Medicine for the Dead

"Medicine for the Dead"
General Information
Artist	Slipknot
Release Date	September 30th, 2022
Recorded	Early 2021 – February 2022
Genre	Nu Metal
Length	6:16
Audio	Official Audio
Label	Roadrunner Records
Writer(s)	Corey Taylor, Shawn Crahan, Jim Root, Alex Venturella, Mick Thomson
Producer(s)	Slipknot, Joe Barresi
Mixer(s)	Joe Barresi
Album(s)	The End, So Far
The End, So Far Chronology
← Previous	"Warranty"
Next →	"Acidic"

"Medicine for the Dead" is the seventh track on The End, So Far.

Background

On July 19th, the album's full tracklist was leaked on Twitter. And later in the day the band officially announced the album, The End, So Far, along with the music video for the second single; "The Dying Song (Time to Sing)".

"'Medicine for the Dead' is one of those songs about anyone who deals with depression, physical depression and clinical depression, who knows the feeling that you get when you start to feel the numbness come on, and you know there's nothing you can do about it, you just have to ride it out. Even if you take meds for it, there's nothing you can do. The fact that the minutes and the hours feel so long, and you're waiting for that wave to go away. For me, it takes at least three days of dealing with that. I don't take meds for it, I just try to deal with it and surround myself with people who will coax me out of it. So, 'Medicine for the Dead' is almost from the therapist's standpoint, where you're trying to find the right combination of chemicals for the numb, for the living comatose."

—Corey Taylor

Lyrics

[Intro]
Yeah

[Verse 1]
What happens in the dark, feels the way, the blackout never comes
Turning the gears, sharpen the blades of sheer terror, these fevered ones
But tell me the secret things, show me the bloody kings
Let's play a game where the winners always lose, their heads

[Pre-Chorus]
Time screams by, life is mine
Time screams by, life is-

[Chorus]
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Drink me)
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Drink me)

[Verse 2]
Before it could begin, the shooting stopped, the silence always comes
Now where do we go, because you're walking the streets, it's no better, there's something wrong
Pull at your privacy, a product of lunacy
Don't be surprised when the losers want to win, but then again

[Pre-Chorus]
Time screams by, life is mine
Time screams by, life is-

[Chorus]
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Drink me)
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead

[Bridge]
Where does it end and tell me where does it go
If evil exists, then only evil can know
When do we run and are they letting us in
Where does it end and tell me where to begin

[Chorus]
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Drink me)
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Medicine for the dead)
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (Drink me)
Your condition is a symptom
We'll have to give you medicine for the dead (You have to drink me)

Trivia

• The second verse lyrics are different between the CD booklet and the vinyl lyric sheet. The CD booklet features the lines; "Before it could begin, the shooting stopped, the silence always comes.", ""Now where do we go, because you're walking the streets, it's no better, there's something wrong." & "Don't be surprised when the losers want to win, but then again." While the vinyl lyric sheet has the lyrics as; "Before it could start, the shotting stopped, the silence always comes.", "Now where do we go? Walking the streets in pure terror, there's something wrong." & "Don't be surprised when the losers refuse to win, again."

External Links

To be added