Nicotine

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Nicotine is a song by Panic! At The Disco on Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!. It was also released on the Nicotine EP.

Lyrics

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

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

Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine [2x]

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

Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine [2x]

Yeah

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

Yeah, you're worse than nicotine, nicotine [2x]

Yeah

Interpretation

This song is pretty straightforward with it's meaning, with only a few places left for interpretation. The narrator is actively comparing the object of his affection, possibly a girlfriend to the drug, nicotine (found in cigarettes).

He opens up with an example of the pain he is feeling from his affection as a metaphor for the pain caused for using nicotine. (Cross my heart -> curse my eyes) He explains how even though he has this pain, the love that he gives his affection is addicting, and he can't control it. He has even lost the will of wanting his own control. (I've lost control and I don't want it back)

The narrator then decides that he is done with his object of affection, such as one would quit a drug (So I say damn your kiss and the awful things you do). He tries to talk himself into leaving by compensating saying that its better to leave than to be replaced. He surrenders to her lack of love, saying that he is no match. We later see that the object of his affection will never love him back.

We then see him 'relapse' on his affection's love by saying "Just one more hit and then we're through," which is simple drug addict bargaining. After his "one hit" the narrator decides to cut every tie he has to his object of affection, and begins to feel the pain of 'cold turkey' (But I need it so bad...)

The song ends with the chorus, restating the fact that the object of his affection is a worse addiction than that of drugs, Nicotine to be specific. Throughout the song, we see the Narrator's struggle with the addiction of his object of affection, like that of a druggie and drugs. ^[1]