| Radiohead – Motion Picture Soundtrack (Kid A version) Lyrics | 5 months ago |
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Just the most heartbreaking song. If the first cloned human that's supposedly perfect commits suicide, what does that say about us? There are no good answers to the question, and Thom Yorke prophesizes whoever that first cloned baby is, has or will die early. "Red wine and sleeping pills, help me get back to your arms" mixing substances is a common suicide technique. Someone the cloned child really cares about has died and it's decided to jump straight into the afterlife to see them again. "Cheap sex and sad films, help me get where I belong" instantly shatters my heart every time, society needs the cloned child, so it wonders if it should just dive into escapism to deal with the loss of their loved one. "I think you're crazy, maybe" modern life tends to make people go crazy in some way, (see Optimistic, In Limbo, and Idioteque) whether they learn nobody has their back and they're being mined for a buck or raised to kill people in another country just so one day those two nations will nuke each other, or they just collapse into utter confusion and make themselves a dream world to stay in to everyone elses' chagrin. "Stop sending letters, letters always get burned it's not like the movies, they fed us on little white lies." the cloned child isolates themselves, they burn letters asking for their word back. They've become disillusioned with the promise of a good life from companies and governments. "(maybe) I will see you again in the next life." While it's not guaranteed, the cloned child goes all in and banks on the possibility that they have a soul and there's something after, and the possibility that their loved one also has a soul and they can be close again in whatever's after Earth. So, they follow through with plan A; suicide. "Beautiful angel pulled apart at birth limbless and helpless I can't even recognize you." Thom Yorke cut this verse out of the Kid A version, probably for time, but maybe also because if you weren't completely shattered already, this'll do the trick. This verse may be from the loved one's perspective, if they could see the cloned child. The world has taken this perfect baby and gutted it into something pained and paralyzed, and is that not what's happened to all of us? People say 'mother nature' but she is a very abusive parent. Fuck you and thank you, Radiohead. I'm 99% sure you keep a vial of tears that you rub on your face before all five/six/seven (Nigel and Stanley might not) of you go to sleep. Then again, I've seen the Amnesiac promotional flyer and you all looked nocturnal in it. |
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| Thom Yorke – Hearing Damage Lyrics | 5 months ago |
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Betrayal that you can't make sense of. It's quite unavoidable if you think about it, we're imperfect and we're bound to make each other cry in our lapses of patience. Hearing damage is the inability to make sense of that. "A tear in the membrane allows the voices in they wanna push you off the path with little frequency wiring" we recall moments where we felt wronged, and they keep creeping up on you like they put a hole in your brain and some mysterious trigger pulls the files back out of the cabinet, like a radio frequency you can't hear but feel. These push us away from each other. "But you can do no wrong in my eyes" when we feel wronged, it is easy to think we're the one who needs to change, because clearly everyone else seems well adjusted, but these things keep popping back up and you can't get rid of it. We prefer to think we have to change than someone else, because at least that gives us some control over our situation. "A drunken salesman your hearing damage your mind is restless they say you're getting better but you don't feel any better" it's hard to take apologies, what's said is said. It can feel like the problem is being covered up, and while others might compliment your progress, you can't see it. "Your speakers are blowing your ears are wrecking you hearing damage you wish you felt better" callback to How to Disappear Completely, this may be a hint about the stresses that come with live music as an artist. We want to forgive ourselves and others, but we can't, we can only wish we felt better. Grudges are a mysterious thing, but I think Hearing Damage does its best to explain them. |
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| Radiohead – Man of War Lyrics | 5 months ago |
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A man o' war is a colony of multicellular polyps that reproduce asexually. The polyps are all nearly genetically identical. Radiohead uses the man o' war as a metaphor for the military which acts as a singular entity made of people who they whip out of individuality. Verse 1 talks about the contrast between military and civilian life. "Drift all you like from ocean to ocean search the whole world" transitions into a more docile, non-conquering "But drunken confessions and hijacked affairs just make you more alone" Soldiers can't forget their time served, it haunts them and often, alcoholism follows. You forget how to feel at peace. Verse 2 demonstrates the breaking of reality from shellshock. "If you come home, I'll bake you a cake. Made of all their eyes." It's more than likely this is the soldier's wife, and there's no guarantee he'll survive his stay in combat. And, if he does survive, he carries survivor's guilt from how many people had to die so he could