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Flies are buzzing round my head
Vultures circling the dead
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
The big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some
[Chorus]
You can try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
This one's optimistic
This one went to market
This one just came out of the swamp
This one dropped a payload
Fodder for the animals
Living on animal farm
[Chorus]
I'd really like to help you, man
I'd really like to help you, man
Nervous messed up marionettes
Floating around on a prison ship
If you try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
You can try the best you can
You try the best you can
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Vultures circling the dead
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
The big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some
[Chorus]
You can try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
This one's optimistic
This one went to market
This one just came out of the swamp
This one dropped a payload
Fodder for the animals
Living on animal farm
[Chorus]
I'd really like to help you, man
I'd really like to help you, man
Nervous messed up marionettes
Floating around on a prison ship
If you try the best you can
You can try the best you can
The best you can is good enough
You can try the best you can
You try the best you can
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
Dinosaurs roaming the Earth
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Living on animal farm"
I think this is a reference to the book Animal Farm by Orwell
Flies are buzzin round my head = the government is planning on killing him and he knows it
The big fish eat the little ones = everyone knows but nobody wants to help out of self-interest. you'll never change that.
If you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough = if he would have obeyed the law or not gotten drunk, they would not have killed him.
I'd really like to help you man = the intelligence agents aren't that sick and don't like humans to suffer but it is not their choice.
nervous messed up marionettes = he is a robot (see scaramouche in bohemian rhapsody, punch and judy by elliott smith and cloned hitler on the t.v. show mr. show. Its all about the same thing also the movie little nicky)
It's about the idealistic, optimistic views we all eat up that we're brainwashed into believing: "Fodder for the animals"
The only reason those ideas are given to us isn't to be inspirational, that's just a lie. It's given to us so those spreading the ideas can gain power: "Dinosaurs roam the earth"
The repetition of considering people as animals, dinosaurs, marionettes, vultures, etc. shows how people either aren't thinking for themselves even though as humans we have the capacity to think this way, or those who do think that are preying on everyone else.
that makes this song like the anthem for the supposed typical capitalist, from the view point of the rich. he lives in a cruel world in which he thinks he can do something if he tried his best, regardless, his small chance at fortune wasn't really ever his to begin with. so everyone just grips on to that belief and sets out to win doing their best, even though in reality only a small percentage can make it there.
but optimistic is that single 'radiohead style' song they included on kid a. personally i think its their ode to themselves. they chose it because it truly describes their situation in the music industry. these guys really try at what they do, and any hater can testify for that. only if everyone gave as much effort and consistency in their music as much as these guys did. you may hate them, but you gotta agree there is at least something gripping in just about every album.
the chorus is meant as a reassurance for the people who understand what the general vibe of the song is. forget the imbeciles who don't get it and do your best to do your part (a reference to thom yorke's obsession with global warming and climate control? after all he is worried about his children's future and if sources are correct, he was an expecting father back in 2000, clearly true because his first child was born in 2001...ah, the start of it all!)
the second verse is about the bullshit that people feed you and the excuses they make and how their actions are unnacceptable...geared primarily toward government officials who oppose the theory of climate change and the people who adamantly refute its existence. the animal farm reference (as someone had mentioned years ago, the pigs) who want to better themselves and disregard the others...gov't officials who are money hungry.
the third verse is geared toward the listener personally (again a listener who theoretically agrees with thom)
the dinosaurs refer to people who think in a conservative old-fashion...the lyrics to "where i end and you begin" reference dinosaurs roaming the earth, and we all know that the title "hail to the thief" clearly refers to the government...
pretty easy to understand if you know anything about the man who wrote them
and for the record, i am not trying to make a political point on whether he's correct or incorrect in his ideology...so spare us in pursuing an argument please? these seem to be very personal lyrics to which none of us are affiliated.
the chorus is meant as a reassurance for the people who understand what the general vibe of the song is. forget the imbeciles who don't get it and do your best to do your part (a reference to thom yorke's obsession with global warming and climate control? after all he is worried about his children's future and if sources are correct, he was an expecting father back in 2000, clearly true because his first child was born in 2001...ah, the start of it all!)
the second verse is about the bullshit that people feed you and the excuses they make and how their actions are unnacceptable...geared primarily toward government officials who oppose the theory of climate change and the people who adamantly refute its existence. the animal farm reference (as someone had mentioned years ago, the pigs) who want to better themselves and disregard the others...gov't officials who are money hungry.
the third verse is geared toward the listener personally (again a listener who theoretically agrees with thom)
the dinosaurs refer to people who think in a conservative old-fashion...the lyrics to "where i end and you begin" reference dinosaurs roaming the earth, and we all know that the title "hail to the thief" clearly refers to the government...
pretty easy to understand if you know anything about the man who wrote them
and for the record, i am not trying to make a political point on whether he's correct or incorrect in his ideology...so spare us in pursuing an argument please? these seem to be very personal lyrics to which none of us are affiliated.
I always take this as Radiohead's attempt to capture what it's like to live in a thriving economy that's really a moral desert. "Optimistic" is how the owners of successful businesses feel when they are able to take down their competitors and "pick up every last crumb" of money to be made.
At the end, when the song speeds up for about twenty seconds, it becomes ambient background music, almost like what you'd expect to hear in a store. This sort of represents the "front" that businesses put on for their customers. You can hear echoes of the rest of the song, but mostly it just seems luxurious.
Amazing Radiohead song.