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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jaz40
05-13-2004

Rated 0 
i always thought this song was about y2k, how all the crazies were stockpiling guns and food because they were so sure the world was going to end. i think it's just about how baseless panic can snowball into something totally overwhelming.

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Funkey_donkey
05-16-2004

Rated 0 
It's obviously Y2k (it was writen around that period)
scaremongerer is an alarmist. People are panicking, hiding in shelters, withdrawing money from the bank etc. But then they realise it was fake, phony. They say: This one is for the children, they mean that they did it for the children, to warn them that i could happen. It just shows how people cannot admit their mistake. Anyone agree?

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relephora
05-16-2004

Rated 0 
ALL OF YOU GUYS MUST BE IGNORANT, OR OVER ANALYZING THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF MUSIC BY THE GREAT RADIOHEAD. THE SONG MEANS NOTHING!! Thom Yorke admitted this in some interview, just random words and phrases pulled from a hat, all mixed together craftly into a looped and sequential beat. Now look the song may come across as meaning something to us all especially when you're paying attention to the lyrics and not the song, hell i admit it reminded me of the holocaust, but that's false. Any track on Kid A should not be looked at but instead heard through sounds not meaning. THATS WHY THERE WERE NO LYRICS IN KID A, just Stanley Donwoods and Tchosky's art reflecting the meaning of the movenment Kid A. If you ask me, I'm a fan also, but how can one truly enjoy Kid A or Idioteque if they only pay attention to the lyrics.

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incu
05-24-2004

Rated 0 
this song means thom york did too much crack and is a rambling idiot now

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kc accidental
05-24-2004

Rated 0 
No, man, Thom's a genius. This song is one of the many Radiohead songs that makes me wanna sit down with the band and talk about the meanings for HOURS. Then again, that might kinda ruin it for me. I was just in the Climbing Up the Walls discussion, and when I found out it's probably about murder, it really creeped me out. Anyway, one of my friends always says that this song reminds him of the end of the world. Which makes sense to me, cause it's really fast and scary and Thom's vocals capture the terrifying and confusing mood of the song. And also, as someone said earlier, it could be about Nuclear War. But, man, this song is a GOOOD dance tune. When I saw them live, Thom was going CRAZY during Idioteque. I won't even get into the lights and special effects. It was incredible. They're such fucking geniuses.

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phynck
05-28-2004

Rated 0 
Honestly I think people say that every Radiohead song is random phrases and they heard that from a viable source but it seems like there is a deeper connection most of the time. If there is a connection, it lies in disaster, obviously (we're not scaremongering, this is really happening) and probably in a war, resulting in the end of the human race, or at least a destruction of the atmosphere (who's in a bunker? Women and children first ... Ice age coming). The ice age line seems to immediately rule out global warming, but it could be some other natural disaster, like a meteor strike to bring another ice age, like with the dinosaurs. But "throw it on the fire" to me sounds like something intentional, like there is one person who is preparing to cause this disaster. The narrator of the song seems to have some sort of contempt or at least non-chalance for the survival of humanity (laugh until my head comes off), or possibly he is laughing out of fear?(I have seen too much) There is apparently a last minute panic and either a riot breaks out or the narrator alone steals money from the abandoned buildings (take the money run) and gourges on all that is left behind from people, stealing and doing as he pleases (swallow till I burst... here I'm allowed everything all the time). Granted, I am making assumptions here, but that seems to be the best connection of each and every line. The title would refer to the idiocy of the human race, idioteque being a place full of idiots. This could either refer back to the narrator's opinion or our insatiable need for war.

God only knows what "first of the children" is supposed to mean other than refering to the album's theme of human cloning.

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Mahakala
05-31-2004

Rated 0 
To the person who said that there is a hidden list of places where ice caps are melting in the kid A booklet, theres only one place that I can see words, and I can't make out what they say as bits are crossed out.