live. Both allies and enemies have lives like his, they had things to see and live for. "I wish you could see me dressed for the kill. You're my man of war." The soldier distances himself from the truth, he accepts his role to hold a gun, he takes pride in battle. "The worms will come for you. Big boots." Bodies rotting and becoming infested with insects and military boots are striking symbols of wartime conflict. Verse 3 is the climax, it reminds the listener that battle has ceased the soldier's ability to live on the soil he defended. "So unplug the phones, stop all the taps. It all comes flooding back to poison clouds to poisoned dwarf" He cannot communicate with civilians, they haven't seen what he's seen. Poison clouds, WWI imagery, has 'unpersoned' him much like Nikolai Yezhov, the man nicknamed 'the poison drawf' he has been erased, wrecked beyond repair, war is a drug and rehab is too expensive. |
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| Radiohead – The Present Tense Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Polar opposite of Street Spirit. While Street Spirit comes from the cruelty of a universe's perspective of life mainly from the lens of suffering and cruelty, Present Tense touches on how we become entranced in the beauty of living, despite the fact that this dessert is so small and we don't want to stop eating. "This dance is like a weapon against the present tense" Dance, especially Thom's style of dance, is between erratic and calculated. Dance is a metaphor for filling your life with people, events, filling up your time with things that bring you joy, things that make you feel like you're where you're supposed to be. Laughter, love in all its forms, and charity, virtue against all the bad. We fight off the present by looking to memories of the past and looking forward to what's in store tomorrow or a week or even a whole year from now. "I won't get heavy. Don't get heavy." Becoming disillusioned with the wonder is getting heavy, remembering the nauseating truth that this is fleeting. We want longer years, but they just keep getting faster. We're all given an equal amount of life, teens and elders have full closets of memories, and both closets are the same size, but the elders have smaller shirts. "Keep it light and keep it moving" We choose to ignore that fact, living instead in a world of motion. The next thing has to come, we're wasting time if there's no next thing. And it sounds confused, but it's what works for us. It keeps up the illusion that we're living life to its fullest. Impatience becomes vital to wellbeing. "I am doing no harm as my world comes crashing down." The illusion breaks, and there's nothing you can do to get it back, and there's nothing you can do to change the truth. It may be happier to live in a world of lies that are easy changed than a world of truth and unmoving statues. "I'll be dancing. Freaking out. Deaf, dumb, and blind." We try to force the illusion back, we say appreciating nature is different, we call people our special person, but it's all an attempt to get young again. But you can't turn back on this hike. "In you I'm lost." In a way, you can force it, you can lose yourself in a lie of a full life lived. "I won't turn around at the penny drop. Won't stop now, I won't slack off." Unimportant things become dangerous to someone who follows a full life. When you prioritize joy, stagnation becomes painful. It's easy to feel like you're wasting time all the time. "Or all this love will be in vain." Love isn't a feasible goal, but we can lie to ourselves and say that we're doing something that's meaningful, but it falls into the same trap as every other pleasure. "I stop from falling down a mine, it's no one's business but mine." Our lives are ours, don't become miserable comparing your life to another person's. You can't get any happier, all you can do is be more indifferent than miserable. "In you I'm lost." We lose ourselves in life, and we lose ourselves in death. We are extra pieces in the puzzle that is the universe. |
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| Radiohead – Fitter Happier Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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"Fitter, happier, more productive" Our owners want us to chase self betterment not for our own sake, but for their interests. "Comfortable, nor drinking too much, regular exercise at the gym, three days a week." They disguise it, they say to do things for your convenience, but it's often an unobtainable goal you bend over backwards to reach. After all, they want so much so soon, this is a capitalist society, after all, everything's gotta be hand delivered in under thirty minutes. "Getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries" While building a community anywhere you are is important, they only want synergy. Win-wins are more sociopathic in the industries. "A patient, better driver A safer car, baby smiling in back seat" Again, they disguise things. You're only to be safe so you can work, and they don't really care if your baby is smiling or not, they just want it to grow up just good enough so it can work. "Sleeping well, no bad dreams. No paranoia" exposure to the evils of the world encourages critical thinking of where you are, and what they call paranoia is just fear of the leadership that stomps on us. "Careful to all animals, never washing spiders down the plughole" You should be taking your own advice. How many soldiers die for a nation's interests? How many people are sold down the river at their company