Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit that we have no alternatives
But imagine a time before Roe v. Wade
When they’d pick up scared scared women on the corner and they’d
Blindfold them and put them in a car
Drive round in circles til they didn’t know where they were
They didn’t know where they were
And they’d take them to a room where some sleazy man
Would say hey I’m a doctor and he’d put his hands on her
And say honey if you don’t have all the money it’s ok
You can suck my dick
I’ll let you suck my dick
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
They didn’t take it to the courts they didn’t picket in the street
They knew direct action was the only way choice is free.
They set up a clinic an abortion clinic
And no one was turned away just because they couldn’t pay
They performed over 11,000 abortions with kindness and compassion
They were just housewives and mothers
They were just students
There were no hospitals there were no doctors there were no nurses
And there were no men
And nobody died, nobody died, nobody died
How’s that for demystified
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
And with or without the legal right we’re not really free
No we’re not really free
Cuz the capitalist medical industry will never take care of you or me
And the patriarchic medical industry will never take care of you or me
Never take care of you or me
And the abortion industry is just legalized brutality
Power taken, knowledge withheld
A medical mystery upheld by science and little white men in little white coats
Little white men in little white coats
So we can’t leave this to the doctors we can’t leave this to the lawyers
We can’t leave this to the Christians we can’t leave this to the president
If we don’t decide the circumstances of our own lives
Then choice is just choosing to let someone else decide
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit that we have no alternatives
But imagine a time before Roe v. Wade
When they’d pick up scared scared women on the corner and they’d
Blindfold them and put them in a car
Drive round in circles til they didn’t know where they were
They didn’t know where they were
And they’d take them to a room where some sleazy man
Would say hey I’m a doctor and he’d put his hands on her
And say honey if you don’t have all the money it’s ok
You can suck my dick
I’ll let you suck my dick
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
They didn’t take it to the courts they didn’t picket in the street
They knew direct action was the only way choice is free.
They set up a clinic an abortion clinic
And no one was turned away just because they couldn’t pay
They performed over 11,000 abortions with kindness and compassion
They were just housewives and mothers
They were just students
There were no hospitals there were no doctors there were no nurses
And there were no men
And nobody died, nobody died, nobody died
How’s that for demystified
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
It’s 2006 and we don’t give a shit
That Roe v. Wade is crumbling
We can’t trust the government
A piece of legislation is all that stands between our freedom
And your commandments
And with or without the legal right we’re not really free
No we’re not really free
Cuz the capitalist medical industry will never take care of you or me
And the patriarchic medical industry will never take care of you or me
Never take care of you or me
And the abortion industry is just legalized brutality
Power taken, knowledge withheld
A medical mystery upheld by science and little white men in little white coats
Little white men in little white coats
So we can’t leave this to the doctors we can’t leave this to the lawyers
We can’t leave this to the Christians we can’t leave this to the president
If we don’t decide the circumstances of our own lives
Then choice is just choosing to let someone else decide
And there’s a history unknown
In 1969 the women of Chicago rose and said we’re not gonna take this
Lyrics submitted by displacedfever
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