Lyrics for Better Living Through Chemistry as interpreted by OwnPersonalDemon

Better Living Through Chemistry Lyrics
The blue pill opens your eyes
Is there a better way?
A new religion prescribed
To those without the faith
A hero holding a knife
And blood is not enough
Is it too late to go back?
Is it too late to go?

There's no-one here
And people everywhere
You're on your own

Let's see if I'm hearing this right
You suggest I should take
A never-ending supply
To carry out the dead
Your idols burn in the fire
The mob comes crawling up
I'm reclaiming my mind
Destroying everyone

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 32 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
Karmapax
07-01-2002

Rated -1 
i saw queens of the stone age the day before yesterday... and he said: "This song is about LSD."
i'm not 100% sure if it was this song but i think so (first two lines).

Log in to reply
slushie
03-17-2003

Rated 0 
my favorite thing about the queens is that they are not like all the cowering children of the war on drugs. they accept the responsibility of drug use and throw it in the faces of their fans. its about time musicians made drugs popular again.

Log in to reply
NFG122286
03-29-2003

Rated 0 
Good song...I saw Queens of the Stone Age live and when they played this song it was awesome...they are a really good band and will be one for years to come hopefully!!

Log in to reply
NFG122286
03-29-2003

Rated 0 
Good song...I saw Queens of the Stone Age live and when they played this song it was awesome...they are a really good band and will be one for years to come hopefully!!

Log in to reply
uncletommy
03-31-2003

Rated 0 
Josh: "I think lots of the things that deal with drugs in our music are misunderstood. Like, we have a song called Better Living Through Chemistry which is an anti-drug song. It's saying it's okay, [that] the government says it's okay, for you to take Prozac everyday, every single day, to feel better and feel absolutely numb. Don't smoke that joint, though, you! (points finger)"

josh in interview [copy and pasted from thefade.net, the best unofficial QOTSA site there is]

also, the line "There's no one here And people everywhere" is attributed to Bjork

Log in to reply
Learn_To_Swim
10-02-2004

Rated 0 
I dunno...that interview could just be a kinda "cover your tracks" statement. It's not like he's gonna openly admit that Queens Of The Stone Age write songs that are pro-drugs.

Log in to reply
VelvetEyes
10-24-2004

Rated 0 
Right. Because Josh has always been so afraid to admit drug use in the past........... nope.

Log in to reply
Niam
11-30-2004

Rated 0 
nah i agree its an anti- drugs song just read the lyrics "The blue pill opens your eyes Is there a better way A new religion prescribed" kind of like "mothers little helper" by the rolling stones

Log in to reply
fingergun
01-08-2005

Rated 0 
i misinterpreted part of this song and like my version better:

let's see if i'm hearing this right
you suggest that i should take
a never-ending supply
to carry out the day

fiddlesticks.

Log in to reply
JeffKaos71
03-12-2005

Rated 0 
about the title:
"The phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" is a variant of a DuPont advertising slogan, "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry." DuPont adopted it in 1939 and was their slogan until the 1980s when the "Through Chemistry" bit was dropped; in 1999 it was replaced by "The miracles of science".

This phrase became popular as culture shifted from mod to hippie in the later half of the 1960s. Protesters would show up for a rally, perhaps to protest a chemical plant, wearing DuPont propaganda buttons, which bore this slogan, while high on LSD, Quaaludes or other man-made drugs.

Protests in the 1960s didn't all revolve around the Vietnam War. Dow Chemical and DuPont were common targets, as people disliked the "artificiality" they represented, not to mention the fact that DuPont did manufacture napalm. But food preservatives, industrial pollution, nuclear establishments, and the prohibition of drugs were also common topics of protests.

The phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" was used on products that were not affiliated with DuPont to circumvent trademark infringement. This transmutation is now more commonly used than the original. This statement is used for commentary on several different topics, from the promotion of illegal drugs, to the praise of chemicals and plastics, to the criticism of the same, sarcastically.

This phase is sometimes associated with Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World, though it does not actually appear in the text of the book."
*From Wikipedia.com

by the way Better Living Through Chemistry is also the name of FatBoy Slims 1996 album.

