Radiohead – You Never Wash Up After Yourself

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I must get out once in a while
Everything is starting to die
The dust settles, the worms dig
Spiders crawl over the bed

I must get out once in a while
I eat all day and now I'm fat
Yesterday's meal is hugging the plate
You never wash up after yourself

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Lyrics submitted by Vache

Track duration: 01:44

"You Never Wash Up After Yourself" as written by Thomas Edward Yorke

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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You Never Wash Up After Yourself song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:Sounds like a morning when one has a hangover after going to bed hard. (I don't mean that the way it may...or may not...sound:) Oh well. Picture drinking a bottle of Tequilla; not remembering how you got into bed fully dressed; and then having to wake up early (a few hours later) for a day at the office. That's what I mean...
    Flag justanothergurlon May 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:ill comment about the last paragraph.
    he talks about food, like thats all he do, i think it represents that he founds no meaning in his life, and the only changes in his life is that he gets fat.
    he also says:
    "You never wash up after yourself "
    the hole paragraph talks about eating, i think that he refers that he's never in the mood to even wash his dishes, and of course "after yourself" means that he is alone.
    Flag mauricioprado00on August 11, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the intro of this song is very similar to 'a wolf at the door'
    Flag hugrobotson February 13, 2009   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    General Comment:I also don't hear anything in the song that points to it being about a relationship. It just isn't there. I do think the song is about being depressed. There are many references pointing to that in the lyrics and in the music itself.
    Flag eatenbythewormson December 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love how simple the structure of this song is set up.

    It kind of sounds like the lyrics portray an introspective and dreary look after a break up, or maybe a death, or something traumatic.

    I feel songs aren't just about "a relationship" almost any song can be put in that terms. To me, this song can represent the dullness and lethargy experienced right after something terrible happens. Or even quite possible in a state of extreme depression. The narrator may be trying to blame someone, or even himself with the last line.

    "You never wash up after yourself"

    The song is quite cyclic, and can flow from start to finish very easily, leading me to believe that one who is in a depression, or a state of mind depicted in this song, can't get out.

    beautiful, and simple


    Thanks for reading
    -KB
    Flag Turismo417on July 23, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think this song is about a relationship that faded away because of those little details that don't seem to really matter but are a symptom of something else going wrong. The girl left the guy and he's remembering when she told him "you never wash up after yourself". He thinks to himself, "how could I be such an idiot?". Now that she's gone, his house is a mess, but not because of his carelessness, but rather, more ironically, because he is terribly depressed. The whole song is him being sorry for not having cared when he could have.

    Honestly, I drew my conclusion about what this song means from only making out what Thom said in the last verse, "You never wash up after yourself". Then when I read the lyrics I kind of tried to find something else because it did not fit perfectly, but I had to keep my first interpretation because it had grow roots in my brain and is impossible to deny now. Very powerful song.
    Flag ramzi1981on May 03, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sorry, but I really think people have been looking way too deeply into this.

    To me it just seems to be about a relationship. You don't know what's going on at first, you just know that he's unhappy and everything seems to be ruined, and then the final line is him saying to someone 'You never wash up after yourself' - he's telling someone they made a mess and they didn't bother fixing it. I think it's about a broken relationship.
    Flag kthxbion April 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think this is about getting out of your own head, its about separating yourself from your former experiences; in particular it could be about getting past a love affair that has been consuming you.

    "I must get out once in a while
    Everything's starting to die
    The dust settles, the worms dig
    The spiders crawl over the bed"

    If you cannot take a step away from yourself and your typicality the dust, the worms, the spiders, these things that exist for and in whats been left over will take over. Dust settles is a cliche, we know what it means. Worms can only live underneath the dust and spiders eat (thus live on) only captured prey thats been wrapped and dead for a while. That leads us into the next verse:

    "I must get out once in a while
    I eat all day and now I'm fat
    Yesterday's meal is hugging the plates
    You never wash up after yourself"

    The feeling is of getting nowhere, of being consumed and it's because of yesterday's meal, your past, which of course informs your upcoming - if you eat all day, you'll be fat. The ostensible focus turns from "I" to "you" by the end.

    There's no canned and happy ending in the song, espcially not if you don't manage to wash up after yourself. When that's the case it's a constant struggle to renew, to enact any sort of change with yourself or anything else.

    I visualize a someone running in a spinning wheel and counting the miles spent when i hear this, we must get out once in a while, but do we?
    Flag highway pigon August 23, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:As with most art I feel that whatever emotion this song does or does not evoke from the listener is what it means. IMO, once art is created and in available for public view it then belongs to the public to take from it what they will. For me, what this song represents is that feeling when you're stuck. You have ideas for creation and action, yet you don't. You know how to move forward, yet you won't. You are overwhelmed with the next step not knowing which way to turn, so you don't. And all the while you are constantly aware that life is passing you by...you know that you should at least take care of yourself, but by that point, in your brain there is no logical reason to...you can't even move...and so your life manifested physically in hygiene, emotionally in despair, lays to waste. To second azkm, Depression, apathy and lethargy
    Flag eyevreeon August 20, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Depression, apathy and lethargy
    Flag azkmon May 01, 2007   Link

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