Nicotine
Produced by
Nicotine Lyrics
(I look like Rocky Balboa)
[Verse 1]
Cross my heart and hope to die
Burn my lungs and curse my eyes
I've lost control and I don't want it back
I'm going numb, I've been hijacked
It's a fucking drag
[Pre-Chorus]
I taste you on my lips and I can't get rid of you
So I say damn your kiss and the awful things you do
[Chorus]
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah
[Verse 2]
It's better to burn than to fade away
It's better to leave than to be replaced
I'm losing to you, baby, I'm no match
I'm going numb, I've been hijacked
It's a fucking drag
I taste you on my lips and I can't get rid of you
So I say damn your kiss and the awful things you do
[Chorus]
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah
[Bridge]
Just one more hit and then we're through
'Cause you could never love me back
Cut every tie I have to you
'Cause your love's a fucking drag
But I need it so bad
Your love's a fucking drag
But I need it so bad
[Chorus]
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine
Yeah
About
“Nicotine” is a song with a clever double-meaning, talking about both smoking and a toxic relationship. Brendon revealed the double-meaning in a track-by-track review with Rock Sound.
Comparing romantic longings with those of drug users is a classic trope in popular music, going back to songs like 1973’s “Love Jones” or even 1932’s “You’re Getting to Be a Habit With Me.” Considering that love actually does cause the production of mind-altering chemicals, this is perhaps unsurprising.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Brendon told Rock Sound:
[Track] number five, ‘Nicotine.’ Yeah, I smoke cigarettes and that was, the song is about another experience I went through where this girl that you know is so bad for you, but you just get that late-night call. You call her up like, ‘let me come over.’ And you know she’s bad for you, you know she’s gonna not give a shit about you, but you just keep going back, just like cigarettes. Like, ‘I know you’re not good for me, but I love it, I can’t help it.’ And that’s where the lyric ‘you’re worse than nicotine’ came from. Just matching everything and personifying that cigarette as a woman, and vice versa. We actually wrote that song with, uh, it was me, Dallon, and this great, super-talented guy named Amir. We wrote that in New York and he could relate, he was actually going, Amir was going through that same thing with a girl at the time. Yeah, I really like that one. Musically it’s so different, too, it’s more of a club kind of dance-y song, which I really wanted to incorporate with this record.
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