"Dosed" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers

I got dosed by you and
Closer than most to you and
What am I supposed to do
Take it away I never had it anyway
Take it away and everything will be okay

In you a star is born and
You cut a perfect form and
Someone forever warm
Lay on lay on lay on lay on
Lay on lay on lay on lay on

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can hide
All I ever wanted was your life

Show love with no remorse and
Climb onto your seahorse and
This ride is right on course
This is the way I wanted it to be with you
This is the way I knew that it would be with you

Lay on lay on lay on lay on
Lay on lay on lay on lay on

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can hide
All I ever wanted was your life

I got dosed by you and
Closer than most to you and
What am I supposed to do
Take it away I never had it anyway
Take it away and everything will be okay

Way upon the mountain where she died
All I ever wanted was your life
Deep inside the canyon I can hide
All I ever wanted was your life

 \


"Dosed" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers is a Poetic Ballad written in stanzas of four and five lines alternating. I find the structure of this song very interesting because it has two sets stanzas that refrain, those being the chorus 3 times between stanzas, but also the very first stanza is repeated right before the final repetition of the chorus. The rhyming in this song is also very creative, having two differing rhyme schemes for the refrain and the rest of the song. The connecting stanzas have an AAABB rhyme scheme, while the refrain has an ABAB, where the line "All I ever wanted was your life" is repeated. This is coupled by repetition of the endings and beginnings of many lines, such as "This is the way I wanted it to be with you This is the way I knew that it would be with you" and "Take it away I never had it anyway Take it away and everything will be okay." Repetition, as you can see, is a very large factor in what I believe makes this song so emotional, and also what I think makes the lyrics so creative and stimulating. It drives home a lot of the complex emotional elements of the lyrics, and gives the listener a feeling of the loss of the speaker, along with the pain he feels. The best way to observe what I mean is to just look at the repeated portions of the lyrics alone, the best example being "Take it away, take it away" which is repeated four times.

 Another interesting thing to note about this song is the choice of diction, which is used very well to project feelings and images into the listeners mind. The most significant choices of words, in my opinion, is the very first line "I got dosed by you". Comparing a persons love to a drug is not uncommon, however I think the choice of words offers more significance here. When most people compare love to a drug they use words like "Addiction" or "Hooked", something that sounds like they can't get enough, something fun. When I hear Dosed, I think a lot more of the darker side of drug abuse, chiefly overdose. It also makes me think of being tainted, or poisoned, but I don't think the speaker felt this person was poisonous to him. What I believe is being referred to with the drug metaphor is being dosed, getting hooked on something, but then having it taken away, leaving you forever craving more. Another interesting choice of words offers us a comparison of feelings in the chorus. The first line refers to this girl dying "way upon the mountain" where as the speaker refers to himself as 'Deep inside the canyon". There is an interesting comparison here, which could have many interpretations. The mountain could refer to a far away place, or the end of a long journey. It could also simply refer to being high, alluding to a drug overdose. However I think that it refers to total isolation. On top of a mountain you are alone, nobody can reach you. This thought is backed up by the line "Closer then most to you" which would imply this girl was no easy to get close to. On the other hand, you have the next part of the chorus referring to the speaker being alone in a canyon. This is fairly self explanatory, the girl has died, either metaphorically or literally, and now he is alone. The reason it is a little more interesting is the comparison of the mountain and the canyon, one representing the highest point on earth, closer to the heavens, while the other could be thought of as the lowest point, perhaps a metaphor for her being in a better place, and him being in a state of depression.

I have tried to view this song in a more positive light for the sake of examining all the angles. My main reason for arguing the point that this song may not explicitly be negative, however, is not in the actual lyrics, but the way Anthony Kiedis preforms them. It doesn't really fall in line with this assignment, but anyone who has never heard this song before should absolutely do themselves the favor. reading the lyrics as poetry shows you the beautiful mind of the writer, but the real tone of this song comes from listening. It is mournful, it is regretful, but there is also something else. if I had to put it to words, I would call it peaceful relief. This song honestly sounds like the last words of a man who is about to take his own life, but is not sad to do it, just sad about what he had to live through first. Now, he can return to the girl who's life was all he ever wanted.


Side note
Sorry if this is structured slightly differently than the outline stated, but a lot of the points I wanted to make went together unconventionally in my head so paragraph 2 and 3 kinda spliced. By The Way click that for the song.