Anyway, I think this song is basically about premillenial angst. Everyone saying that this or that will bring the end of the world very soon, and all affirming that they arent just scaremongering, and people did even build nuclear bunkers.

A lot of people saw mobile phones as the icon of the late 90s, the rise of mobile phones showing the last major progression in communication of the 20th century. The matrix for example, is among the last major films of the 1990s, and it largely centered on the concept of people running around with mobile phones. Also people in panic are often seen calling people on mobiles, like after a car crash, and the chirping and schwerking shows the activity of them and the panic.

I think the title Idioteque refers to the people who buy into those ideas, people being easily led by the ideas of the coming apocolypse, doing the same dance.

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alliebee
06-03-2004

Rated 0 
The lyrics reminds me of the Titanic incident.

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GreyDazeD
06-06-2004

Rated 0 
The world is interconnected and yet interconnected. Information can be aquired from anywhere and at any time. We are drowning in information that supercedes the individual. It seems like the individual is powerless in front of it - one can't but "laugh until one's head comes off" and "swallow till one bursts". There are two new truths to every truth published. What are we to believe? We are safe in a bunker of our own blindness which we have created by trying to be "everything all of the time" with the free flow of information which can be called entertainment ("I have seen too much, I haven't seen enough"). There is really vital and truthful information ("this is really happening") out there, but how can we distinguish it in the black waters of information? We are just partying in our "Idioteque" when we should be freeing ourselves from this iron cage of information which supresses us from seeing the world and the issues related to it "an sich". Only this can help us think and decide for ourselves. Save the "women and the children first", the first of our children.

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Phrogex
06-08-2004

Rated 0 
This song is such a fluid song, good dance beat. Have you noticed he refers to dinosaurs a lot in Kid A? In Optimistic, he says over and over again Dinosaurs will rull the earth, and now he's saying Ice age is coming.

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decadentbliss79
06-14-2004

Rated 0 
think about this....on ur tv..and wid ur remot keep changin channels really fast and thats how idioteque cam up watchin a lot of things really really fast can get blurry and silly

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iven9253
06-21-2004

Rated 0 
I'm pretty sure that this song is about global warming. One of the reasons is that in the "kid a booklet" it is written in the back that the poles is melting. And because Thom Yorke stated that he believes in global warming, when Radiohead released "kid a".

Who's in a bunker?
Who's in a bunker?
Women and children first
And the children first

A bunker is where you go to when it's a crisis or an emergency. So he is stating that it is some kind of crisis going on, and in a crisis women and children are first.

"I'll laugh until my head comes off"

Thom Yorke is laughing, because this is so tragic, that he thinks it's funny.

"I have seen too much
I haven't seen enough
You haven't seen it"

Thom is refering to the scientists or world leaders that is fighting among each other and can't decide if global warming is really happenig. Some of them think they have proof enough and someone don't.

"Here I'm alllowed
Everything all of the time"

It seems that everything is allowed to do on this planet, when it comes to our environment. You are allowed to do everything all of the time.

"Ice age coming
Let me hear both sides"

Some scientists have a theory that because of global warming, a new ice age is on the way. "Let me hear both sides", is refering to the leaders that still can't decide between making money or destroying the planet.

"We're not scaremongering
This is really happening"

This is not something the environmental organizations just made up to scare everybody, global warming is really happening.

"Take the money run"

Thom refering to the people who are making money on factories that is contributing to global warming.

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iven9253
06-21-2004

Rated 0 
I know that it is some serious typing errors, but I was tired when I wrote this:)

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relephora
07-04-2004

Rated 0 
OK FOR A PEACE OF MIND, TO YOU ALL...THE EVIDENCE LIES NOT IN THE LYRICS BUT THE BAND AND ALBUM. Every word on Kid A references to nothing but the theme of chaos from far away. The lyrics on all the songs on this record ARE random, and for any zealous fan who knows somewhat of Radiohead's idea themes, they use certain phrases from their favorite books and most of them from Stanley's stories, Thom places them in order. If you do find a meaning to Kid A's songs then yeah you're trying to find a meaning not Kid A. hell what else is next, fans trying to decipher Radiohead's name or W.A.S.T.E. (which is from one of their favorite books). And yeah, c'mon you hippies, no Radiohead doesn't do drugs while making albums. That's an insult to this band, besides the way Nigel their producer works, how the hell could one concentrate on such detail to this complex music while drug induced? get real...

