I'm in reverse running
Doesn't mean anything
Hurling headlong
Why would you even ask
I forgot who I am
Snakes uncoiling

Pressed up to the glass
All things you shouldn't ask
But you see through me

It doesn't mean anything
A meaningless plaything
Reverse running

Running contrary-ways
Pulling off the anyways
I'm messing up
Messing up the balance
Breaking my trajectory
All the toys in the factory

While you all lie down
While you all lie down
I'm skipping back through the tapes.
Skipping through the ad breaks.
God in heaven

If it makes you feel energized
All hands are sanitized
And with such joy
Running contrary-ways
Pulling off the anyways
I jump back around

I'm reversing
I'm reverse running
Falling in the horses feet
All the feelings that you shouldn't see
Animal are burned
Animal are burned
Moving in slow motion
This shit is gonna mess me up


Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by antihexe, CaliFortune, tkol88

Reverse Running Lyrics as written by Thomas Edward Yorke Michael Balzary

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Reverse Running song meanings
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3 Comments

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  • +3
    Song Meaning

    At the start of the song Thom is dead or is about to die and the reverse run is the flash back looking over his life. He is running through it backwards travelling back in time.

    The snakes uncoiling represent the negative things in his life uncoiling and coming back to bite him as he travels back through those painful times.

    "But you see through me" - shows no one can see him moving back through time.

    "Running contrary ways Pulling off the anyways I'm messing up Messing up the patterns Breaking my trajectory"

    Shows how he is moving backwards through time as everyone else is moving forwards. Then the interesting part comes at "messing up the patterns, breaking my trajectory". He is trying to slow down this movement back in time, messing up the causation by drifting into a new part of the timeline.

    This is further reinforced when he says " I jump back around " he is reversing his reverse running to start moving forward. He is seeing things now that he shouldn't see because they didn't happen in his original timeline. He moves through life once again in a blur.

    He wants to go back in time and live his life again on a different trajectory in one which he might stay with his love, but he knows that no matter what trajectory he takes destiny will always make sure she "messes" him up.

    tkol88on March 05, 2013   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    Something to do with non-conformity perhaps? Doing the unexpected, reversing the patterns of a lifetime... trying to UNcomplicate life and find a simpler way to live.

    While everyone else is doing the same old thing ("while you all lie down"), while thinking they are being so cutting edge and original (imagine the video for Just)... the singer chooses to go against the grain, and this energises and inspires him. At the same time he recognises there can be dangers for those who veer off the well-lit path.

    Lantaon March 15, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I guess its about the road less travelled by. But he suffers taking that decision and craves to come back to the path which is well lit and has a known outcome.

    walrus123456on February 03, 2014   Link

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