Song reflections: The Butthole Surfers, "Pepper"

This is a song that for a time was constantly being played on the college radio station I listened to when I was in high school (Susquehanna University--the frequency and call letters now escape me, alas), so I know it well. I was kind of resistant to it at first, because I found the band's name so mortifying (I was very self-conscious about such things back then), but now I will not deny that I like it, although I am unfamiliar with the rest of the Surfers' ouevre. Apparently, it's a grimmer song than I had thought: for the longest time--until I bothered to look up the lyrics online--I heard the line "they were all in love with dyin'" as "they were all in love with Dianne." Okay, so maybe it doesn't make too much sense that way, but you tend to accept these things in song lyrics. Also, some serious buzzkills on the internet inform me that it's actually about heroin. Thanks a lot, internet buzzkills. Regardless, I find the line "I can taste you on my lips and smell you in my clothes" terribly romantic. Don't give me nonna yer subtext! I do find it irksome, however, that each iteration of the chorus goes up in pitch (or however you say that--musical terms are obviously not my thing). The first one's the best, and then every subsequent one's a letdown. Just like heroin! Okay, I'm pretty sure that's reading way too much into it.

But the main purpose of this post is the following: "They were all in love with dyin' they were drinking from a fountain that was pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain." I hate to bring my own brand of buzzkillery into play here, but I can't help noticing: if they were drinking from a fountain that's pouring--isn't this, in point of fact, more like a waterfall than an avalanche? To a rather substantial degree? You can't drink from an avalanche.

This is the kind of thing English students think about. I still recommend the song, however.