It barks at no one else
But me
Like it's seen
A ghost
I guess it's seen the sparks
A-flowin'
No one else
Would know

Hey man, slow down
Slow down
Idiot, slow down
Slow down

Sometimes I get overcharged
That's when you
See sparks
They ask me where the hell
I'm going?
At a thousand feet per second

Hey man, slow down
Slow down
Idiot, slow down
Slow down

Hey man, slow down
Slow down
Idiot, slow down
Slow down


Lyrics submitted by piesupreme

The Tourist Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood

Lyrics © Sentric Music, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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The Tourist song meanings
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  • +5
    General Comment

    Hey, man, slow down...

    A few years back when I was living in a miserable ghetto apartment, unemployed, credit card debt piling up, uncertain about the present and the future, I'd go on road trips out of the city almost every weekend to camp, hike, ski, anything to get away from the concrete and the corner drug deals and the liquor stores and the drive-bys. I was listening to Radiohead heavily, as I'm still inclined to do when clinically depressed, and as the weekend came to a close, and we had been on the road for a few hours, and we entered the final maze of freeways, I'd always cue up OKC to The Tourist. Hey, man, slow down... think of the beautiful sights you saw this weekend. Remember the colors on the painted sand dunes... remember how that blast of heat felt coming from the black lava beds... the views of the smoky blue foothills from the summit... remember how the tent stakes crunched in the cinders, the quiet of the campsite... the smell of the pines... slow down...

    Then we'd get home and hurriedly unpack the car in fear of getting jumped.

    I think of this song a lot. When I'm biking and I nearly pass up a scenic spot in favor of making time - Hey, man, slow down. When I'm stressing at work, deluded into thinking that any of that sh*t actually matters - Hey, man, slow down. When I'm caught up in my troubles and forget how good it can be to stop on the way home and watch the sunset over the ocean - Hey, man, slow down.

    Thanks for this one, Radiohead. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.

    half_duprasson May 26, 2008   Link

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