High and Dry

Radiohead

Two jumps in a week
I bet you think that's pretty clever, don't you, boy?
Flying on your motorcycle
Watching all the ground beneath you drop

You'd kill yourself for recognition
Kill yourself to never, ever stop
You broke another mirror
You're turning into something you are not

Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry

Drying up in conversation
You will be the one who cannot talk
All your insides fall to pieces
You just sit there wishing you could still make love

They're the ones who'll hate you
When you think you've got the world all sussed out
They're the ones who'll spit at you
You will be the one screaming out

Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry

Oh, it's the best thing that you've ever had
The best thing that you've ever, ever had
It's the best thing that you've ever had
The best thing you have had is gone away

So don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high
Don't leave me high
Don't leave me dry


Lyrics submitted by piesupreme, edited by Gallagator, Rambooji

High and Dry Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood

Lyrics © DistroKid, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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High and Dry song meanings
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179 Comments

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  • +35
    General CommentThis song is about selling you soul. The narrator is talking about this person who has compromised his integrity for success. It talks about how you destroy your foundation when you sellout like this and that the people you have done this to impress will end up hating you if you fall. You will have nothing to support you when you fall and everyone will be against you. Anyway, that's what it means to me but it could also be about a relationship i guess.
    wiseoneon April 19, 2002   Link
  • +25
    General CommentTo me,this song is about someone who seeks acceptance from others by pretending to be someone he's not and by losing his real self.These people don't really care and even if they accepted him,sooner or later they'll abandon him just like anybody else and at this point this person will have lost everything.My life story.
    Joekubrickon June 22, 2003   Link
  • +13
    My InterpretationIn my opinion, I think this is about a boy, who is with someone who he loves and cares about, but takes them for granted, takes his feelings for granted, and treats them badly to make himself look cool... to impress the people who don't even care about him. and he's changing who he is to fit in with them. and in the beginning the person just wants them to stay, and not to leave them, because they love them and would do anything for them, but being hurt becomes too much. The tables turn, once he realizes what he's done... "Drying up in conversation
    You will be the one who cannot talk
    All your insides fall to pieces
    You just sit there wishing you could still make love" ... now he is speach-less and heartbroken cause he lost the one person who really cared for him, because he realized the people who he was trying to impress would probably not even care if he dropped off the face of the earth. and now he was left, "high and dry"
    he lost the best thing he had... and he's the only one to blame
    gabbivolp3on August 14, 2012   Link
  • +7
    General CommentThis song to me is about someone that is being pulled in all different directions by people. He wants to be everything to everyone. He wants to be everybody's friend, so he goes with the flow and does what he thinks everybody else wants him to do. Then he loses himself in the process and his worst fear of being the one that everybody hates starts to come true. Even though they might not necessarily feel that way, to him they do b/c the person that they know is not really who he is. At the end of the song, he's lost the best thing he's ever had, his identity. IMHO
    gary2532on October 26, 2007   Link
  • +6
    My InterpretationI can't derive a precise meaning, but I think it's basically about people who are sad and lonely to the point where they crave attention, but they're afraid to go get it, and they're afraid to try to live happily, so they gradually destroy themselves and, ultimately, kill themselves for attention and pity.

    As a side note, I absolutely love this song.
    Neongreyscaleon October 29, 2013   Link
  • +4
    General Comment"sussed out" - finally grasping the concept of how the world works. I think this song is about thie guy who is trying to impress everyone, and wanting acceptance. But everyone sees through his disguise and don't bother with him and he's lonely so he's left high and dry.
    Achilles_Libertineon March 22, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General CommentIt's about someone telling someone to calm down and sort the way they veiw life out. You shouldn't go through life doing things to impress others, you just end up looking childish, showing off and acting the fool. The person will end up thinking your a fool. If you make yourself out to be more then you are you will probably end up being caught out.
    Shezzieon April 30, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General CommentYeah personally I think that this is about someone who is compromising themselves to fit in somewhere. And ultimately leaving the ones that were there for the "real" them, high and dry. Then when they're up there, in with them, they turn on the person and see that he's been a fake all along.

    The the best thing he's ever had has gone away, originally the person who was there for him in the beginning.
    slowtoriaon February 08, 2008   Link
  • +4
    My Interpretationjust my interpretation, but I feel like this song relates more to a failed relationship. you're with a person, and everything is going fine, but over time they just change, for whatever reason. maybe they think they're better than you (i.e. "kill yourself for recognition"). and you desperately don't want them to leave you high and dry. maybe I'm completely off base here but I'm pretty much going through a situation like that right now and this song is something i feel like I can relate to.
    renee3946on July 06, 2012   Link
  • +4
    My InterpretationSuch an interesting song. I felt like the writer is reasoning with an emotional "dare-devil" willing to risk everything, even life, for recognition...attention. Pleading with someone that is deeply loved but getting no substance, no conversation, no love. Dare-devils risk their very lives, in this case resulting in a relational death, leaving loved ones tragically high and dry.

    The best rendition I have ever heard was by Eddie Miller of Sunderland, UK.
    navgatoron December 14, 2018   Link

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