“Oh! Emetophobia” is the fourth track on and the first single (you can watch the video at the bottom of this entry) from Showbread’s “Age of Reptiles.” I think it was a good choice for a first single as it is a well-rounded song to represent the “new” Showbread — less screaming, more synth, but still raw. Let’s look at the lyrics.
Dance with me baby, let me hear your voice
Oh if I didn’t wanna fall for you I never had a choice
Smear the makeup on my face
run your fingers through my hair
I can not keep my heart from you and I don’t even care
Yeah, you turn me inside out
You make me shake and I can’t stop
You give new meaning to drop dead gorgeous
And I’m about to dropYou are a song to me
And every note of every chord will set me free
There’s no time before you came alone
Three cheers for the end of twenty one years
Nothing else is going wrongReverberate and complicate my evenings and my days
And I will only love you more
I will count the ways
Dance with me and when you see my pulse beneath my skin
It’s racing now, I don’t know how to hold the burning in
You’ve taken from me my defenses
My will is under attack
And baby when I wrap my arms around you
I feel the bones in your backOh yeah, your voice is like music
It’s music to my ears
I’m not dying anymore, I’m alive baby!
Like the previous track, this is a love song — in fact, it’s part of a four-song run of love songs on the album. Yeah, some of the lyrics may be a little weird, but it’s basically just a song about how the writer’s one true love makes him feel. The one thing I don’t really understand, and continuing with the recurring reference to vomit, is the title of the song. Emetophobia is “an excessive or irrational fear of vomiting.” How that relates to this song? No clue. Got any ideas?
Next: Sing Me To Sleep
Been There, Dunn That 
August 17, 2006 at 10:23 am
Obviously, vomiting has lots of symbolic possibilities. It could represent his fear of messing up in the relationship. It could be his fear that showing her all of his faults and weaknesses will make her not love him. The only problem is, I can’t really find any evidence to support either of those in the song itself. There is one line, “you turn me inside out” that I guess could have something to do with it. Or who knows? Maybe they gave it that title simply to make people go “hmm.” Either way, I like these lyrics a lot. It’s just too bad that I’m at work without speakers.
August 19, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Haven’t I told you my vomiting-in-a-cup-on-a-date-but-he-never-knew-it story? It soooo relates, but it’s kinda personal. I’d never want to blare it to the whole world. Oops; I guess I just did.
August 22, 2006 at 11:04 am
Well, she turns him inside out, makes him shake and he can’t stop, his pulse is racing, he doesn’t know how to hold the burning in and he feels defenseless. If you take all the romantic references it out of it and just look at the physiological aspects of the metaphor, it sounds like he’s going to blow chunks. And, while he seems to like the direction this new love is taking him, he’s still got to be a little nervous. Nervous often manifests as nausea. Maybe he doesn’t want those nervous feelings of falling for her so hard. He may want her indeed, but doesn’t want to be nervous about it, just wants to embrace it and be drawn in full-force with no reservations.
May 20, 2007 at 9:36 am
I have emetophobia!!! lol
December 3, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Well, I’m a huge Showbread fan, and I read an interview with Josh Dies in HM Magazine after “Age Of Reptiles” hit stores. He said that the entire album was a concept album, that reptiles are a metaphor for humans (cold-blooded, self-seeking and self-protective, slightly disgusting). He also said that any reference to vomiting (which happens among reptiles quite often) stands for the reptile’s (or human’s) disgust with itself and the way it lives. I hope this brings some clarity.
April 29, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I find this song amazing, and just listened to it. If you ever search for Showbread videos on Youtube and watch some interviews involving Josh Dies, the lead singer, then you may see how random he and the other band members are. It could be any of the above reasons, but it could also just be a random whim.
June 21, 2008 at 12:43 am
a friend and i had a conversation about the multiple references to vomit on this album. He made the point that many reptiles vomit to replenish the bacterial supply in their mouths. They vomit almost everyday. We think that Dies is trying to show vomiting as a metaphor for forgiveness. As christians we have to take responsibility for our actions everyday so in a sense we have to bring them back up. The irony in this song is that its “the fear of Vomiting.” Not entirely sure what it has to do with the song but it helps explain the album.