| Radiohead – 15 Step Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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When you program a sequence (ie like the drum sequence in this song) it is done in steps. From wikipedia "The step sequencers played rigid patterns of notes using a grid of (usually) 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure." Well, we've got 15 steps here. And then there's the hallmark of dubstep - the drop to make the 16th step in the measure. Really nice double entendre suggesting making losing yourself in that drop, like falling off a cliff. |
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| Radiohead – Reckoner Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| I've always loved the parallel of the attempt here to comprehend the meaning of life, and our own attempts on this site to comprehend the meaning of the song. We are reckoners, and "squaring the circle" is a great way to describe trying to analyse Radiohead's lyrics. We are trying to measure something immeasurable. | |
| Radiohead – Reckoner Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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"Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore" is one of the most beautiful and powerful lines I have ever come across. To me, this is describing us after we die. When we move on from this world, we scatter across an empty infinite universe in all directions and the atoms that once held us together are utterly dispersed. The effect we have on the world, the ripples we make, are lost in an infinite ocean. The further a ripple travels on a body of water, the more thin and spread out it comes, until the water is completely still. Even for the celebrated and famous, as time passes after their death the events of their lives (their ripples) are lost over the “blank shore” that is time. The “Reckoner” is a figure that checks and balances us. This “Reckoning” is the end of us, where our lives are weighed up and judged. All of the things we cared about in our mortal lives - our money, fame, success, pleasure (these bitter-sweet distractors) - all of it doesn’t matter. Because you can’t take it with you when you die. None of us like to think about our own mortality. “We dare not speak its name”. There’s a plea, perhaps to the “Reckoner” to “take me with you!” but if the truth is that there is no continuation of our existence out there once we are gone, then there’s no “me” to take. But we are human beings, and we’ll give our lives meaning by dedicating ourselves to collectively being human beings, despite our eventual dispersal. Compare the artwork done for In Rainbows with photos taken by NASA of distant galaxies - the universe is “In Rainbows” - and it’s beautiful that even though we cease to be human beings, we’re becoming part of that - we’re existing “in rainbows”. Yes, we’re going to die, and our human lives will be lost - but the universe is eternal, and so will we be once we are part of it again. |
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| Radiohead – Myxomatosis. (Judge, Jury, & Executioner.) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
| Not that I truly believe there's a connection, but this was written around the time of the rise of Muse (and other Radiohead-influenced acts) and the fact they come from Devon and do seem to have a career-long obsesssion with "black holes" make this interesting to me. | |
| Radiohead – Myxomatosis. (Judge, Jury, & Executioner.) Lyrics | 11 years ago |
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I think this song is about success, and trying to hang on to yourself while being fawned over by fans, the press and the rockstar elite. I missed this for years due to the way he spells it, but "Tom" is a common name for an alley cat... a tomcat. Maybe the "mongrel cat" character struts around like a tomcat, but in reality is a frantic rabbit, dancing around on stage like with myxomatosis (I've seen footage of rabbits with it and it's a wry comparison to Thom's dancing...) |
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