Interpretations:Lie Still, Little Bottle

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Anybody else think the line "life is a placebo masquerading as a simile" was "life is hopeless, evil... masquerading as a simile"? -Mark

I think that this song can join the ranks of spiraling shape and thunderbird, as I think that this song is about drugs. The pill at the bottom of the bottle is a better friend than black coffee. He tries not to take the pill, but it sings to him, and tries to convince him to do it. He knows the pill is lying, but he just cant help himself. -drworm818

i just wanted to say i love the line "life is a placebo masquerading as a simile." if anybody wants to discuss tmbg im me on aim at finneganswake05. its always neat to meet fellow fans

A guy drinking a bottle of tequila all alone in a bar has an existential crisis, until the worm at the bottom of the bottle tells him to snap out of it because life is a postmodern Buddhist illusion anyway, so why psyche yourself out? Contains a TMBG classic: the linguistically architectonic statement, wherein the structure of the sentence reflects the meaning of the sentence. "Life is a placebo/masquerading as a simile."

For the record, Flansburgh has stated that "[t]his song is about amphetamines and barbiturates..."



Drug advertising. Pharmaceutical companies' alluring statements that "life is a placebo".... Obviously. "One pill at the bottom/is singin' my favorite song..." Of course, I was walking to the psychiatrist when I had this revelation, so maybe my ever-troubled mind is messing with me again, but don't you think an article entitled "Lie Still Little Bottle: Drug Companies' Agitation for New Customers" would be less boring than most of my school's health law journal articles?

It strikes me that the word Placebo archaically means the Roman Catholic Vespers for the dead (thank you dictionary.com!). Could that have a meaning?


I'm pretty sure it's about a guy at a bar, drinking because he needs something stronger than black coffee to make him feel better. He starts to see a pill at the bottom who's encouraging him to drink more, or to "sing his favorite song". The line "Life is a placebo, masquerading as a simile." I think means that life is isn't what it seems.

And it's about ampheatmines and barbituates like Flansy said. --Mrs. H0rrible Someone keeps moving my stool! 00:07, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

“One pill at the bottom is singing my favorite song / I know I must investigate / I hope that I can sing along”

I imagine a drug addict who’s addicted to pills, and there’s one of those containers filled with pills and he believes the pill at the very bottom has a reward; thus “I hope that I can sing along”.

“I know I must investigate” means investigating by taking all the pills until he gets to the bottom. It’s his brain’s way of convincing him to take more, as any addict does. So he wants to quit, but his excuse for continuing is investigating a pill that is singing his favorite song.

Much like the quote “most gamblers quit before they hit it big”.

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