Brompton Cocktail

Album: Avenged Sevenfold (2007)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song tells the story of a terminally ill patient who wants to die. He asks his doctor to administer a lethal injection known as a "Brompton Cocktail" - a mix of morphine, heroine and cocaine. The song raises the issue of a person's right to die. By this time, assisted suicide was legal in some states, but not many.

Comments: 8

  • Branden from Orange Park, Fl Brompton's cocktail — is an elixir meant for use as a pain suppressant, and dosed for prophylaxis. Made from morphine or diacetylmorphine (heroin), cocaine, highly-pure ethyl alcohol (some recipes specify gin), and sometimes with chlorpromazine (Thorazine) to counteract nausea, it was given to terminally-ill individuals (especially cancer patients) to relieve pain and promote sociability near death. A common formulation included "a variable amount of morphine, 10 mg of cocaine, 2.5 mL of 98% ethyl alcohol, 5 mL of syrup BP and a variable amount of chloroform water.
    basically what everyone is saying it was a overdose. rev was family to a7x because rev wrote most of the nightmare album. In my opinion he was the best drummer for avenged sevenfold but I am proud to say they did a amazing job continuing without him... RIP JIMMY "THE REV" A7X4LIFE!
  • Jessi from Detroit, MiMallory- He did die from an overdose of drugs and alcohol. The drugs were mix of pain and stress relievers, which he took with alcohol. It is true that he had an enlarged heart, but not all the drugs he overdosed were part of his prescription. My personal opinion is that he committed suicide, after listening to the song "Death", later renamed "Fiction". He wrote and did a demo for this song, two days before his death.
  • Mallory from Hunington Beach , Ca@katharine No, He did not die from overdose and alcohol. When he was born he had an enlarged heart. Before his death he had surgy on his eyes and was taking the right amount of medicine for it. The medicane was to much for his heart and it stopped beating.
  • Jeff from Philadelphia, PaSounded more to me like a song about a "suicide doctor"
  • Katharine from Kent, United KingdomJay- nope, he died from overdose of prescription drugs mixed with alcohol. But that doesnt really matter.
    I love this song, even my mum likes it, we were listening through the album and she didnt like it very much and then brompton cocktail came on and she thought it was awesome, of course its awesome, The Rev wrote it!
  • Jay from Atlanta, GaThe ingredients to a Brompton Cocktail are eerily similar to the Rev's Toxicology report
  • Justin from Lawrincville, Gatruly an amazing song when u read word for word of it
  • Alan from The Meadow Of Rainbows, United KingdomThis is quite a good song but not their best.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."