I think the basic message of the song is that the supposed perfect middle class life, where you live in the suburbs with a good job and a family, is something no-one would actually ever want, because it would be a damning, boring life of no surprises. The lyrics are someone with such a life realising he has been unhappy this entire time and that this is the reason why.
-"A heart that's full up like a landfill", I believe means unexpressed feelings (held in by this socially conformative life)
-"A job that slowly kills you" A job where everything is so scheduled and unsurprising that it takes the remaining shreds of excitement away in his new life, slowly taking away what makes it a "life"
-"Bruises that won't heal" Perhaps the narrator was hurt in ways before their adult life, but isn't willing to show that (they seem to be saying that these "visible" bruises aren't going away, a problem) because that would distance themself from their friends and "ruin" their life.
-"You look so tired, unhappy" This person, realising the hell of this life of no surprises, is now looking at their personality, thinking they have become something so different from what they were originally
"Bring down the government, they don't speak for us" This was one of the many slogans that youth in the 1990's would be hearing, and Yorke probably included this as something of a reflection on the life of an adult, living in this time, who has a life of boredom.
-"I'll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide" The person, I think, attempts to go back to his original way of believing that this life is perfect with the first phrase. With the second, "a handshake", he refers, I believe to deception. There a lot of images of handshakes in the OK COMPUTER album, which Yorke chose as symbols due to the way they are intended to show trust and truthfulness, but a person can easily "go behind" a handshake. The line, in this song, refers to the way he deceives people into thinking he sees the type of life they all share as perfect, like them, despite him having seen the hell it really is. He gives up hope in the last line, "some carbon monoxide", and contemplates suicide.
"No alarms and no surprises x3, Silent" In the chorus, he is either committing or imagining a death through carbon monoxide poisoning, which would supposedly be slow and peaceful. Considering that, he sees the irony in that he is trying to escape the life of no surprises, but this method of suicide is a perfect symbol of the way that the life itself is slowly killing him.
-"This is my final fit, my final bellyache" This may refer to the earlier line "bruises that won't heal", he has experienced "fits" and "bellyaches", possibly metaphors for the feelings of sadness, and these will both be felt physically in his death.
-"No alarms and no surprises x3, Please" The narrator he also realises that his death will bring no alarms and no surprises ever, so perhaps being dead would be no different to the way he lives (this also goes well with the line "a job that slowly kills you")
-The instrumental solo is a build-up to the climax, and I belief is symbolic of him dying.
-"Such a pretty house, and such a pretty garden" He sees his life flash before his eyes, and thinks about the life of no surprises, about how it may have seemed attractive and "pretty" at first, but it's really all meaningless.
-"No alarms and no surprises x3, please" Having seen his entire life, the narrator now begins to die, and the song ends with an empty, mystical feeling, showing his death.
I believe you're exactly right, but I'd like to add that I believe the line "I'll take a quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide" is intentionally multivalent (can mean more than one thing at once) and he is both referring to suicide by asphyxiating himself with his car, and "a handshake of carbon monoxide" could refer to smoking a cigarette- a way that people stuck in such a rut passively (and slowly) commit suicide in lieu of doing it all at once- say, smoking a cigarette or two at work every day, and perhaps that is a perfect illustration...
I believe you're exactly right, but I'd like to add that I believe the line "I'll take a quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide" is intentionally multivalent (can mean more than one thing at once) and he is both referring to suicide by asphyxiating himself with his car, and "a handshake of carbon monoxide" could refer to smoking a cigarette- a way that people stuck in such a rut passively (and slowly) commit suicide in lieu of doing it all at once- say, smoking a cigarette or two at work every day, and perhaps that is a perfect illustration of the fact people stuck in such "safe" lives signal (unconsciously, most of us) that they want out.
I believe his request for no alarms and no surprises means that he hopes he is not discovered merely passed-out. He doesn't want his suicide interrupted.
I believe his request for no alarms and no surprises means that he hopes he is not discovered merely passed-out. He doesn't want his suicide interrupted.