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JohnnyPat
10-01-2004

Rated 0 
haha, yeah, relephora seems pretty right to me, from what I've read in interviews and magazines

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VelvetEyes
10-13-2004

Rated 0 
Funny. Radiohead admits to drug use. For OK Computer at least. And if you've ever stepped outside the confines of reality on certain substances you'd know that rather than hindering the creation of complex music, certain drugs open the creative floodgates. It's not an insult to the band either to suggest that they take drugs. AND, Ed O'Brien is a self-proclaimed hippie and lover of marijuana, so don't feel too alienated that one of the members is a *gasp*, hippie, relephora. I agree with the rest though.

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boo radley
10-15-2004

Rated 0 
I found a simpler meaning --- mass hysteria.

I feel it's just about how things can get so blown out of proportion... how people who don't really know what's going on cling to any information they are given. When everyone leans to the majority's side, there's mass hysteria.

(The signs of mass hysteria being the bunkers, news of an Ice Age coming, taking the money and running, etc.)

"I'll laugh until my head comes off." --- It's just crazy watching all of this happen.

"I have seen too much" = one side
"I haven't seen enough" = the other side
"You haven't seen it" = government

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yamahasixstring
11-27-2004

Rated 0 
Yeah I'm going with Boo Radley, although the nuclear war thing makes sense as well. I do think that Radiohead are more concerned with conveying an overall emotion and artistry rather than telling a story, comperable to an Alford Hitchcock Formalist direction versus a Stephen King Narrative direction. And through all of this, we must acknowledge that this is experimental music, and may or may not actually make sense. Although, I believe someone has suggested that the lyrics were chosen randomly in the case of any song that doesn't superficially communicate its meaning.

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panxman
12-20-2004

Rated 0 
simply put, this song is about excess. the real lyrics to the chorus are:
"here i'm alive, everything all of the time"
which means, people think that as long as they are privelegded enough to be alive, they ahve to consume as much as possible. for example the line, i swallow til i burst. this then leads to war, perhaps nuclear, and thus the ice age and women and children in bunkers.

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Brokenzero
12-22-2004

Rated 0 
Maester rob. You are wrong about global warming not causing an ice age. See that new movie "day after tomorrow" and watch the discovery channel.That is how it works. Warmer air melts ice caps, the crash into the ocean, massively cooling the sea, causing cold storms that freeze the northern hemisphere. A major climate shift. I think global warming is the best idea. "the first of the children" Don't know what that means. that is the only thing that don't go with the whole global warming issue.

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kissmedeadlyyyx
12-23-2004

Rated 0 
This song is fucking beautiful. Nearly brought me to tears when I heard it. Seems like the kind of song you'd hear playing in the background of someone jumping off a building...

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emoguy101
12-25-2004

Rated 0 
maybe the first of the children means the first children born in the ice age

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Brokenzero
12-28-2004

Rated 0 
emoguy101, lets analyze this, cause i do think its about ice age and global warming. if he is the first of the children, is that why he "is allowed everything all the time" but then again, an ice age would freeze almost everything right?

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Brokenzero
12-28-2004

Rated 0 
wait, now i think i get it. I am allowed everything all the time. No restriction on polluting the world as it just increases the threat of global warming. SICK SHIT>

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Lauraz1
12-29-2004

Rated 0 
My friend told me that this song is used in a few AIDS documentaries so i thought the lyrics might be about that issue, does anyone know anything about that?

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