Given Thom's interest in socio-political and environmental issues - not to mention his disillusionment with world leadership during the Blair/Bush era - I have NO DOUBT that Up On the Ladder was originally written from this persepective. It seems to be a statement about the nature of politics/politicians... as well as a kind of lament from an ordinary citizen's POV that neither we, nor our elected politicians have been able to bring about effect change. ("I'm a puppet"... "I've been wasting my time"... "You're all the fucking same" etc).
However, the song's inclusion on the 2-disc edition of In Rainbows causes to me to view its meaning in a very different light. Think of UotL as the evil twin brother to Faust Arp if you will.
Looking at it this way, the lyrics seem to suggest a man who's in emotional torment because the object of his infatuation will not give him a straight answer regarding where their (non)relationship is heading. In other words, he's losing patience and starting to see her as a prick-tease ("you're all the fucking same") - though he seems equally angry with himself, and is beginning to lose it big-time.
Given Thom's interest in socio-political and environmental issues - not to mention his disillusionment with world leadership during the Blair/Bush era - I have NO DOUBT that Up On the Ladder was originally written from this persepective. It seems to be a statement about the nature of politics/politicians... as well as a kind of lament from an ordinary citizen's POV that neither we, nor our elected politicians have been able to bring about effect change. ("I'm a puppet"... "I've been wasting my time"... "You're all the fucking same" etc).
However, the song's inclusion on the 2-disc edition of In Rainbows causes to me to view its meaning in a very different light. Think of UotL as the evil twin brother to Faust Arp if you will.
Looking at it this way, the lyrics seem to suggest a man who's in emotional torment because the object of his infatuation will not give him a straight answer regarding where their (non)relationship is heading. In other words, he's losing patience and starting to see her as a prick-tease ("you're all the fucking same") - though he seems equally angry with himself, and is beginning to lose it big-time.