The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms (way out)
I follow to the edge of the Earth (way out, way out)
And fall off
Yeah, everybody leaves (way out)
If they get the chance (way out)
And this is my chance (way out)
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms (way out)
I follow to the edge of the Earth (way out, way out)
And fall off
Yeah, everybody leaves (way out)
If they get the chance (way out)
And this is my chance (way out)
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
Lyrics submitted by andrewrocks
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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I think it's a track four, is Arpeggi. (The sombre song, e.g. Fake Plastic Trees/Exit Music/How To Disappear Completely/You And Whose Army/Barkdrifts)
Another possible interpretation would be to say it's about finding inspiration in love. The narrator is stuck at the bottom, unable to free himself because he is lacking the inspiration to move ahead. The eyes that turn him are those of someone who comes along and inspires him to believe that he can do something. He now has something to go towards. Perhaps the light that he wasn't able to see down there in the bottom of the ocean.
So this could be a song about an artists' struggle to escape writer's block and start creating again.
There is something about Radiohead, and Thom in particular, that registers so deeply and intimately in the brains of those of us who truly love them, that makes them feel they belong only to us.....those who don't get it cannot understand why they resonate so deeply for us.....and that fact in and of itself makes us happy to be in that select group. It's as if Thom is tapping into our subconscious to bring the lyrics out.
to begin with, i believe it's obvious thom's actually not saying "we're fishes" (that sounds really funny though, and don't get me started on ALL i mishear from thom's purposely muffled accent) but "weird fishes", since the title of the track on the record says "weird fishes/arpeggi". secondly, i don't know about the search for god, to me it sounds more like someone obsessively and slef-distructively infatuated with someone whose eyes haunt them, to the extent where they get lost in it and would go to any lengths. yes, for a bloody pair of eyes. i'm only saying this because i myself have had the rather uplifting yet daunting experience of being almost literally dragged around by the eyes of mean little person who was out to break my heart, but of whom i was not wary. "everybody left if they got the chance", but i just stared back, hypnotized, waiting to "get eaten by the worms and weird fishes" as "i hit the bottom". so, there.
I love it when people make every Radiohead song political
sure a good number are but hunting among the metaphors with that in mind is pretty lame
nme.com/news/111840.htm
This song was written by Johnny Greenwood, performed by the London Sinfonietta and was sung by Thom Yorke for the South Bank Ether Festival. There are a few recordings of Arpeggi around the internet - I found a link on ateaseweb.com so look there for this.
Just a couple of things about the above lyrics - it's "phantoms" as opposed to "fantasies" (see half-way through) and the penultimate section ("in the bottom of...we fishies") should read:
"Eaten by the worms And we’re fishies Picked over by the worms And we’re fishies We’re fishies We’re fishies"
Rdec, thanks for the update. I edited your lyrics by taking out "the" in "eaten by the worms." It doesn't sound like he actually says "the" :)
i will also host this song :) cheers!
andrewrocks.com/musics/radiohead_arpeggi_live_ether_27_03_05.mp3
Fair enough. ;)
this song is going to be on the next album, i read that on atease.com its awesome though, the lyrics sound good to me, i think the next radiohead album is going to be the best album ever
the musice is a bit like modern classical composers such as steve reich or philip glass but i'm sure by the time it gets on the album (let's hope so!) it will as with so many of their songs sound very different. from what we've heard so far i agree that it could be an awesome album