MEDICINE FOR HORSES

Walking through a park in my hometown. A lady in her 70s is playing basketball on her own. As the fourth studio album Viagr Boys by Viagra Boys is blasted into my virgin ears for the first time, I begin to debate pausing to play basketball with this lady.

“Hey, baby, can I borrow your car? I wanna drive into a wall and make us two-dimensional”

After a crushing instrumental at the beginning of this song, I am thrust out of the world around me by the core of my emotions.

On Medicine For Horses, a song I initially thought would speak of special K, lead singer Sebastian Murphy speaks of his desire to escape the world he lives in and alluding to hardships which carry his mind to America many years ago, where he could eliminate this hardship derived from his hard life.

Alas, his daydream of escapism is to escape life itself and have his head stomped by a horse.

This suicidal desire made me flood with tears. I was devastated by this profound sadness described in as creative a manner as Murphy describes the life of Matthew Perry on Man Made of Meat. I was crushed by how much I had identified with what Murphy sings of, a recurring experience listening to this album, which I had truly not expected, given the usual 50% satirical and 50% sincere split of lyrics on an album.

In this song, a true blue is described so vividly, in a way that makes us all yearn to be recreated sans afflictions, while also making us yearn for someone who you can love so much that they make you decide to stay, afflictions and all. I thoroughly enjoy when Murphy and co write about love.

Closing out the song, the desire to have his spinal fluids collected and used to recreate him in years to come is reiterated. I ponder whether Murphy speaks of wanting to spare his hypothetical future family from this hurt, and as the song ends, I turn around to see if the lady playing basketball is still there.

She was nowhere to be seen.