A commonality with Radiohead fans is their diehard allegiance, and their inability to process any new product by the band as anything less than brilliant. They are, consistently, but the undying devotion is an unhealthy mentality, and to my own ears this song is addressing just that.
The band's own musical and lyrical content has continued to experiment with, and heavily emphasize, the paranoia of everyday life. Papering the window panes is getting away from the eyes of society--originally about a woman Thom Yorke read about in the newspaper, but easily filtered through the eyes of an increasingly reluctant celebrity.
When they speak of being packed like frozen fish and battery hens, I think of any show I've ever been to, with kids clamoring for the front row, desperate to catch a glimpse of their favorite band. But in the case of Radiohead, the fandom takes an unfortunate turn as their conversation shifts away from life in general into some higher plane, like, for example, the starving millions. The fans are constantly trying to read political or social meanings into a song that this band, most likely, wrote about a relationship and/or perhaps a smaller, more general social issue. Specific, hyper-literate lyrics rarely stand the test of time, and Radiohead realizes this. Their fans, by and large, unfortunately don't. (Don't talk politics, and don't throw stones, your Royal Highnesses.)
It makes it very difficult to just enjoy a body of work when you insist on it making you feel guilty about some problem you have, really, no control over.
If anybody posits an opinion that isn't just trolling the fans, the fans still interpret it as trolling. Once again, they are hungry for a lynching, and meanwhile the band is saying just turn the other cheek. What they make is art, capable of broad and widely divergent interpretation, and it's uncalled for to get so worked up over an opinion different than yours. Like all bands, Radiohead hits and misses over time, and even they acknowledge this.
So the chorus, "Well of course I'd like to sit around and chat, well of course I'd like to stay and chew the fat, only someone's listening in"? By now it should be clear: Radiohead is saying it's perfectly acceptable to just enjoy a song, and that a song about a girl can still be a great song, even an "important" one, but there's always going to be that one buzzkill at the party who insists on making more out of whatever he just saw or heard than what it really was all about. How can you talk about how great the beat is in a song when you're obsessed with finding the specific literary touchstone it's referencing, and then mostly with the intention of regurgitating that knowledge to sound intelligent yourself?
Radiohead is calling out their fans, and their fans don't even realize it, and that's what makes them the best at what they do.
A commonality with Radiohead fans is their diehard allegiance, and their inability to process any new product by the band as anything less than brilliant. They are, consistently, but the undying devotion is an unhealthy mentality, and to my own ears this song is addressing just that.
The band's own musical and lyrical content has continued to experiment with, and heavily emphasize, the paranoia of everyday life. Papering the window panes is getting away from the eyes of society--originally about a woman Thom Yorke read about in the newspaper, but easily filtered through the eyes of an increasingly reluctant celebrity.
When they speak of being packed like frozen fish and battery hens, I think of any show I've ever been to, with kids clamoring for the front row, desperate to catch a glimpse of their favorite band. But in the case of Radiohead, the fandom takes an unfortunate turn as their conversation shifts away from life in general into some higher plane, like, for example, the starving millions. The fans are constantly trying to read political or social meanings into a song that this band, most likely, wrote about a relationship and/or perhaps a smaller, more general social issue. Specific, hyper-literate lyrics rarely stand the test of time, and Radiohead realizes this. Their fans, by and large, unfortunately don't. (Don't talk politics, and don't throw stones, your Royal Highnesses.)
It makes it very difficult to just enjoy a body of work when you insist on it making you feel guilty about some problem you have, really, no control over.
If anybody posits an opinion that isn't just trolling the fans, the fans still interpret it as trolling. Once again, they are hungry for a lynching, and meanwhile the band is saying just turn the other cheek. What they make is art, capable of broad and widely divergent interpretation, and it's uncalled for to get so worked up over an opinion different than yours. Like all bands, Radiohead hits and misses over time, and even they acknowledge this.
So the chorus, "Well of course I'd like to sit around and chat, well of course I'd like to stay and chew the fat, only someone's listening in"? By now it should be clear: Radiohead is saying it's perfectly acceptable to just enjoy a song, and that a song about a girl can still be a great song, even an "important" one, but there's always going to be that one buzzkill at the party who insists on making more out of whatever he just saw or heard than what it really was all about. How can you talk about how great the beat is in a song when you're obsessed with finding the specific literary touchstone it's referencing, and then mostly with the intention of regurgitating that knowledge to sound intelligent yourself?
Radiohead is calling out their fans, and their fans don't even realize it, and that's what makes them the best at what they do.
Great interpretation.
Great interpretation.