Anxiety

Single, 2023

See this release Watch the video page Open in lyrics explorer

Verse 1

Walking dropping roses up upon your grave

These days fly so fast

I'm never ready for sudden change

Itching out my skin like a dog with mange

Sometimes I think I'm going to die

Or am I just insane

Oh yes

I am the reaper

Holes in my sneakers

Rats chewing on my clothes

Just another homeless tweaker

My friends are some roaches thieving

It's hard to focus

Just another earth crawling curse mother hocus pocus

I'm with the worst of witches

Is this life a curse or spell

I'm feeling like another sinner waking in a living hell

Look into the bright side

But it was a scary thirty minute ride

I thought my heart was coming right out of my body

Sweating uncontrollably

Thinking about my breathing

Am I breathing

Oh yes I'm breathing is my heart beating

I'm definitely bleeding

I'm freaking

Oh yes I'm definitely freaking out

I guess I'm disappearing nobody will ever know me now

Outro

I'm tripping I'm tweaking I'm freaking out

I'm tripping I'm tripping I'm tripping I'm tripping

I'm tripping and tweaking and freaking out

Meaning & Analysis

Anxiety describes a panic attack from the inside. It opens at a graveside and slides into the feeling of being cursed: itching skin, rats chewing on his clothes, "just another homeless tweaker", not knowing whether he's dying or going insane. The center of the song is a thirty-minute panic attack told almost minute by minute: a pounding heart, uncontrollable sweating, checking whether he's still breathing. The outro loops "I'm tripping, I'm tweaking, I'm freaking out" until it feels like being stuck inside the attack, which is exactly the point.

Lyric Annotations

Itching out my skin like a dog with mange

Mange is a skin disease that makes animals scratch constantly. It describes the crawling, restless feeling of anxiety in the body.

Sometimes I think I'm going to die / Or am I just insane

Two of the most common fears during a panic attack: that you're dying, or that you're losing your mind.

But it was a scary thirty minute ride

The song walks through a single panic attack, about thirty minutes long, nearly in real time.

Am I breathing / Oh yes I'm breathing is my heart beating

Checking your own breathing and heartbeat over and over is a classic part of a panic attack. The lines loop the same way the thoughts do.

I'm tripping I'm tweaking I'm freaking out

The outro repeats until it feels inescapable, like being trapped inside the attack.

Video

Credits

Written by: Reaper Man

Next: Cold to the Bone