Suicide Medicine Guitar Tab

#-----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE------------------------------#
#  This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation    #
#  of the song. The owner of this website has not reviewed the contents of   #
#  this file. If you feel that the content of this file may be violating     #
#  copyright law, you may not use the information displayed here in any way. #
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

www.rockyvotolato.com
Artist: Rocky Votolato
Song: Suicide Medicine
Album: Suicide Medicine

Tabbed by: Josh Becker (j0shb3ck3r@hotmail.com)

Note: The lyrics I'm showing are just guides on when to play the chord...
You should be able to figure it out by ear...


Intro:         Verse:
eb|----------- |---------------------------------------------------|
Bb|----------- |---------------------------------------------------|
Gb|-77777777-- |----7777--4444-------------------------------------|
Db|-77777777-- |----7777--4444--2222--5555-------------------------|
Ab|-55555555xx |----5555--2222--2222--5555-------------------------|  
Eb|----------- |----------------0000--3333-------------------------|
                          A brain...

Chorus 1:
eb|-----------------------------------------2-2-------0-0----------|
Bb|-----------------------------------------3---3-----2---2--------|
Gb|--------4*4*4*4*-------------------------2-----2---2-----2------|
Db|--------4*4*4*4*----5*5*5*5*-------------0---------2------------|
Ab|--------2*2*2*2*----5*5*5*5*-----------------------0------------|
Eb|--------------------3*3*3*3*------------------------------------|
Is it the red...                     just pick...  it just...
     ...anymore                  ..I could never...  when the bomb...  

Chorus 2:
eb|--2-2---------0-0----------2-2-----------3-3--------|
Bb|--3---3-------2---2--------3---3---------3---3------|
Gb|--2-----2-----2-----2------4-----4-------0-----0----|
Db|--0-----------2------------4-------------0----------|
Ab|--------------0------------2-------------2----------|
Eb|-----------------------------------------3----------|
 ..explode. ... love you.  ..Forever...  my body...
 ..news      ...over...   ...remember... ..things..
 ..say..   ... smashing..  ..fourth..   ..the one..
 ..door...  ...house... ..was so..   ..yeah here in our...


Bridge:  Our little hooome.....
eb|-2---0---2---3------------|
Bb|-3---2---3---3------------|
Gb|-2---2---4---0------------|
Db|-0---2---4---0------------|
Ab|-----0---2---2------------|
Eb|-------------3------------|


Song Order:
Intro     x1
Verse     x4
Chorus 1  x2
Chorus 2  x4
Verse     x4
Chorus 1  x2
Chorus 2  x4
Bridge    x2


End on:
e|--2-----|
B|--3-----|
G|--2-----|
D|--0-----|
A|--------|
E|--------|

Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net

Source: GuitarMasta.net
http://www.guitarmasta.net/r/rocky_votolato/.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Dean Rhythm Player	#1 by Dean M at May 2, 1972 at 7:44 PM EST
	this song is so beautiful. i cant believe no one else has commented on it. its obviously about someone who commits suicide and leaves someone they love very much behind.

No Picture adg Average	#2 by adg ??? at Jul 19, 1975 at 6:36 AM EST
	oh man i just heard this song... wow. really good

No Picture JUSTIN Lead Player	#3 by JUSTIN LOCKHART at Apr 3, 1976 at 11:29 AM EST
	This song is actually about the Pharmacutical Industry. It was in an interview. I wouldn't have been able to pick this out of the lyrics before hand but after realizing that it makes sense.

No Picture keith Wanna Be	#4 by keith mckinlay at Mar 27, 1982 at 12:23 PM EST
	When I saw Rocky in NYC back in November, before playing this song, he said it was written about his father-in-law's suicide. It makes sense.

No Picture NIK Average	#5 by NIK blaszczyszyn at Nov 6, 1983 at 2:24 PM EST
	I have no idea what this song is about, and I must admit I don't care. It was the first Rocky Votolato song I heard, and I fell in love with it the moment he said "You look smashing in your fourth grade picture." That is the perfect line. I just love it.

No Picture ♥WeEzY Average	#6 by ♥WeEzY♥ at Feb 26, 1986 at 2:33 AM EST
	oh god i love you, i mean forever. this line got me addicted to rocky. i originally saw this as a breakup song. where suicide medicine is not so literal. but i see where it could be interpreted as both.

No Picture Marks Average	#7 by Marks at Sep 14, 1986 at 8:10 AM EST
	gorgeous.

No Picture tim Average	#8 by tim martin at Mar 8, 1991 at 12:47 PM EST
	oh god i love you! best line, love how he says it...beautiful

No Picture pat Wanna Be	#9 by pat smear at Aug 20, 1992 at 12:30 PM EST
	When I saw Rocky in NYC back in November, before playing this song, he said it was written about his father-in-law's suicide. It makes sense.

No Picture cody Rhythm Player	#10 by cody watts at Dec 13, 1994 at 5:10 AM EST
	Awesome song and lyrics. But, sometimes more of what you want to see i'snt where you think you should find it... so keep lookin ;) this song looks more at the physological side of a self induced drug overdose and subsecuent suicide rather than the Pharmacutical Industry. i mean the fact that the guy buys and uses meds that serve for a different purpose isnt suppsed to say that the meds are bad. the Pharmacutical Industry is saying that the pills wont work to cure the pain in his heart, but it will make him feel better by killing him and therefore let him leave his body. This song is about a breakup with someone who he loved and the thought of suicide in order to make him feel better and show his ex how much his heart was broken by her.

No Picture Austin Rhythm Player	#11 by Austin at Jun 30, 1996 at 3:13 AM EST
	i think brighteyes is right, but i also get the feeling as though the suicide wasn't like an out-right my life sucks suicide but rather like a i am really sick and in pain suicide.

No Picture Dan Lead Player	#12 by Dan archy at Jan 15, 1997 at 9:19 PM EST
	I not sure what this song really is about. Suicide? It says it in the title but it doesn't make sense. He's clearly in love with someone, not a very good reason to kill yourself. Maybe she left him. Are there even good reasons to commit suicide? Some fatal illness? That would seem more like it. He lies in bed, "looking for answers" unable to stop thinking and the second part of the title's medicine that could be considered a clue. But what if it's none of that? What if the words in the title actually are symbols. Symbolism so to speak. Not to be taken litterally. Not that my interpretation would be any less cliché than the others but i see it like that: "a brain that never stops ticking" thinking unable to stop. "sometimes an on-off switch would sure come in handy" but it doesn't have one. "a mind that's constantly cutting up and dissecting looking for answers committing murders along the way" I guess we all know how that feels, maybe lying awake at night when what happened during the day still haunts us and won't let us find sleep or peace. "if this medication upsets your stomach take it with crackers bread or a small meal we understand it won't do shit towards the cure but if you buy this I promise you're gonna like the way it makes you feel" What kind of medicine doesn't do shit towards the cure but would make us like the way it makes us feel? What cure? To stop thinking, to stop cutting up and dissecting everything that happens, to stop commiting murder along the way. I can only guess how it feels to take drugs but from my experience with alcohol I think it's kind of the similar. Yeah I think this song is about drugs, it's medicine, it's suicide, it makes you worry less, think less. It's like a bomb you can't control you can cut any wire the red one or the blue it just doesn't matter anymore. But you know what? I think I am wrong. The only thing I am sure of is that in that moment when he "[leaves] his body behind to break the news" he realizes that he really, wholly and purely is in love with whoever this song is for.

No Picture Derek Average	#13 by Derek Lamberty at Aug 11, 2002 at 4:23 AM EST
	i love rocky. love love love