life to a perfect glow” A heathen, if we take the word literally, is one who does not believe in the Abrahamic god but adheres to a different religion. This could be a reference to the biggest celebrities’ penchants for weird-arse religions, making the “blissful cocktail” drugs that some take so that they can perform and smile for the paparazzi like they’re supposed to, and because they do well they become even more celebrated and eventually idolised and worshipped as if they were gods. Of course, it could also be a reference to Botox, but the word “blissful” in my opinion suggests a mind-altering drug. I don’t think that the “perfect glow” of the second line is real. I think the “blissful cocktail” also acts as a placebo (continuity, yaay!) to make the heathen-turned-god believe that they have a perfect, glowing life, and blinds them to the reality of the world around them.

    “Tie a knot and hang it up high Your battered corpse is bitter and sore” I’m guessing — I’m really clutching at straws here — that the first line talks about glamorised suicide, like that of Marilyn Monroe. I don’t know. It would go with the celebrity guess I made above, and the whole blinding-to-reality thing, because if one thinks suicide is glamorous, one is figuratively blind to the harsh reality of it. The bitterness and soreness would perhaps come from the amount of cosmetic surgeries and weight loss treatments and eating disorders and strange, uncomfortable clothing and diluted versions of absolutely amazingly lethal bacteria and recreational drugs and medicinal drugs and cosmetic drugs and other such things that it would have been subjected to, if the “you” is a celebrity as guessed above.

    “Our lethal nectar will distort your body We'll make you better than god did before” “Lethal nectar” probably refers to Botox, which is derived from botulinum toxin, which is a horrifically lethal bacteria (according to Wikipedia, 90-120 freaking NANOGRAMS can kill a person weighing 90kg, and it is feared as a potential bioterror weapon). It distorts bodies by paralysing muscles (to get rid of wrinkles, in this case). It makes people “better” by removing the main sign of ageing, making them look younger than they are and therefore look better. And in the world of the paparazzi, image rules all as the main instruments paparazzos use are cameras, therefore looking good is synonymous with being good.

    “Oh child of Balem, I hear you wailing Your love muscle refuses to grow” Google is not telling me who or what Balem is/was, my spellcheck doesn’t recognise it (then again, it doesn’t recognise the word spellcheck, either) and my general ignorance (QI! =D) means I’ve no clue. I seriously think it was just made up to rhyme with “wailing”. In my opinion, “love muscle” does mean penis, and erectile dysfunction is associated with age, which celebrities appear to be terrified of. Alternatively, it could refer to teenage boys’ stereotyped obsession with dick size and the recent tidal wave of male teenage celebrities.

    “When nature fails reach for the elixir Boldly rush where angels won't go.” The “elixir” may or may not be the same placebo previously mentioned in the song, or it may be (and probably is) referring to Viagra. However, if one isolates that line, “elixir” could be any body- or mind-altering drug. The second line is obviously a reference to Alexander Pope’s famous quote, “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” which would mean “boldly” is used sarcastically. This reinforces the idea that the person talked about in this song is really fucking stupid, and easily persuaded by advertisements and salesmen of “elixir”-like products.

    “Bound up perfected 5 inches inflated You'll be an overnight extrovert” For some reason, I think the first line talks about breast size rather than dick size, because breasts are seemingly “inflated” by silicone implants and then “bound up” by bras and corsets and other such things. This adds to the anonymity of the person referred to. Are they bigendered? This means that ‘Elixir’ can be applied to any celebrity who subjects their bodies to these grotesque modifications. (As an aside, I bet the Krankhaus Society put themselves in the phonebook as cosmetic surgeons to have fun with these types of celebrities. That could be a whole other interpretation of this song by itself.)

    “Pattern the body, beauty by numbers Breathe in tight, this is going to hurt” “Pattern the body” obviously refers to tattoos and piercings and hair dye and other such things. Or maybe not, because Angelspit are hardly averse to that sort of thing. “Beauty by numbers” is an obvious comparison between society’s aesthetic expectations of celebrities and the ‘colour by numbers’ thing that kids and unimaginative people follow to the fraction. The last line is what doctors almost never say to people according to popular representations of them. Angelspit turn the tables by asserting that yes, it is going to hurt, but it’s your own fault for wanting to look like everyone else you pussy. Or something along those lines.