I think the basic message of the song is that the supposed perfect middle class life, where you live in the suburbs with a good job and a family, is something no-one would actually ever want, because it would be a damning, boring life of no surprises. The lyrics are someone with such a life realising he has been unhappy this entire time and that this is the reason why. -"A heart that's full up like a landfill", I believe means unexpressed feelings (held in by this socially conformative life) -"A job that slowly kills you" A job where everything is so scheduled and unsurprising that it takes the remaining shreds of excitement away in his new life, slowly taking away what makes it a "life" -"Bruises that won't heal" Perhaps the narrator was hurt in ways before their adult life, but isn't willing to show that (they seem to be saying that these "visible" bruises aren't going away, a problem) because that would distance themself from their friends and "ruin" their life. -"You look so tired, unhappy" This person, realising the hell of this life of no surprises, is now looking at their personality, thinking they have become something so different from what they were originally "Bring down the government, they don't speak for us" This was one of the many slogans that youth in the 1990's would be hearing, and Yorke probably included this as something of a reflection on the life of an adult, living in this time, who has a life of boredom. -"I'll take a quiet life, a handshake, some carbon monoxide" The person, I think, attempts to go back to his original way of believing that this life is perfect with the first phrase. With the second, "a handshake", he refers, I believe to deception. There a lot of images of handshakes in the OK COMPUTER album, which Yorke chose as symbols due to the way they are intended to show trust and truthfulness, but a person can easily "go behind" a handshake. The line, in this song, refers to the way he deceives people into thinking he sees the type of life they all share as perfect, like them, despite him having seen the hell it really is. He gives up hope in the last line, "some carbon monoxide", and contemplates suicide. "No alarms and no surprises x3, Silent" In the chorus, he is either committing or imagining a death through carbon monoxide poisoning, which would supposedly be slow and peaceful. Considering that, he sees the irony in that he is trying to escape the life of no surprises, but this method of suicide is a perfect symbol of the way that the life itself is slowly killing him. -"This is my final fit, my final bellyache" This may refer to the earlier line "bruises that won't heal", he has experienced "fits" and "bellyaches", possibly metaphors for the feelings of sadness, and these will both be felt physically in his death. -"No alarms and no surprises x3, Please" The narrator he also realises that his death will bring no alarms and no surprises ever, so perhaps being dead would be no different to the way he lives (this also goes well with the line "a job that slowly kills you") -The instrumental solo is a build-up to the climax, and I belief is symbolic of him dying. -"Such a pretty house, and such a pretty garden" He sees his life flash before his eyes, and thinks about the life of no surprises, about how it may have seemed attractive and "pretty" at first, but it's really all meaningless. -"No alarms and no surprises x3, please" Having seen his entire life, the narrator now begins to die, and the song ends with an empty, mystical feeling, showing his death.
I believe you're exactly right, but I'd like to add that I believe the line "I'll take a quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide" is intentionally multivalent (can mean more than one thing at once) and he is both referring to suicide by asphyxiating himself with his car, and "a handshake of carbon monoxide" could refer to smoking a cigarette- a way that people stuck in such a rut passively (and slowly) commit suicide in lieu of doing it all at once- say, smoking a cigarette or two at work every day, and perhaps that is a perfect illustration...
I believe you're exactly right, but I'd like to add that I believe the line "I'll take a quiet life, a handshake of carbon monoxide" is intentionally multivalent (can mean more than one thing at once) and he is both referring to suicide by asphyxiating himself with his car, and "a handshake of carbon monoxide" could refer to smoking a cigarette- a way that people stuck in such a rut passively (and slowly) commit suicide in lieu of doing it all at once- say, smoking a cigarette or two at work every day, and perhaps that is a perfect illustration of the fact people stuck in such "safe" lives signal (unconsciously, most of us) that they want out.
I believe his request for no alarms and no surprises means that he hopes he is not discovered merely passed-out. He doesn't want his suicide interrupted.
I believe his request for no alarms and no surprises means that he hopes he is not discovered merely passed-out. He doesn't want his suicide interrupted.