2011Released
4:09

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Cough Syrup. By Songfacts®.

This is the only track on Young The Giant that dates back to when the band was known as The Jakes. It was composed when the band was unsigned and originally appeared on their 2008 Shake My Hand EP.

The song was written as a cry for help when the band was broke and didn't know what to do with themselves. Frontman Sameer Gadhia explained the group, "felt somewhat oppressed by the universal expectation of what to do in Orange County... in suburbia in general. I think we really yearned to break out of that and do something a little bit different." Gadhia added that the song was their attempt to "break free, not necessarily from oppression, but the common symptoms of suburbia like boredom, normality and homogeneity."

The song was sung by Blaine Anderson on the third mid-season finale of Glee. Blaine's performance is intercut with scenes of the gay character David Karofsky struggling with hate threats on his social media pages leading up to an attempted suicide. The members of Young the Giant did have to think a bit about whether to grant permission for the series to use their song, but were eventually pleased with its placement in such a poignant scene. "I don't think we ever had the intent of the song... in such a serious scene," Gadhia told Billboard magazine: "It's very, very intense, very, very impactful, and we most definitely empathized with that. All of us have been victims of bullying - and been bullies at some point in time. It's something that hits everyone."

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Cough Syrup.
BKey
MinorMode
3/4Time Signature
129BPM

Album

The album Cough Syrup is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Cough Syrup.
Roadrunner Records
© 2010, 2011 The All Blacks B.V.
℗ 2010, 2011 The All Blacks B.V.

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