because a boss miscalculated and they have to make layoffs? "Keep in contact with old friends, enjoy a drink now and then. Will frequently check credit at moral bank, hole in wall, favours for favours, fond but not in love, charity standing orders" You're not to get to acquainted with people, you're not supposed to do good things because you want to show how much you care about friends and family, you're only supposed to know them so that you can work better with them. You're only being nice because you want something or you feel obligated to. "No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows, nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate. Nothing so childish" Our current disquietments with the government, culture, and the corporate world are demeaned, treated like a child's fear of monsters under the bed or in the closet, or that there's something in the dark. You're just being irrational, get to bed. "No chance of escape. Now self-employed. Concerned, but powerless" The little power you think you have is resting on unstable foundation. You're just biding your time, hoping tomorrow you'll still have agency over yourself. But hey, if the illusion's believable enough, maybe you'll buy into that power, not like they control your taxes and the prisons that hold you if you don't pay up. "An empowered and informed member of society, pragmatism not idealism" Don't daydream, that's too inspiring. Think inside the box unless society empowers you to not. "Will not cry in public" We don't want to deal with you and your thoughts and opinions. Settle yourself outside company time. "shot of baby strapped in backseat" in case you thought I was reaching with them not caring about your baby, all they want is that it's there. Never mind if it's frowning or smiling. "Like a cat tied to a stick that's driven into frozen winter shit, the ability to laugh at weakness" You know where you are, and there's no getting out. So you might as well just laugh at your vulnerability, crack a joke, have a laugh, before they take that too. "Calm, fitter, healthier and more productive. A pig in a cage on antibiotics" You become dependent. We sell you the medicine to save your life at exorbitant rates. |
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| Radiohead – Idioteque Lyrics | 6 months ago |
| @[GaryK:53892] Kid A is named after an unused, but considered synth software they could have used for the album, but chose not to. And a more common idea of the album's main theme is the life of the first genetically cloned human child, which makes Everything In Its Right Place make a lot more sense. | |
| Radiohead – In Limbo Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Before you can understand In Limbo, you need to understand how it fits with its neighboring tracks. While Optimistic saw a burning world and smiled at it through individualism, In Limbo prepares us for Idioteque where the world collapses in on itself. In Limbo would also make sense near Morning Bell and Motion Picture Soundtrack, as they cover more personal conflicts than the nation-breaking crises of tracks 6-8. "Lundy, Fastnet, Irish Sea, I've got a message I can't read." The song stems from an isolated feeling. You've done all you can, but you can't read the messages the world sends. You're begging to be thrown a bone. "I'm on your side. Nowhere to hide." This reads like an invader taunting the people they're intruding on. I'm on your side of the fence, and you can't hide, so show me plan B. "trapdoors that open, I spiral down." and "I'm lost at sea, don't bother me, I've lost my way." speak to a confusion within the speaker. Their world is wrong, they get lost in trapdoor thoughts. It reminds me of Lost Child Syndrome, where someone will disconnect from the world and often daydream. Don't believe me? "You're living in a fantasy, this beautiful world" The world around becomes too much, and if you can't physically escape, you have to mentally escape the invasion. "Come back!" something pleads the lost person to come back, or possibly, the delusion escaped them and they want to be lost in their daydream again. Haunting song. |
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| The Alan Parsons Project – Breakdown Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Meltdowns, breakdowns, call whatever you want them. You shake someone up, they let loose all the thoughts in their head and some seem so foreign you can't do anything with them. I know I relate to this a lot, having autism and experiencing a few meltdowns, usually a catatonic-adjacent shutdown rather than a blow out like they describe here, but the sentiments carry. "I breakdown in the middle and lose my thread. No one can understand a word that I say. When I break down just a little and lose my head. Nothing I try to do can work the same way" I find it harder to speak than it is to write, when people read, they expect something that's super well-thought out, and you have time to click the pieces together. I don't adjust to speech etiquette where you have to quickly form sentences off the top of your head. I'll often find myself incredibly stressed in an argument because I understand what I'm saying, and I know it's reasonable with a little time, but I often argue with people who are quick to the gun as soon as it's their turn to shoot. I kick and I squeal, but both parties know full well neither feels listened to and all the stress makes me lose my head even more. "Any time it happened I'd get over it, with a little help from all my friends. Anybody else could see what's wrong with