I got to find a better coping mechanism
I'm falling apart, disintegrating in the schism
Is it a show or is it realism?
Lost and found, and then I was locked up in a prison

I better find a more suitable solution
Before I reach the most predictable conclusion
To be a victim of my personal delusion
Just to find that I've been living an illusion

They say there's just no substitute for the real thing
The kind of chemical that'll make your whole body sing
You can take the needle, shove it in your vein
And call it medication to alleviate your pain

I do my best to keep the confusion to a minimum
I'll try not to be the monster of the millennium
Someday they'll thank us for the hell that we was givin' 'em
When all of this time, we just hope we were borderline offendin' 'em

They say there's just no substitute for the real thing
The kind of chemical that'll make your whole body sing
Scrub it 'til you're bleedin', but you can't scrub out the stain
Leave your mouth wide open while you're drowning in the rain

Put your head down, wipe the spit out your eye
Ain't nobody coming to your poor me parade
When trouble knock on the door, what you ignoring it for?
You'll be standing there helpless when it comes on in

Say there's just no substitute for the real thing
The kind of chemical that'll make your whole body sing
You can test your merit, can show it some restraint
But in the end, you're just a predictable refrain

Oh, ain't nothing like the real thing
The kind of chemical that'll make your whole body sing
You can test your merit, can show it some restraint
But in the end, you're just a predictable refrain

Poison in your brain ('cause your heart has been mislain)
You're gonna die just the same (for a dream you could not attain)
You drove yourself insane (and there's nobody left to blame)
You carry on and complain
'Til you forget your name