This is the song Bubblegum the Blues/I’m a Cruiser by the obscure and woefully unsuccessful Emitt Rhodes, also known as “The One-Man Beatles” and “The solo career that Paul McCartney should have had instead of writing songs about Martin Luther knocking on doors, Eskimos, and Sailor Sam.” I don’t expect many people here to have heard it, but I guess you don’t need to have heard it to help me interpret some cryptic lyrics. The song is in an upbeat version of the classic minor-blues format; I’m trying very hard to figure out what the second part of these lyrics, about the “nasty old pill,” means.
*you shout in anger
you shout in anger and i’ll try to ease your pain
you cut your finger lady
and i’ll play first aid
new vacuum cleaner
new vacuum cleaner, suck up that nasty old pill
you do the windows woman
and i’ll pay the bills*
What is the deal here? Why would sucking up a “nasty old pill” be mentioned? There is no other context whatsoever for that line. The rest of the song is basically about a “domestic” setting: “you feed the kitten, darling, and I’ll mow the lawn” and other such idealized domestic chores a-la “When I’m Sixty-Four.” When I think of the stereotypical use of a vacuum cleaner, it’s not to suck up a pill. (And not pills, but one single pill.) And why is the pill nasty and old? It just doesn’t add up…is this some kind of obtuse drug reference or an allusion or metaphor of some other kind?