My Iron Lung Lyrics

Lyric discussion by weirdlounge 

Cover art for My Iron Lung lyrics by Radiohead

I think the song is not about Creep, in my opinion...

Faith, you're driving me away You do it everyday You don't mean it but it hurts like hell My brain says I'm receiving pain A lack of oxygen from my life support My iron lung

Faith means fear, fear about losing someone (I'll explain why someone later...) and he's losing any kind of hope... he knows he's getting worse because he wants something he can't achieve, he's "dying" because he can't get it, the iron lung is the most beautiful part of the song, it means something you need but you don't wanna have... for example: when you love someone you don't wanna love, but she/he makes you happy sometimes, even though it's just a lie.

We're too young to fall asleep Too cynical to speak We are losing it, can't you tell? We scratch our eternal itch A twentieth century bitch And we are grateful for our iron lung

Just as said before, he's losing someone, and they won't talk about it, but there's plenty of time (we're to young to fall asleep, this means there's plenty of time to talk about it, yet, they won't), and he's quite angry that she (in my opinion it's about a girl) doesn't even care. "We scratch our eternal itch, a twentieth century bitch" they won't do anything about it, and they will feel kind of uncomfortable, but they'll pretend there's nothing wrong, and pretend they are fine (just like everyone does, and that's what 20th century means). And they'll pretend they're fine depending on an "iron lung" (that keeps them "alive")

The headshrinkers They want everything My uncle Bill My Belisha beacon

Headshrinkers as headhunters are like fears, he's starting to lose control, his head is like a belisha beacon and he's losing it

Suck, suck your teenage thumb Toilet trained and dumb When the power runs out we'll just hum This, this is our new song Just like the last one A total waste of time My iron lung

he's saying like "keep being so childish, pretending everything's alright, eventually it will be". "This is our new song, just like the last one a total waste of time, my iron lung" I love this part, I'm also a composer, and writing a song is like writing down your feelings and finally let them go... but some feelings are really really sad and even if you make a lot of songs, you can't make them go, and you hope that when you write a nice song for someone, that someone appreciates it, but when she/he doesn't, you feel like crap, like a waste of time...

And if you're frightened You can be frightened You can be, it's okay

Cause he's not

I hope you like it, obviously it's not the perfect meaning, because unless you're the writer, you can't completely understand a song... but that's the way I see the song...

Very cool, man, nice interpretation. I'd just add that maybe the feelings that the song narrates and describes aren't about a girl...but about your ownself. I mean, maybe the Iron Lung is about what we feel when we let the head bows to the bad or sad things we see and feel...but we admit them, because there's no way or because there's something amongst them that makes we feel comfortable...I don't know, that's just another point of view hehe