Flunitrazepam [English translation]

I was born tiny and blue, just like a person

I was created by a team of the greatest

Minds at Hoffman la Roche in Switzerland

Who would rather make a dollar than do something about AIDS

My task read "You will help people to sleep.

If someone takes you they'll feel like they've received a gift"

So they packed me up, and all my brothers

And shipped us out to all who needed us.

We ended up on a shelf in a hospital

The warning said mix us and get a sick high

but when we were signed out it was to a lonely soul

who carried a crushed dream of being able to live well

She was torn to pieces, could barely support her son

Poverty was a fact that raised the level

Of the stress and worry that kept her awake.

She begged the doctor to do something about it.

And the doctor said "If it's hard take two"

That's how I ended up standing there in her bathroom cabinet.

They say I'll knock you out

They say I'll put you under

They sell me and swallow me, I am a real killer

Everyone wants me 'cause I am so popular

Nothing's cheaper on the streets than roofies are

Everyone wants to take me. Forget their problems

But I know cause I turn your hearts to stone

But you want me cause I am so popular

Nothing's cheaper on the streets than roofies are.

And the woman had a son, he was sixteen

Even he came with problems, or so said the headteacher.

He only got barks, no friendly talk

He was dumb, he was lazy, it was a constant nag.

And the son was tired, and wished most of all to run away

But the headteacher was strict, and said he had the wrong attitude.

He got low grades, he was noisy and unruly

He smoked in secret, and behaved badly

His crappy self esteem grew into hate

The headteacher slammed his fist on the table and said "Don't come back"

The teacher called home to his mum straight away

And said, among other things, that he was damned furious.

So Mum now needs to eat two of my blue brothers

To make it go away, she stands there, crying and bleeding

In front of the bathroom cabinet, the rohypnol box in hand

She drops it on the floor and that's where the son found it.

The son wakes up early and goes to the loo.

He finds me on the floor and washes me down with water

He stumbles into the kitchen and finds Mum's vodka

He drinks all he can. So damned dense

Spirits and me mixed in the stomach go straight up to the brain

I start to make him feel weak and closed off

He looks at himself in the mirror but his eyes are blank

He tries to understand but has mixed up thoughts

Now it feels like the hate he carries is going to explode

He reasons that everything is his headteacher's fault that he's so damned cursed

Feeling completely lost he picks up a knife

And tries to walk but he stumbles

He trips and falls, sticks the knife in his belly

Mum hears the noise and runs into the kitchen in a daze

She screams loudly enough to be heard in Switzerland

Ironic that it takes so little to destroy yourself.

They say I'll knock you out

They say I'll put you under

They sell me and swallow me, I am a real killer

Everyone wants me 'cause I am so popular

Nothing's cheaper on the streets than roofies are

Everyone wants to take me. Forget their problems

But I know cause I turn your hearts to stone

But you want me cause I am so popular

Nothing's cheaper on the streets than roofies are.

So just forget your problems, I turn your heart to stone

If you want to escape just take, cause I'm the cheapest in town

And I have many long names, I put your crowded land to sleep

So forget all that is good if it's me you want

• Artist:Timbuktu