Airbag Lyrics

Lyric discussion by matthewsheffield 

Cover art for Airbag lyrics by Radiohead

The song is about the horror of; and surprise at surviving, an RTA (road traffic accident)- to me at least.

When I triple flipped my Saab into a field this song was obsessive listening for hours when I got home from the hospital that evening.

Don't stress about the meaning of juggernaut: in the UK (Thom, I guess, speaks "English") it means a large articulated lorry, a semi if you like, a truck with a trailer, the biggest commercial delivery vehicles you see on the roads.

"The next world war" could be referring to the huge casulties caused by RTAs around the world each year, equivalent to a World War being fought.

"In the neon sign scrolling up and down"- how do you think a neon sign would appear if you were being spun up and around and then down after hitting a lorry at 70 mph in a Mercedes?

"In a deep deep sleep of the innocent I am born again" -doesn't this suggest that the driver fell asleep at the wheel?

"In an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe"- Perhaps Mr Yorke has read that when you have an airbag stop you, you get a bright flash of white light- I suppose from your retina being thrown forward into the vitreous. Also "interstella burst" is a very posh way of expressing "fast".