Lyrics:
The kombucha mushroom people,
Sitting around all day,
Who can believe you,
Who can believe you,
Let your mother pray, (sugar)
(See the rest of these lyrics)
 Top Rated Interpretation
2006-01-07 08:59:23
If this song is about anything, this song is about drug use, as its lyrics feature a number of major drug references. Startign with the title, 'Sugar' is a common nickname for methamphetamines (crystal meth), even recognised by (for example) Utah's Attorney General (http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/Meth/methterminology.htm). One of the undesirable side-effects of prolonged use of crystal meth (sugar) is amphetmine psychosis. The lyrics of the song suggest a range of psychotic behavior (for example, the lines "My girl, you know, she lashes out at me sometimes/ And I just kick her", "I got a gun the other day from Sako/ It's cute, small, fits right in my pocket/ Yeah, right in my pocket, (sugar)" (note though that the 'gun' may also be interpreted as the 'sugar' which will fire the bullet called life), "I sit, in my desolate room, no lights, no music/ Just anger!/ I've killed everyone", etc.), and its denial (for example "and then she's O.K., she's O.K.". Mixed in with these are the delusional hallucinations associated with amphetamine psychosis (for example "People are always chasing me down/ Trying to push my face to the ground/ Where all they really want to do/ Is suck out my mother f**king brains/ my brains (sugar)", "You know that every time I try to go/ Where I really want to be/ It's already where I am/ 'cause I'm already there", and even the chorus line "The kombucha mushroom people/ Sitting around all day/ Who can believe you/ Who can believe you/ Let your mother pray" - is the person using the sugar deluded into seeing 'mushroom people'?).
Another undesirable side-effect fo prolonged methamphetamine use is death ("I play Russian roulette everyday/ a man's sport /with a bullet called life /yeah called life,(sugar)". Clearly, the song equates 'sugar' with playing 'russian roulette' (a game where players take turns at putting a gun loaded with a single round up to their head and pulling the trigger).
As for the rest of the song, according to Wikipedia, "Kombucha is the Western name for a fermentation of sweetened tea using lactobacilli and yeast cultures." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kombucha). Now we can either - like I said earlier - interpret this as the singer deluded into fantasies of witnessing people made up of Kombucha mould sitting around doing nothing, or alternatively a reference to consuming narcotics mixed with kombucha tea and then (either stoned or depressed - a symptom of prolonged amphetamine use is depression) sitting around all day doing nothing (i.e. The singer is the kombucha mushroom person).
The song could be interpreted as a narrative of a person in a delusional state recounting how they were at first cautious about the 'sugar' ("Well I'm not there all the time you know/ Some people, some people, some people/ call it insane, yeah they call it insane"), moving on to the psychotic fantasies and delusions, the person being locked in an assylum or jail ("I'm away forever") - perhaps receiving treatment ("but I'm feeling better") - after they have committed violent acts while lashing out at these hallucinations, and perhaps committing suicide ("In the end it all goes away") at the end.
"Let your mother pray" for them.
anonymous
2006-11-29 10:25:27
This song is about the mushroom people!! it is about how drugs screw up your mind and make you think things are happening.
anonymous
2006-12-16 16:10:26
It has nothing to do with drug addiction most of the posts are wrong the few who mentioned aspartame are correct, aspartame is found in sweeteners found in sugar free foods such as diet cola and most chewing gum these days. The russian roulete part is saying everyday we play russian roulette when we eat, comsume apartame, it causes brain damage and other things (read back people mentioned them) and the kicking his girl and I've killed everyone is about him going crazy from aspartame and killing everyone, finally, this song is telling you to eat sugar, not sugar free foods, hence the line "more sugaaarr!!!!"
anonymous
2006-12-22 12:33:46
This song is about the news... The government is feeding the news false information, and most people believe the news without even thinking. The Kombucha Mushroom people are the news casters. System is trying to start a revolt and say that we shouldnt believe everything that the news says everytime it comes on... man people are so stupid.
anonymous
2007-01-26 09:24:22
Sugar in essence can't be totally interpreted as being totally about government. The sort of euphoric experience the music in the song presents lends itself to drug addiction but not neccessarily abuse issues. My own interpretation is that many prescription drugs-when grounded down-look a lot like Sugar; I know many people who take perscription medication for ADHD, Depression, and any other signs of free thinking the government slaps a 'medical problem' label on-and these kids, hyped on the 'wrong drugs' have suicidal and sometimes homocidal thoughts, thus explaining the bridge at the end of the song being sung like a depressed person, then quickly like a person strung out on cocaine to make the contrast of presciption drugs to that of illegal ones.
