This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
In the deepest ocean
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms (way out)
I follow to the edge of the Earth (way out, way out)
And fall off
Yeah, everybody leaves (way out)
If they get the chance (way out)
And this is my chance (way out)
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
The bottom of the sea
Your eyes
They turn me
Why should I stay here?
Why should I stay?
I'd be crazy not to follow
Follow where you lead
Your eyes
They turn me
Turn me on to phantoms (way out)
I follow to the edge of the Earth (way out, way out)
And fall off
Yeah, everybody leaves (way out)
If they get the chance (way out)
And this is my chance (way out)
I get eaten by the worms
And weird fishes
Picked over by the worms
And weird fishes
Weird fishes
Weird fishes
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
I'll hit the bottom
Hit the bottom and escape
Escape
Lyrics submitted by andrewrocks
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The Night We Met
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I think it's a track four, is Arpeggi. (The sombre song, e.g. Fake Plastic Trees/Exit Music/How To Disappear Completely/You And Whose Army/Barkdrifts)
Another possible interpretation would be to say it's about finding inspiration in love. The narrator is stuck at the bottom, unable to free himself because he is lacking the inspiration to move ahead. The eyes that turn him are those of someone who comes along and inspires him to believe that he can do something. He now has something to go towards. Perhaps the light that he wasn't able to see down there in the bottom of the ocean.
So this could be a song about an artists' struggle to escape writer's block and start creating again.
There is something about Radiohead, and Thom in particular, that registers so deeply and intimately in the brains of those of us who truly love them, that makes them feel they belong only to us.....those who don't get it cannot understand why they resonate so deeply for us.....and that fact in and of itself makes us happy to be in that select group. It's as if Thom is tapping into our subconscious to bring the lyrics out.
to begin with, i believe it's obvious thom's actually not saying "we're fishes" (that sounds really funny though, and don't get me started on ALL i mishear from thom's purposely muffled accent) but "weird fishes", since the title of the track on the record says "weird fishes/arpeggi". secondly, i don't know about the search for god, to me it sounds more like someone obsessively and slef-distructively infatuated with someone whose eyes haunt them, to the extent where they get lost in it and would go to any lengths. yes, for a bloody pair of eyes. i'm only saying this because i myself have had the rather uplifting yet daunting experience of being almost literally dragged around by the eyes of mean little person who was out to break my heart, but of whom i was not wary. "everybody left if they got the chance", but i just stared back, hypnotized, waiting to "get eaten by the worms and weird fishes" as "i hit the bottom". so, there.
I love it when people make every Radiohead song political
sure a good number are but hunting among the metaphors with that in mind is pretty lame
nme.com/news/111840.htm
This song was written by Johnny Greenwood, performed by the London Sinfonietta and was sung by Thom Yorke for the South Bank Ether Festival. There are a few recordings of Arpeggi around the internet - I found a link on ateaseweb.com so look there for this.
Just a couple of things about the above lyrics - it's "phantoms" as opposed to "fantasies" (see half-way through) and the penultimate section ("in the bottom of...we fishies") should read:
"Eaten by the worms And we’re fishies Picked over by the worms And we’re fishies We’re fishies We’re fishies"
Rdec, thanks for the update. I edited your lyrics by taking out "the" in "eaten by the worms." It doesn't sound like he actually says "the" :)
i will also host this song :) cheers!
andrewrocks.com/musics/radiohead_arpeggi_live_ether_27_03_05.mp3
Fair enough. ;)
this song is going to be on the next album, i read that on atease.com its awesome though, the lyrics sound good to me, i think the next radiohead album is going to be the best album ever
the musice is a bit like modern classical composers such as steve reich or philip glass but i'm sure by the time it gets on the album (let's hope so!) it will as with so many of their songs sound very different. from what we've heard so far i agree that it could be an awesome album