The Dresden Dolls - Bad Habit Meaning

Bad Habit Lyrics

biting keeps your words at bay
tending to the sores that stay
happiness is just a gash away
when i open a familiar scar
pain goes shooting like a star
comfort hasn't failed to follow so far...

and you might say it's self-indulgent
you...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 15th 2012 !⃝

   From the Dresden Dolls website in the question and answer section...
   
   "Bad Habit" is about self-inflicted injury on many levels. It could be interpreted to be about cutting, or biting the skin around your fingers, or the bad habit of turning your brain to pudding by letting the abysmal state of things in the world turn you off altogether. Like most of the songs, I wrote it with ten things in mind.
2. anonymous

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   Jul 9th 2011 !⃝

   With the mitten line it doesn't hav to mean to hide the fingers... I wear gloves in the summer to block scars on my wrist...
3. anonymous

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   Nov 14th 2008 !⃝

   ...why does it have to be nail biting OR self-mutilation?
   And anyway, you could classify nail-biting as self-mutilation. I think some lines are more or less supposed to broad/open-ended.
   People write about what they know. She knows nail-biting, it's obvious she'd write about. Self-injurious behaviors can be just as compulsive and addictive, so I don't think it necessarily has to mean just her problems with biting the skin around her nails. Both theories fit for multiple lines in the song.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 3rd 2008 !⃝

   Why is no one paying attention to the one line that tells you it's nail/cuticle biting: "MITTENS IN THE SUMMERTIME". And Vaseline is a common tactic to attempt to make nail biting unpleasant enough for a person to stop.
5. anonymous

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   Jul 4th 2008 !⃝

   ^^ Scars. We try lots of things to get rid of scars.
6. anonymous

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   Jun 17th 2008 !⃝

   If it's about self-harming, where does Vaseline come into it:
   
   I've tried Vaseline,
   I've tried everything.
7. anonymous

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   May 30th 2008 !⃝

   Nooo, it's about cutting.
   
   happiness is just a gash away
   when I open a familiar scar
   pain goes shooting like a star
   comfort hasn't failed to follow so far...
   
   & pens and penknives take the blame
   crane my neck & scratch my name
   but the ugly marks
   are worth the momentary gain...
   when I jab a sharpened object in
   choirs of angels seem to sing
   hymns of hate in memorandum
   
   
   All dealing with the topic of cutting and self-injury. The theory of it being about Amanda's nail biting doesn't even begin to fit. Sorry, love.
8. anonymous

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   Jul 10th 2007 !⃝

   Everyone thinks this song is about self-mutilation or cutting, but it's not. It's about a really bad habit that Amanda has where she bites off the skin around her fingernails. I have the same bad habit, and we do it when we're nervous or bored. It hurts, but we can't stop.