As for the 'Mushroom people' lyric I have nothing on that other than the possiblilty that SOAD loves shroom.
anonymous
2007-01-26 20:53:59
I think it is about how the government trys to candy coat things and make people think everything is not a bad as it is
anonymous
2007-03-25 07:22:44
i think that this is mainly aimed at ASPARTINE and how it causes mental deficiencies. Also I think it's about drugs such as crystal meth.
the "russian roulette" is the not knowing whether the drug will kill him and the "bullet called life" is the high he gets from takin it
mushroom people are the doctors who lock up the people like him in mental institute and then do nothing "sitting around all day" Kumbocho mushroom is an ingredient used for medical research
let your mother pray = the hardship of the situation for the mother
he gets a gun and bashes his girlfriend because he's paranoid and the people who want to eat his brains are the police arresting him for his offence
then he gets thrown in solitairy for killing his girlfriend I believe and left with his madness
anonymous
2007-06-27 22:40:31
The song is about the goverment; the mushroom people are the goverment doing nothing while we are hooked on sugar and if you watch closelly in the song aspertame kills popes up with a picture of a pie. aspertame has special affects that fuck with your mind and he is saying the goverment is doing jackshit about aspertame spreading and making people psycho because they don't give a rat's ass. The part about the gun is the aspertame makes him psycho and he buys one and goes on a rampage and sitting in a room with nothing iis because the aspertam makes him kill everyone and he is in denial hence the whole she is ok part and once the affects wears off he realizes what he has done hence the what do I od what do I say in the end it all goes away he mean the affects run out.
anonymous
2007-07-31 23:18:05
I know the drugs thing has been established but the part
"how do I feel, what do I say, f@#k you it all goes away"
i think this means, I don't care it feels good so I'm gonna keep doing it as long as "it" is gone.
anonymous
2007-09-09 12:11:10
Sako's is the gun brand that sold the guns to the kids that commited columbine.
anonymous
2007-10-21 23:16:22
I have an interpretation about that last part were it says "I sit. In my desalte room...etc" well I believe that part may be about drug use and how it may ruin lives like the person at the end is only and has nothing (no lights no music...I've killed everyone) that's just what I see in it.
bjk_genuis_is_SOAD
2007-11-25 18:21:57
Sugar is a song that tells that sugar is a bacterial substance that makes you do things that you have no control of because sugar Hypes you up and gets you to do crazy things such as Russian Roulette that is a man sport.
anonymous
2008-02-11 04:28:32
I think...
Well yeast is a natural occurrence in our bodies. An overgrowth of yeast, can proliferate as a yeast infection. This is not just the yeast infection most people think of (girl's issue) but a yeast infection of the whole body. You crave SUGAR, you crave white flour, you crave the things that feed the yeast. It makes you crazy in your mind, it makes you feel angry, and frustrated, foggy and depressed, it takes you over and all you want to do is KILL EVERYONE until they're GONE FOREVER...
but the Kombucha Mushroom, or Kombucha culture, can restore the yeast in your body to a healthy level, when everything else fails - but who would tell us this?? The FDA does not approve, and even Warns people, against the use of Kombucha. When really, Kombucha could be a cure... Kombucha could make us stop this CRAVING for sugar, for sugar sugar sugar...
When you understand the disease, and it's ravishes it can have on the body, you know what Kombucha is, you know how it can help you, and you cannot get it, because it is Not Approved... you search it out, find it through someone who can help you get Medicine... Seeking trade with someone, someone who has a proliferating Kombucha SCOBY, it's regenerating... They can give you freely when it grows but if you can't get it because it's not approved...
We need government change, government to stop hiding these things or refusing to test these things. Stop them from regulating poisons like refined sugars and refined flours, making those the "cheap" and "easily available" because they call these things safe... they call anti-biotics safe... anti-biotics are what kill the natural flora, allowing the yeast to take over... pro-biotics are what restore your natural flora, rendering the yeast back to a healthy, harmless level.
BALANCE
rllaxpimp00
2008-05-03 14:47:49
The song is about the song aspartame which in many studies has been located to severe homicidal outbursts and mood swings. This is why he says some times my girl just lashes out and I just fucking kick then o baby she's ok it means that the drugs have taken over his body. When she says that you need to get off the drugs he hits her and she doesn't want to be hit again so she is all right about him doing drugs.
anonymous
2008-05-08 00:01:31
I'm not going to harangue on something so cosmetic as other interpretations but GOD DAMN IT PEOPLE IT'S SPELLED "ASPARTAME"!
anonymous
2008-06-08 01:41:05
If aspartame (aka Nutrasweet) did everything that the conspiracy nuts claim it does, there would be tens of millions of people dying from brain tumors, etc, directly linkable to the chemical. There is a medically known and validated condition that makes certain people biologically sensitive to the class of chemicals that aspartame falls under, but that considition is rare. 99% of the rest of what you hear about "the dangers of aspartame" is complete BS.
As for the song, it would be interesting to see what the guys who actually wrote it have to say. That's always the best source for the meanings of songs, novels, etc, but all too often the writers are not forthcoming.
I've always thought it was about some kind of drug use.
bulletcalledlife
2008-09-12 15:56:37
Wow, these interps are crap. I am amazed at some of the fantasies we spin, myself included, when we know nothing of what we're talking about and yet continue to explain it to ourselves like we do. No, this song is not about drugs. Yes, it is about the media sugar-coating issues like human-sensitivity to aspartame. Yes, the newscasters are the "kombucha mushroom people". The images and lyrics about people's sudden reactions are the result of what happens when you lie to people and yet deep down they realize that they are being lied to. Eventually, they flip out. That's it. Don't over complicate the shit.
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