Lyrics for Idioteque as interpreted by piesupreme

Idioteque Lyrics
Who's in a bunker?
Who's in a bunker?
Women and children first
And the children first
And the children
I'll laugh until my head comes off
I'll swallow until I burst
Until I burst
Until I

Who's in a bunker?
Who's in a bunker?
I have seen too much
I haven't seen enough
You haven't seen it
I'll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
And children first
And children

Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both
Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Throw it on the fire
Throw it on the fire
Throw it on the

We're not scaremongering
This is really happening
Happening
We're not scaremongering
This is really happening
Happening
Mobiles skwerking
Mobiles chirping
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Take the money

Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed
Everything all of the time

The first of the children

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bengt
07-18-2002

Rated 0 
American Heritage Dictionary

scaremonger (scare-mong-er) n. "A person who spreads frightening rumors; an alarmist.


In context to the song, Thom is saying that hes not just trying to alarm people and spread a false sense of fear.... whatever the topic hes talking about REALLY is happening.

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dnspiral9
07-23-2002

Rated 0 
the first time i heard this song was from my friend matt. he handed me his discman and said i had to listen because its the prettiest song he's ever heard. this is coming from a guy who A)is regarded by me and most other people who know him as having great musical taste, and B)never before described anything to me as being "pretty". i immediately told him he had to burn me the cd, which he did but screwed up a little so that this song was on tracks 8 AND 9, the funny thing is, i almost like that cd better than the correct copy i got later because if you play it on random "idioteque" plays twice as often as the other songs (although i do have to sacrifice hearing "morning bell" when doing this). i always thought of it as referring to people stealing ("take the money..." of course) and corporate "shenanigans" and other human threats tearing the world apart and forcing people into bunkers ("women and children first") or onto "liferafts" from a sinking "ship" (ie: earth) but i never considered the nuclear war idea, it does seem to fit, maybe "laugh until my head comes off" and "swallow till i burst" are references to nuclear fission and reaching critical mass, or maybe its just the info from pysics tests that i crammed too hard for floating around in my head (i would consider this the more likely explanation so dont go trying to quote me and start a horrible chain of rumors or anything). well its past 3 am now and ive been reading lyrics for most of the night so i should probably get some sleep so i have enough energy to do something besides mess with my computer tomorrow.

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ruben
07-29-2002

Rated 0 
Kid Rock Is GAY !!!!!!!!!!!

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a_knife_fight
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
It definitely has something to do with the future and nuclear war/global warming.

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deathbear
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
that came out of nowhere, ruben.

however, if he is indeed gay, then he is doing an excellent job hiding in the closet with pamela anderson and other playboy bunnies and strippers entertaining him.

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deathbear
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
plus, i think at least the chorus of this song is about cloning as well.

'the first of the children'
Kid A, as tom said, is the name he has dubbed the first human clone which he says there has been. the first of the children would refer to kid a.

here i'm allowed everything all of the time

yea, they're experimenting...unless i missed something i dont recall anyone giving a valid explanation for that line referring to nuclear war.

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ruben
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
Well if you knew what i was trying to go for with that you might want to say that to or something even worse.
This guy is an asshole i hate him. I liked him before but he had to open his mouth. I was watching some tv and he was on talking about radiohead and he later said the same again what he said on that show in an interview. Also he bashs them in his lastest video.

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deathbear
08-05-2002

Rated 0 
minor typo but some might get mad...

thom* instead of 'tom'

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cbennett
08-07-2002

Rated 0 
How come no-one knew what scaremonger meant? Gets used all the time whenever there's rumours of a disaster, like that asteroid they thought was going to hit the earth a few days ago - just tabloid scaremongering.

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deathbear
08-07-2002

Rated 0 
yea i know "all you radioheads are reinventing the wheel" (kid rock lyric)....

such an ignorant line.. he may not be gay, but he needs an ass beating.

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ruben
08-07-2002

Rated 0 
and on the video of the kid rock crap he has the toilet paper and it says radiohead on it and he is taken a crap

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OurLastGoodbye
08-13-2002

Rated 0 
in conclusion...
Kid Rock----bad
Radiohead--good.

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eyehaverabies
08-14-2002

Rated 0 
i think its a great song and i think the clone "Kid A" is probably what the 'first of the children' is talking about... but i think the song is about the world coming to an end and thom wishes he had a place to hide from it all... a place to be safe. where he could have "everything all of the time."

