"Cough Syrup" is a song by American alternative rock band Young the Giant from their eponymous debut album. It was composed when the band was named The Jakes, and first appeared on their 2008 EP Shake My Hand. Released by Young The Giant as a single in 2011, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

"Cough Syrup" predates Young the Giant, when the band was known as The Jakes. The song appeared on the band's 2008 Shake My Hand EP, received regular airplay on KROQ's Locals Only radio program, and won a "Best Song" nomination at the 2009 OC Music Awards.

Lead vocalist Sameer Gadhia explained that "Cough Syrup" was written at a time when the band was unsigned, had no money and "didn't really know what to do with [themselves]." The group, he continued, "felt somewhat oppressed by the universal expectation of what to do in Orange County...in suburbia in general. I think we really yearned to break out of that and do something a little bit different." Gadhia said the song is "kind of a cry for help" to "break free, not necessarily from oppression, but the common symptoms of suburbia like boredom, normality and homogeneity."

Bassist Payam Doostzadeh, in a 2011 interview, said that with "Cough Syrup" being the oldest song in Young the Giant's catalog, "it's kind of hard for us to play it." Doostzadeh added, "I mean, we've had it for four years and it's just now getting on the radio? But our fans don't know that."

The music video for "Cough Syrup" debuted June 21, 2011 on MTV and played at the top of each music hour beginning at 6 a.m. Directed by Petro, it features the band in an indoor swimming pool complex along with synchronized swimmers, fish tanks, glitter and fluorescent dyes. According to Gadhia, the band "wanted more of a visual aspect to the music video because "My Body" was more of a narrative. We wanted something that would pop but still make thematic and artistic sense." The video concept, Gadhia said, centered on viscosity, "the friction of fluids and the obstacles that everyone, any object, has to face in order to evolve."

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