    “Excess into muscle Jesus pill binge Water into wine Devil in a syringe”

    This again intertwines religion with drugs. My inability to see outside of the box means that I’m not sure why Angelspit are doing this.

    “Suckling frenzy at rubber breast Beheaded busted a doll infect” Celebrity baby boom! Celebrities’ babies are condemned to suck at artificial tits for the paparazzi to gush about how wonderful a mother their mummy is. And because they’re all trying to pop out (or adopt) as many babies as possible, the use of the word “frenzy” is justified. The second line makes no sense to me whatsoever. =/

    “Salty lotion, rubbed in open scratch Removes hair and all self respect” I automatically think “cum” when I hear “salty lotion”, but I’m not sure. And why would it be rubbed in an open scratch? Although it could be referring to some beautifying cream, which may as well be cum, because who the hell really knows what’s in those pretty little bottles? The second line I think refers to the excessive beautifying celebrities do, and the breakdowns and low self-esteem some of them have because they don’t think they’re pretty enough for the paparazzi. (I glance at tabloid headlines occasionally. Don’t eat me.)

    “You need it, trust me, you need it. Inject potion, peel back your face” The first line is the coercion of the greedy cosmetic surgeon or the agent or even the celebrity themselves to have more cosmetic surgery. The “peel” thing makes me think of Amber Sweet’s face falling off in Repo! The Genetic Opera, and so maybe the “potion” in this case is not the aforementioned placebo or elixir now, but a strong addictive painkiller like Zydrate.

    “Lacerate, on your armour inflict Uncut beauty underlines grotesque” I’m not sure about the first line, but the second line is telling us how society will not accept beauty that is not “cut” i.e. subjected to cosmetic surgery when the owner of such beauty hits their forties. “Uncut” also sounds like a comparison to diamonds — cut diamonds are gorgeous, but there’s not much variety between them, and after a while you’re not impressed by their clear, cold, glittering prettiness anymore. However, uncut diamonds just look like a bunch of rocks, but they don’t all look the same, and some are prettier than others.

    “You don't get it, you just don't get it” This links into the whole blinded-to-reality theory above. The person really just doesn’t get it.

    “You will obey me You will become me We will control you Time for your medicine baby” I think of this as the pills or syringes or whatever talking to the person. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

    P.S. — Everyone who’s commented on this song has helped me understand it. Thank-you.

    DieBarbieDieon December 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I love this song but what does it mean by "Oh child of Balem, I hear you wailing"

    I also think this song is telling how society thinks you have to take drugs and what not to be "in" and to be cool.

    FreeYourHateon April 14, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Oh child of Balem, I hear you wailing Your love muscle refuses to grow When nature fails reach for the elixir Boldly rush where angels won't go. ^^^^ Could be a reference to viagra.. love muscle= penis grab the pills to make it work!

    I think this song might be talking about theres a drug for everything now!

    Tushon April 18, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    overall, this song is trying to reveal the horror and disgust in medically modifying your external appearance. It refers to botox, silicone implants, viagra, and other forms of plastic surgery or unneccessary medical changes to the body

    sei-kun2061on May 27, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Love muscle refusing to grow could also mean (I'm taking a stab at this) the child's heart refused to grow, meaning cold-heartedness

    theif_of_soulson August 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Love muscle refusing to grow could also mean (I'm taking a stab at this) the child's heart refused to grow, meaning cold-heartedness

    theif_of_soulson August 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "Boldly rush where angels won't go." refers to anal sex, as Sodom was the city in the Bible where "Angels fear to tread."

    Lemminkaeinenon August 24, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    2 me it sounds like plastic surgery like sei-kun2061 said but also it does sound like they have a drug for everything like Tush said so im agreeing with u2 ^^

    GigglingZombieon September 15, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I believe its about all sorts of body modification. Infect I think steriods were even mentioned at one point.

    Though I think they made the song so abstract that it makes us think so many different things. Just so we relate it to our personal beliefs in society.

    Does that make sense?

    dednyzon May 19, 2008   Link

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