me, but they walk away and just pretend!" Some people are more patient with us than others, and it can feel like you're giving everyone enough clues to figure out what's wrong, you study body language so you can convey you're uncomfortable, you use easier to understand allusions and metaphors for how you feel because that's how things make sense in your head, but those people just leave you be, they walk away when they should be lowering their voice or talking about something else. They ignore you because they're more concerned with what they want than with what you need. "Where are all the friends who used to talk to me, all they ever told me was good news. People that I've never seen are kind to me, is it any wonder I'm confused" Everyone goes through a period of their life where other people withdraw from them, the life you used to have just vanishes out of nowhere because of some evil author outside the universe writing others into their own plotlines and leaving you to fend for yourself. Like how people meet someone, they link up, and they can't spare any time with the person backing them for years longer. Then it takes a dig at the music industry, how the business is kind to the art so that they can make sure they get the profits. It can be a lot to handle, especially when it happens early in life/career and you're confused what to do to make sure you aren't forgotten or exploited. "Freedom, freedom, we will not obey, freedom, freedom, take the wall away. Freedom, freedom, take them all away" A meltdown makes you stop abiding by societal rules, you get louder, you glare at people, you're in a survival state. There's like a wall between society and nature that a meltdown dissolves, the meltdown has you stop sectioning yourself, you're seen in totality. It's freeing to regain control of the situation by melting down, all eyes turn, but you lose control of yourself. Take them all away may refer to self-isolating, or other people leaving because your meltdown scares them off. Obviously anybody can relate to the feeling of losing control of yourself because everything is too much, but it hits way closer to home if you have something in your brain. |
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| The Alan Parsons Project – Don't Let It Show Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Weird how a lot of the songs on these albums remind me about the conditions of living life with autism, especially Breakdown. Then again, some people might comment on autistic people as behaving like sci-fi robots. But that's just a personal connection, a likely murder of the artist, so to paint it more broad, it's how we all have to hide something. The speaker could be a personification of grief, trauma, even something as common as anger. Anything someone would feel compelled to hide. "if it's getting harder to face every day, don't let it show" This introduces that this is a man vs self problem, something is eating the person the speaker is singing to. "if it's getting harder to take what they say, just let it go" it's also a man vs man problem. Other people set off the alarms in the suffering person's brain, they make the suffering person feel worse, probably judging them for what's making them suffer. "And if it hurts when they mention my name, say you don't know me" The sufferer is compelled to wear a disguise around others, as not to expose the barely hidden plague. "And if it helps when they say I'm to blame, say you don't own me." When the ailment is hated, but not the sufferer, it helps, but they choose to deny they have the ailment because the help they need is out of reach because half the crowd blames the sufferer. "Even if it's taking the easy way out, keep it inside of you, don't give in, don't tell them anything." we're afraid of getting help, we would rather take the easy way out (die, implied by our own hands) than to take the easy way out (have other people help us out of the hole we're in) We won't let our guards down because we've been wrong about allies before, and shame is a weight hardly lifted. We let what's killing us kill us, keeping it inside of us. "Even though you know it's the wrong thing to say, say you don't care. Even if you want to believe there's a way, I won't be there." The ailment begs the sufferer not to get better, not to trust their better judgement, and trying to convince them that the way without them isn't worth it. Our problems try to make us think we're better for having them, but it isn't true, we can be good people without being hurt. "But if you smile when they mention my name, they'll never know you. And if you laugh when they say I'm to blame, they'll never own you" Here, it seems like the ailment is giving them advice that doesn't reach them as well. The sufferer doesn't want to be alone, they want people to know them, they belong with people who call them one of their own. They might not follow the advice to hide the ailment. "Even if you feel you've got nothing to hide. Keep it inside of you. Don't give in, don't tell them anything." The ailment urges them that there isn't a problem, they have something to hide, even if you don't believe it. This song can end in one of two ways: the sufferer takes the ailment's advice, or the sufferer bears their scars and gets help, killing the ailment. |
