Cry for Help

Album: The Sound of Madness (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about drug abuse. The person in the song is living off his friends while trying to raise money to pay off the "monkeys in the rabbit hole" (drug dealers).

    "The white witch" is heroin. "Mama Kin" is a character in the song "Mama Kin" by Aerosmith (One interpretation of the song is the hallucinations you get when high). The wolf implies that the hallucinations from the drug abuse are getting stronger and out of hand.

    The drug addict in the song better pray that he can find a way out because he's in too deep and nobody is going to help him. The drug addict may have thought it funny to say he was fine and have everyone fooled, but they only had one friend and now not even the friend is agreeing to help, because that friend was done being fooled.
  • The song was released on Shinedown's 2008 album The Sound Of Madness. Their frontman, Brent Smith, later admitted that he was in the throes of addiction during this time, so the song could have really been his cry for help. He was able to cut out drugs soon after but it took him longer to ditch alcohol.

Comments: 2

  • Zero from The Abyss, NjBy they way, this song perfectly describes my cousin.
  • Zero from Nowhere, NjI always thought the lyrics were "smokin' tea with Mama Kin" like the Aerosmith song goes, "Sleepin' late and smokin' tea". Tea, of course, being another word for marijuana.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's Songs

Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's SongsSong Writing

"London Bridge," "Ring Around the Rosie" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring" are just a few examples of shockingly morbid children's songs.

Eric Clapton

Eric ClaptonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.

Rupert Hine

Rupert HineSongwriter Interviews

Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.

Bob Dylan Lyric Quiz

Bob Dylan Lyric QuizMusic Quiz

Think you know your Bob Dylan lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?

Did They Really Sing In That Movie?Fact or Fiction

Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Rami Malek, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney: Which actors really sang in their movies?

Church Lyrics

Church LyricsMusic Quiz

Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.