Log in to reply
Zoch
04-05-2005

Rated 0 
It sounds more like:
Let's see if I'm hearing this right
Do you suggest that I should take
A never ending supply
To carry out the dead (it sounds a bit like "day", though, and that would actually make more sense)

Log in to reply
Jestunhi
08-14-2005

Rated 0 
lyrics as stated on thefade.net (as stated above... the best QOTSA fan run site)

Let’s see if I’m hearing this right
You suggest I should take
And never endings are glad
(*right channel* - A never-ending supply)
To carry out the dead

Log in to reply
Jestunhi
08-14-2005

Rated 0 
thats the lyrics above, with the suggested lyrics heard on the right channel alone.

Log in to reply
k0s
09-16-2005

Rated 0 
This song is very obviously about drugs. I liked it a lot. Then I tried mushrooms, and it now has a whole new meaning. This song captures the feel of a psychadelic halucinagen EXTREMELY well, perhaps not completely intentionally so, since it can very well be about drugs in general. But anyway, "a new religion prescribed" can indeed refer to drugs themselves but it also captures that beatific euphoria of a crazy trip. "there's no one here, people everywhere" is definitely the general feeling of a bad trip, as you start losing yourself and the world around you. So I won't deny that this song might not have been intended to chronicle the acid trip, but that's the general vibe I get from it, and since Homme is no stranger to a menagerie of different drugs, perhaps his sentiments were similar.

Log in to reply
grinningvadge
11-09-2005

Rated 0 
Man, this song is not just about TAKING drugs... this is a total religion which soo many of us recreational users buy into..bit naive though..

yeah so in the 60s drugs were taken, not just for fun, but for the purposes of self discovery and enlightenment. In Bali a rite of passage involves taking ridiculous amounts of shrooms. Personally me and some friends have a bit of faith in this idea of mind altering chemicals, i have had some incredible experiences with higher consciousness, surreal perspectives (id like to think) though at the same time this 'religion' of thought on drugs fell through when people generally realised that they've got reprecussions if abused. Josh could be buying into this ideal of "living through Chemistry"- especially considering the amount of drugs that guy does....

or alternatively "those without the faith" and "the mob comes crawling out" implies people just disillusioned with normal mundane day to day life, who hate the majority.... 'fringe' characters.

Log in to reply
grinningvadge
11-09-2005

Rated 0 
Man, this song is not just about TAKING drugs... this is a total religion which soo many of us recreational users buy into..bit naive though..

yeah so in the 60s drugs were taken, not just for fun, but for the purposes of self discovery and enlightenment. In Bali a rite of passage involves taking ridiculous amounts of shrooms. Personally me and some friends have a bit of faith in this idea of mind altering chemicals, i have had some incredible experiences with higher consciousness, surreal perspectives (id like to think) though at the same time this 'religion' of thought on drugs fell through when people generally realised that they've got reprecussions if abused. Josh could be buying into this ideal of "living through Chemistry"- especially considering the amount of drugs that guy does....

or alternatively "those without the faith" and "the mob comes crawling out" implies people just disillusioned with normal mundane day to day life, who hate the majority.... 'fringe' characters. Not to sound like a wannabe world weary "boho" pothead who wanks too much but i've got the feeling sometimes that "there's no one here" when there's "people everywhere". Vacant unthinking wankers at parties/high street/mcdonalds

Log in to reply
Marquez
12-04-2005

Rated 0 
very hippie-sounding song... i don't get the "hero holding a knife" part... but i love this song anyway. Trippy, atmospheric and great if listened to on headphones.

Log in to reply
Pellucid
02-17-2006

Rated 0 
This song is definitely about prescription drugs. I mean, he uses the word "prescribe" in the song...how much more obvious can you get?

"Those without the faith" would be those who are not "normal" per se; the depressed, the psychotic, the imbalanced.

I'm not sure what "A hero holding a knife and blood is not enough" means. I suppose the hero could be someone who rejects mind-altering drugs, legal or illegal, and "self-medicates" by self-mutilation. The fact that it isn't enough may indicate that he's still spiralling into his insanities.