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| Radiohead – Trans-Atlantic Drawl Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Amnesiac b-sides have a foundation on uneasiness. Amazing Sounds has the prophesized collapse of the banks, Kinetic is built around a figurative need to run; get kinetic. Worrywort is on regret. Fog is a mix of fearmongering, eternal juvenility, and guilt. Cuttooth rests on war and feeling misinterpreted. Fast Track just as an uncomfortable instrumental and an eerie mantra about insignificance/weakness. Trans-atlantic Drawl covers a figurative claustrophobia, and an uneasiness towards the war developments around the globe happening at the time, considering "the light at the end of the tunnel" came from an Iraqi diplomat. "I was born for your magazines, I am trapped in the society page" magazines refers to both the written work and ammunition storage. A civilian in the UK and a citizen in Iraq is trapped in one of these definitions. The UK citizen can't do much of anything about what their government does, all they can do is watch the person they thought spoke for them champion wars they don't condone. In Iraq, civilians and soldiers are gunned down in droves, trapped in their country and can't escape. "I don't know what it means" both countries' inhabitants agree that the war doesn't make sense. It's not what they want, they find it purposeless and unnecessarily cruel. "Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel?" is rhetorical, there is no visible light because they aren't the one walking. They are carried and butchered by leaders who see their bodies as bags of money. "These are things that get on my nerves" both sides are outraged, fanning the flames for the war to get hotter. "You better start naming names" is a threat, war is threats on both sides and they sure aren't empty. The song ends with singing, it's haunting, it feels like you're in a room with everyone around you singing hymns. It's your funeral, and everyone else is singing something that isn't yours. They're alive, you're dead, soul-crushed, or dying. "You better start naming names" marked the transition from victims' voices leading the song, to the warmonger-ers' voices. I Will and Trans Atlantic Drawl are the two Radiohead songs that fight for the title 'Radiohead's Scariest Song' |
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| Genesis – Jesus He Knows Me Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Televangelists and other abuses of faith. The corruption of religion creates most, if not all, of its faults. This song is not an attack on religion, it isn't even an attack on the people who follow a televangelist or any other corrupt leader, it attacks the people who misuse others faiths to get what they want. The first two verses convey this religious leader is everywhere, selling paradise. Reminds me of the Antichrist, ironically an evangelical invention if I recall correctly. Verse three critiques how corrupt leaders turn their congregation away from the original text, blackout poem-ing its knowledge, misspeaking the message to fit what the leader believes. He says don't believe the book, believe what I say. The chorus warns that people will fake their credibility, and you need to keep an eye out so we worship a religion, not a person. You could even apply this song to an organization like Al-Qaeda, a couple of wrathful people misused Islam, having people do their bidding by selling them their anger. The West forgot the middle east, anger mixed with a religious figure encouraging violence and then 9/11/01 became unforgettable. Genesis didn't predict 9/11, they looked around, saw the evangelical scandals, and knew something even worse was coming. Verse 4 would be humorous if it wasn't such a cruel truth. Piety is unfortunately rare, and sometimes it's unbelievable how much contradiction there is, he didn't just cheat on his wife with a woman, he's dabbling in men, too. Verse five makes it abundantly clear that part of this song is about the idea of 'selling God' which we've seen in the past with the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences. Verse 6 criticizes how these leaders will put religion on easy, ignoring all the difficult sacrifices you need to make to truly call yourself religious. "I'm counting my blessings, I've found true happiness cause I'm getting richer, day by day" The leader foolishly equates wealth and happiness. This shows how unqualified he is for his position; if it wasn't clear before (somehow?) "Get on your knees and start praying!" With how full Collins delivers this line, you have to assume it's a double entendre. My guess is he's alluding to oral sex, which could also symbolize how the people (to put it rudely) 'sucking him off' aren't getting anything out of it, and it reinforces the idea of this leader exploiting his congregation, and being of a lustful nature. |
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| Radiohead – Black Star Lyrics | 6 months ago |
| @[ElfriedaLehner:53880] the story was too vivid in my head not to put somewhere. Reminds me of Exit Music, but at least in Exit Music they were glad to die together. Glad you liked my interpretation! | |
