Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
You're moving through the rough waters, motel boy
And swimming in your sleep
How could I be so blind, mis-sighted
Not to see there's something wounded deep?
Anyone could scratch your surface now
It's all amphetamine
You're blasting yourself into the present
To blur some past indignity, say that
You say that you hate it
You want to re-create it
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
You're drinking raw adrenal, baby
And do-si-do, saddo
You're eating cartilage, shark-eyes, shark-heart, all present tense
And boy, your blood is running cold
Listen! This is now, this is here this is me
This is what I wanted you to see
That was then, that was that that is gone, that is past
You cast yourself, cast passed by, thrown down fast
You say, you say that you hate it
You want to re-create it
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
You love it, you hate it
You want to re-create it
Now! This is here, this is me
This is what I wanted you to see
That was then, that was that, that is gone
That is what I wanted you to feel
You love it, you hate it
You're spitting out the bitter pill
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel, whoa
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills, whoa
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills, whoa
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
And swimming in your sleep
How could I be so blind, mis-sighted
Not to see there's something wounded deep?
Anyone could scratch your surface now
It's all amphetamine
You're blasting yourself into the present
To blur some past indignity, say that
You say that you hate it
You want to re-create it
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
You're drinking raw adrenal, baby
And do-si-do, saddo
You're eating cartilage, shark-eyes, shark-heart, all present tense
And boy, your blood is running cold
Listen! This is now, this is here this is me
This is what I wanted you to see
That was then, that was that that is gone, that is past
You cast yourself, cast passed by, thrown down fast
You say, you say that you hate it
You want to re-create it
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
You love it, you hate it
You want to re-create it
Now! This is here, this is me
This is what I wanted you to see
That was then, that was that, that is gone
That is what I wanted you to feel
You love it, you hate it
You're spitting out the bitter pill
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel, whoa
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills, whoa
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
I've been around, I've been your lover
I let it go at Kill Devil Hills, whoa
You're coming onto something so fast, so numb
That you can't even feel
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More Featured Meanings
No Surprises
Radiohead
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Page
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Plastic Bag
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“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
i actually read somehwere this is a song about the fast-paced life and eventual death of River Phoenix or maybe even Kurt Cobain...remember, it was alleged (by Courtney Love, so it doesn't count for much) that Stipe and Cobain fucked a few times --> "i've played your lover"...basically, i think it's about someone changing due to the drugs they've done; about someone who grows apart from reality...i related, unfortunately b/c i'm at the other end of it