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mnemosyne
08-17-2002

Rated 0 
It's probably all of these things put together.. except i'm not sure anything in that song means "kid rock is gay"

but anyway, I think he's talking about war, about the neglected environment, about how we sit around eating, drinking, and being merry when right next door something awful is happening.. we're all just so oblivious



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Maester_Rob
08-17-2002

Rated 0 
alright enviro. enthusiasts lets get our logic down...melting polar caps DO NOT bring about an ice age...so clearly this reference to the environment is not connected to global warming...there ARE however clear references to war...so although i have not pried far enough into this song to find its true meaning...i know he speaks of war...and thus the reference to an ice age has something to do with the effects of that war...furthermore you kids are way too easily distracted with this kid rock crap...i mean why let some stupid red neck affect your world?

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dazedkid
08-23-2002

Rated 0 
I think the song is about the fear of dying. Since I believe the record is about the life and times of a synthetic person, I think "Idioteque" is about the time of life where you become irrationally afraid of the inevitable(hence the title). I think the "bunker" is a coffin, and "women and children first" is the person utter selfishness and fear. "Here I'm allowed everything all of the time" is how he feels about life". Next on the album is "Morning Bell" which to me is accepting and finally divorcing life, and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" is the death/rebirth itself. Interpretations aside it is a powerhouse of a song.

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milktoast
08-27-2002

Rated 0 
I like dazedkid's interpretation. only i don't see where "ice age" comes in for that. I like the idea of global warming and or nuclear war. the title idiotique seems to fit all of them. mobiles squirking and mobiles chirping- also a reference to corporate world's indifference.

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massofclouds
08-28-2002

Rated 0 
I'm a little late, but scaremongering is basically scaring a person into doing something, specifically purchasing an item. "Buy a fall out shelter or die!" pretty much sums it up.

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ic_assasain
09-10-2002

Rated 0 
I think the clone-concept fits really well for this song, and maybe that the clone has broken out wherever he's been kept because of the nuclear war/ice age, and is both afraid and revelling in all the chaos going on. He doesn't really care that much though, because nothing really affects him now.

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flyingmidden
09-29-2002

Rated 0 
I think this song uses a collage of imagery (global warming, nuclear war...) to depict his mental state, he is anxious, confused and frustrated. The idea that he's revelling in the chaos ("I'll laugh...") is maybe quite accurate. This is perhaps why they took such an electronic, dancey direction with the song.

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rwfst13
10-15-2002

Rated 0 
Be careful how deep you go into Yorke's lyrics. After The Bends, it was obvious that he quit concentrating as much on lyrics and focused more on sounds, textures, etc. Thom hasn't written a song with any personal meaning since Fake Plastic Trees, and to read too much into any of these lyrics is to miss the point of the songs. The "themes" about which people speak so eloquently on this site are really more evident in the music than in the lyrics.

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rwfst13
10-15-2002

Rated 0 
Be careful how deep you go into Yorke's lyrics. After The Bends, it was obvious that he quit concentrating as much on lyrics and focused more on sounds, textures, etc. Thom hasn't written a song with any personal meaning since Fake Plastic Trees, and to read too much into any of these lyrics is to miss the point of the songs. The "themes" about which people speak so eloquently on this site are really more evident in the music than in the lyrics.

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punk_rocker_
10-18-2002

Rated 0 
yep youre all right. couldnt say it better. aha. no point in adding any further comments. too tiring to read it all.....

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elibelly
03-04-2003

Rated 0 
Well I've seen many different lyrics to this song...so I'm gonna put what I think it is. I'm not sure...but I think some things are different.

Who's in bunker?
Who's in bunker?
Women and children first
And children first
And the children
I laugh until my head comes off
I swallow until I burst
Until I burst
Until I...

Who's in bunker?
Who's in bunker?
I have seen too much
I haven't seen enough
You haven't seen enough
I laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
And children first
And children...

Here I'm alive, everything all of the time
Here I'm alive, everything all of the time

Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both...

Ice age coming
Ice age coming
Throw me in the fire
Throw me in the fire
Throw me in the...

We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening

Mobiles working
Mobiles chirping
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Take the money and...

Here I'm alive, everything all of the time

(Background: The first of the children)

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carms
03-07-2003

Rated 0 
Elibelly -
That is the way the lyrics are posted @ www.followmearound.com
Which is an awesome Radiohead site. This song means a lot to me... But you all probably understand that gut feeling you get when you listen to it, so I'll spare you all the long, endless explaination...

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