| Thom Yorke – Atoms For Peace Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Atoms for Peace is a very broad song, you can apply to basically any situation in which one is lifted to conquer their own faults by the people around them, so for Thom Yorke, the people who encouraged him to make this solo project. For you it could be anything you're not courageous enough to defeat within yourself, and that's not weakness, bonds are built on giving antidotes to poisons of the soul. "No more going to the dark side with your flying saucer eyes. No more falling down a wormhole that I have to pull you out" "It's time for something great" "So many allies, so feel the love come off of them" "I'll be okay" People are atoms, we're just a body and a brain. Great start, but two hands can only build so much, and two eyes can only see so much. We have to learn from others if we want to be at peace, and most of the people around you want peace. Also "No more talk about the good old days" juxtaposition with "it's time for something great" is wonderful usage of connotation, good is good, but great is better. It also excuses people for staying in the dark side/wormhole, because things that destroy us feel good because they're easy and 'work' for a little, but they eat you from the inside out. Thom basically says "I don't blame you for being where you are, but you need to get out. Hug your family, laugh with your friends, and be a better human. It's hard, but I did it, and you can too. We want to get out and make it work." and would echo this on Radiohead's Lotus Flower. |
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| Radiohead – How I Made My Millions Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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How I Made my Millions might just be them at their most melancholy. I'd argue it's on the same level as Street Spirit. "I was stronger, I was better" I feel like this is an introduction into the slipping away of what you used to have. Things were better BEFORE, and BEFORE is gone, and BEFORE was the best you had. You've peaked, and now everything is falling away. "Picked you out, now don't say a word, no, don't yell out, never mind" This feels like the loss of people in your life; breakups, drifting apart, and death. We pick who we want to know early in life, and as the opportunities to meet new people fades, it makes losing them even worse. However, this song is about acceptance, moving on from grief, so you learn how to make that specific person's leaving not hurt all that much anymore. "Let you out, led you back" This ties into the powerlessness aspect, we have to upkeep the people in our lives. Often times, we let people out, and then have to win them back through apologies and understanding. And sure it makes us stronger, but "Stay on, sit down" reminds us that there's an inherent cruelty to trying to get people back. They don't grow with us, we chain each other, and do we have the right? "Let it fall x4" answers the question, saying no, when it's over it's over, you have to accept when things have fallen out of the place you were comfortable with them in. Thom's voice regains a lot of strength here, this is how you get back to BEFORE when you had all that strength, when you were better. Better isn't in the past, it's in the future, spreading your wings and going to new places and talking to new people. You have to learn to let things go if you ever want to be happy. This is not what Thom Yorke had in mind, he was literally just making up lyrics, but art exists on an artist's murder scene. You can also get a lot from the tone Yorke sings in, his voice is weak, it's monotonal, he even sounds a little bit tired, and that tells me that there's more to it than improv. |
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| Radiohead – How I Made My Millions Lyrics | 6 months ago |
| @[cleverclogs:53836] I'm a little weary of this interpretation because "I was stronger, I was better" feels way too emotionally charged for it to just be taking the piss out of critics. | |
| Radiohead – Give Up the Ghost Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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This song reminds me of how religious leaders and their believers interact with one another. "Gather up the lost and sold into your arms" spiritual leaders often lead altruistic efforts, giving those born into poverty or people suffering a disease comfort through charity. Also, religion can guide people to living a fuller, more beautiful life. "Don't hurt me" Contrasting the good that can come from spirituality, religion is often corrupted by worldly gains, whether that be the promise to send experimental thinkers to hell, or something as cruel as sexual abuse by an authority figure. "What seems impossible" Religion is supernatural, hard to believe, existing in a realm of impossibility, and there it thrives. "I think I've had my fill" martyrs die for a cause they can't live without. The speaker has fulfilled all they could without dying, but often, giving your life for a cause, especially in a religious context, can faster make the change you wish to make. They've had their fill of the suffering of life without being able to realize their goal. "I think I should give up the ghost" 'give up the ghost' is a phrase from the bible, talking about the crucifixion of Christ. This plays into the idea that the speaker is a martyr; someone who dies so the world can heal from evil. The meek, the lost, and the sold inherit the earth. |
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| Radiohead – Feral Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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Following along with the Buddhist themes of the album, we come to another core concept, anatman; no self. "You are not mine, I am not yours" there is no such thing as a possession, even the computer you're reading this on is just a collection of materials, there's no chemical justification for it belonging to you. The same goes for identity, you don't belong to your identity, and your identity doesn't belong to you. If the circumstances you were born into were different, and the things you saw changed, would you still have the same identity? I don't think so. "Please do not judge me" Our identities are born from our judgement of what we do, how we act, etc. Learning to let go of identity requires you to stop judging yourself and others, to break the psychological walls between a tree and a cloud and you and your friends and people you've never met. They are all existent, so they all become the same. |