The second verse on this site is totally wrong. I quote from www.qotsa.com:

Let's see if I'm hearing this right
You suggest I should take
A never-ending supply
To carry out the dead
Your idols burn in the fire
The mob comes crawling up
I'm reclaiming my mind
Destroying everyone

Log in to reply
Hoax
03-04-2006

Rated 0 
I believe this song is about modern society's dependence on medication, especially for happiness. The number of people on antidepressant drugs is huge.

Log in to reply
DSM33606
04-02-2006

Rated 0 
I think that the "hero holding a knife" part is about doctors....surgery and prescription drugs

Log in to reply
bignique187
04-05-2006

Rated 0 
I agree with Hoax, but for some odd reason it made me think of birth. "blue pill opens your eyes". that blue suction thing to clear the gunk out of your nose. "a hero holding a knife and blood is not enough" . the dad cutting the cord? i dont know i just was listening to it and it made me think of that. or maybe its about being born doing drugs, getting hooked and staying fucked up all your life and then getting clean and going crazy. *shrug*

Log in to reply
freakystyley
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
stoner rock,

gotta love it

Log in to reply
Qotsa-in-my-blood
07-30-2006

Rated 0 
Cool song!!!

Log in to reply
qotsatrippin
06-19-2007

Rated 0 
The blue pill opens your eyes = matrix

also probably refering to ecstasy, which come in heaps of different colours, and make you very energetic and happpy, ie opening your eyes.

"A new religion prescribed,
To those without the faith"
yeah...prescription drugs and a whole society that take them. like dexes (a.d.h.d pills)
"To those without the faith" i think was a line out of matrix..not sure. But i believe this is, people who don't believe (have faith) in "drugs" but take prescription drugs as the government/doctor says its alright.

I think this song has a few different meanings, because some of the description is more like trippin of acid/shrooms than having E.

"There's no-one here
And people everywhere
You're on your own"
deffinately a feeling of trips

"Let's see if I'm hearing this right
You suggest I should take
A never-ending supply
To carry out the dead"
Maybe a doctor prescribing a never ending supply anti-depresants to someone who has lost a loved one (carry out the dead..)

"Your idols burn in the fire
The mob comes crawling up
I'm reclaiming my mind
Destroying everyone"
seems like acid/shrooms again, bad trips can consist of the worst possible things happening, ie idol burning in fire. "reclaiming my mind" the small intervals when you snap out of phycotic trips on acid (when your on acid you are so confused).

"destroying everyone" phycotic trips of destroying everyone ie friends as you can imagine some of the worst things that can possibly happen and you lose touch with reality.

well, thats my opinion anyhow

Log in to reply
half_fast
07-18-2007

Rated 0 
This song is definitely anti-prescription drugs.

"The blue pill opens your eyes"
I don't think this is talking about The Matrix because it was the red pill that was supposed to show you the truth, but then again, maybe Josh is trying to say that the government wants you to take the blue pill so that you can stay sedated and under control. I don't know.

"A new religion prescribed"
Pill-popping is the new religion because everybody is taking some kind of pill for whatever illness they think they have or whatever some doctor tells them they have.

"To those without the faith
A hero holding a knife"
I think this part is saying that people who refuse to take the drugs prescribed to them opt for a lobotomy. In the 30's through the 60's, psychosurgery was pretty widely prescribed in the U.S. for a variety of reasons from schizophrenia to depression to "youthful defiance"(this would probably be seen as a.d.h.d. today). Look up "lobotomy" on wikipedia.

"And blood is not enough"
Many times when lobotomies were performed, mental retardation was a side effect. I think he's saying that it wasn't enough that you had a hole drilled into your head; you also get your mind permanently altered.

"There's no-one here
And people everywhere
You're on your own"
I'm fairly certain that this is describing a drug-induced oblivion.

I'm just throwing in my two cents anyways; it's some of the many meanings that have went through my head. I like what Hoax said about the song and some of what qotsatrippin said too.

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here