How I Made My Millions

this song is just beautiful, yorke just recorded it while slightly drunk at home on his piano (the noises in the background are his girlfriend putting shopping away) he took it into the recording studio and they just loved it so much they put the original straight on one of the singles (no surprises) you can see why, simply amazing

I thought it's been said that the lyrics are about nothing at all and it's a parody on the fact that a lot of critics say all his lyrics are about nothing..and as he has made all his money from songwriting that is how he made his "millions"...well..anyhooo..

at first i thought it was a piss take

but i think i take him at his word i was stronger better' makes me think Thom's telling us at first he tried to be more genuine than other of his ilk; but now he sees hes just like the rest of us therefor he made his millions just like musicians; he tried to be more valued and high minded but now he reliazes its not true, at least for him and hes still slightly ashamed to admit it 'no don't yell out-nevermind' he trying to accept it 'let it fall let it fall'

Thom yorke explained in concert that he was at the grocery store with his girlfriend and after he picked out a carton of eggs and paid for them she dropped the entire carton in the parking lot putting them in the car. He wasn't able to catch it in time and his girlfriend yelled out in excitement and regret. He told her to just get in the car and sit down. So when he got home he wrote this song.

it's about a relationship that has died. the narrator is thinking he was "stronger and better" when the relationship began, they were doing great... but then something happened and all that love turned into "never mind". they faced a problem in their relationship they couldn't deal with, and that problem became just overwhelming. love started to fade away, they got tired of arguing. the narrator seems really desperate and depressed, but trying to think "is there any way we can get through this?" but is so tired he can't do anything but "Sit down, Let it fall".

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.

THt is like sooo crazyyeee Like E I can not see I don't uh what it's will warp me and everyone els ethrough eacvh other's m, so it's crzazy now or it;s crazy then.. in the nmiddle and the mass is upside down and splitidivid apart in devidend.. who DARE tell the bosossess to clean the air before they run men as girly boy sperms of under their man control.. clean your cmog your disgusdting peieces of crap.. Jesus/W Attitude is coming.. careful your bum view it will be returned and oyu will be overruled

i think i was stronger i was better is a referance to the 6 million dollar man (as well as the title) picked you out, the consumer talking to the discman, or thom talking to the consumer. dont worry this wont hurt a bit, but in the end he cant go through with it. let you out led you back stay on sit down let it fall, sounds like a good description of radioheads basic message, dont buy into new music, don't let yourself be a target, technology cant stop you from being human so u'll still have to deal with the consequences, but buy our cd, stay here but dont participate, just let it fall. which sounds like how thom made his millions, why the next albums called KIDA, and what the song KIDA is all about.

now that just seems stupid :x--bleh ./. || it may be a reference to the 6 million dollar man as the title sort of suggests who was saved from death with the infusion of technology into his body, but the rest of the song i think is still just about that. we are born and try to survive and increase our chances of survival by improving on ourselves, using tools and technology and we become slaves to all our computers, all our appliances etc... and then as we grow up we stare in the face the certainty of our own death and try to become what we once were we try to understand how it is all meaningless, we digust ourselves, lose our innocence then try to turn back. "there's a little child..""(aghost)howlin' down the chimney release me" we seperate ourselves from who we used to be and forget that this is who we've forced ourselves to become and each bit we've added has to be removed if we want to... i think its written like a speach made by the former self after a re-birth, to the present self(now the former self) but if it does tell the story of how i made my millions, then it might be some sort of conversation between the former and present selves, 1st 2 are present, next former, next 2 present, then former again, then the next 2 present again. after that i think it could go either way depending on whether you think there's hope for re-birth or believe in...

ok i think i got confused keeping track of all these selves, or is it selfs, anyhow... stay on, sit down, let it fall... is neither the present(now former) nor the former it is the new self that is constantly being created