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| Radiohead – Bloom Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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This album has a lot of ties to Buddhism, so why wouldn't they start the album with a song about one of the three concepts of Buddhism? Duhkha or suffering. "Open your mouth wide a universal sigh" disappointment counts as suffering in Buddhism "It's what keeps me alive." Bloom as a title suggests this is the beginning of someone's spiritual journey, and at the beginning, one is bound by a wanting for more, it's what motivates them to move. This will be contrasted by Separator, the final track, where the speaker only asks to be stirred awake; a Taoist inaction; something only done by a mix of nature and fate. |
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| Radiohead – Black Star Lyrics | 6 months ago |
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I believe Black Star is about a couple, one of them is severely depressed and the other is making the depression worse. As the song plays out, I find it harder to sympathize with the speaker, and the speaker pushes his lover closer to the edge. "Well what am I to do?" and "It's been 58 hours since I last slept with you" make me think the other person in the story is not supporting the one who's struggling with depression. They think the issues their lover has are too big to support, but still they want things from that person, notably sex, which is another thing that eats at the depressed person; the feeling that their lover craves them carnally, but finds them irritating to deal with in any other context. That reinforces the feelings of hopelessness and self-hatred that comes with depression. "Blame it on the black star, blame it on the falling sky" rather than confronting the problem, the two find imaginary reasons to blame each other, ignoring the inevitable collapse of their relationship, and one of their lives; the falling sky. "I keep falling over I keep passing out when I see a face like you" While this could just be a reaction to the break up, I feel there's something deeper with the context we're given. There's a grief deeper than separation, it feels more like a mourning, something that carries a heavier weight that could knock someone out if something reminds them of the dead person too closely. "What am I coming to, I'm gonna melt down" the speaker has separated from their lover, but a similar feeling of emptiness now plagues them, stress is bearing down on them and at any time they could lose control of their temper, this line shows us they're anticipating the meltdown. "This is killing me!" The speaker's lover committed suicide, and the complex emotions of inadequacy and guilty relief are poisoning the speaker. They will both die because of the relationship they had, but not for it. Why this line was left out on the webpage, I have no clue, as it is one of the most significant moments in the song. |
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| Radiohead – Black Star Lyrics | 6 months ago |
|
I believe Black Star is about a couple, one of them is severely depressed and the other is making the depression worse. As the song plays out, I find it harder to sympathize with the speaker, and the speaker pushes his lover closer to the edge. "Well what am I to do?" and "It's been 58 hours since I last slept with you" make me think the other person in the story is not supporting the one who's struggling with depression. They think the issues their lover has are too big to support, but still they want things from that person, notably sex, which is another thing that eats at the depressed person; the feeling that their lover craves them carnally, but finds them irritating to deal with in any other context. That reinforces the feelings of hopelessness and self-hatred that comes with depression. "Blame it on the black star, blame it on the falling sky" rather than confronting the problem, the two find imaginary reasons to blame each other, ignoring the inevitable collapse of their relationship, and one of their lives; the falling sky. "I keep falling over I keep passing out when I see a face like you" While this could just be a reaction to the break up, I feel there's something deeper with the context we're given. There's a grief deeper than separation, it feels more like a mourning, something that carries a heavier weight that could knock someone out if something reminds them of the dead person too closely. "What am I coming to, I'm gonna melt down" the speaker has separated from their lover, but a similar feeling of emptiness now plagues them, stress is bearing down on them and at any time they could lose control of their temper, this line shows us they're anticipating the meltdown. "This is killing me!" The speaker's lover committed suicide, and the complex emotions of inadequacy and guilty relief are poisoning the speaker. They will both die because of the relationship they had, but not for it. Why this line was left out on the webpage, I have no clue, as it is one of the most significant moments in the song. |
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