How'd you get your teeth so pearly?
Dew-drop dentures
White-washed faces
She runs from the third world, pearly

Vanilla (feel it crawl to me)
Milkshakes (crawl back again)
From Hard Rock (whatever you say)
Cafes (it won't go away)
That's where (I feel it crawl to me)
She got her (crawls back again)
Sweet tooth (it won't go away)
For white boys (whatever you say)

She runs from the third world, pearly

Hurts me
Darling hurts me
Darling hurts me
Darling hurts me



Lyrics submitted by shut, edited by Ryuhza

Track duration: 03:37

"Pearly" as written by Thomas Edward/greenwood Yorke

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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Pearly song meanings
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20 Comments

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  • 0
    My Interpretation:It's about a trio of Japanese girls who prostituted themselves to get tickets to a Radiohead concert. Thom found out and was absolutely horrified, and wrote this song.

    Japan isn't technically in 'the third world' but it doesn't really matter.
    Flagged Crane42on October 22, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I'm fairly certain the final lyric of the song is:

    ''Daddy hurts me''

    This makes sense as the song is most likely about the hegemony fostered by the pro colonialist western world, which uses a stark rationalism and seductive ''globalization model'' to influence poorer nations.

    The initial lines referencing all things white and ''dew dropped,'' whitewashed faces (or is it fences?) refers to Eurocentrism and the seductiveness of a smile. Even pearls are white, expensive and descriptive of smiles. Whitewashed fences would refer to teeth whitening, the idea of a phony flatterer. Something enhanced or false promises.

    The girl in the narrative is two-fold. She's human and she's also a third-world country. She develops her sweet tooth for white boys at Hard Rock Cafes, an obvious reference to willingly falling for ''other'' and the import/export relationship between dominant western countries and third world nations. She has a taste for what she isn't. She's drawn to what appears to be the way. The power, the prestige.

    Daddy hurts me is both the idea of a young female being physically brutalized by a male and a small nation falling victim to an unbalanced world economic system.

    The song is genious.
    Flag IMFon February 07, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I always thought the bit at the end was 'don't amuse me' in the sense of '[it] don't amuse me'. Perhaps I was wrong. Song kicks ass, anyway. I like how on both this and 'polyethylene' the lyrics are of quite mundane things, pointing to a bigger meaning...
    Flag pleach2on January 24, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I think it does have to do with how we basically ignore all the death and destruction that takes place in 3rd world countries. We are all "blinded" by our "Pearly" things in life and if we just concentrate on those things we won't feel guilty for letting all the other stuff happen every day in the world.
    Flag mlucky9on June 06, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love this song, always have. And I care about the third world. In fact, for the last year I've been in Manila trying to get my fiance a visa, which she finally got yesterday after 16 months. Anyway, this song comes to mind a lot when I'm walking around this crazy country (originally im from UK) but since meeting my girlfriend (we are both in 20s) I have been unsure whether to feel offended by this song. Saying that, Thom cares about the universe and those unfortunate enough to be born into poverty (think of all the starving millions) and so I dont think he is saying anything bad about women from out here, just saying the way it tends to be and the way the west perceive eastern women.
    I dont know, its too good too hate.
    Flag smothon December 07, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love this song, always have. And I care about the third world. In fact, for the last year I've been in Manila trying to get my fiance a visa, which she finally got yesterday after 16 months. Anyway, this song comes to mind a lot when I'm walking around this crazy country (originally im from UK) but since meeting my girlfriend (we are both in 20s) I have been unsure whether to feel offended by this song. Saying that, Thom cares about the universe and those unfortunate enough to be born into poverty (think of all the starving millions) and so I dont think he is saying anything bad about women from out here, just saying the way it tends to be and the way the west perceive eastern women.
    I dont know, its too good too hate.
    Flag smothon December 07, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Beautifully said, forgotten412
    Flag ladypyramidheadon October 09, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song could mean about a million different things depending on how you read it which is probably why I love it so much. :) You could also see the vanilla milkshakes/hard rock cafes/ white washed faces as sexual (blow jobs etc). I think the question of 'how d'you get your...teeth so...pearly?' is a question not only for this possible non-white girl who is trying to assimilate, please, or follow a standard of beauty(light contact lenses, fair skin bleaching creams) but also a direct question to whoever is in power or trying to claim some sort of power, "how DID you get your teeth so "pearly*?!"..
    Flag forgotten412on August 23, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The lyrics posted are incorrect. Corrections below;

    ----------------------------------------
    How d’you get your teeth so pearly?
    Dew drop dentures
    White washed faces
    She runs from the third world, pearly

    Vanilla (feel it closing in)
    Milkshakes (calling back again)
    From Hard Rock (whatever you say)
    Cafes (make it go away)
    That's where (I feel it closing in)
    She got her (climbing back again)
    Sweet tooth (make it go away)
    For white boys (whatever you say)

    She runs from the third world, pearly

    It hurts me
    Darling, it hurts me
    Darling, it hurts me
    Darling, it hurts me
    ----------------------------

    Even then some of the words aren't entirely credible.

    I see it as being hurt by a girl who ran away from her roots and turned her back on history so she could fit in with the modern day crowd. As a result disconnecting herself from everything she did have, so as to fit with the new ‘her’.

    More moving, I think, is the ‘It hurts me’ as it actually feels as though it is hurting him. Thom Yorke in my opinion is second to none when it comes to expressing feeling in his songs; lyrics and especially vocals.

    Anyway, amazing roll at the end and perfect rift which you can hear hints of throughout more recent tunes. Radiohead certainly influenced the shape music we hear today – no wonder bands like Muse try to copy them!
    Flag Julezon May 19, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:About the shallowness of people raised on the media ideal of the perfect human being

    A girl who is more concerned about what her teeth look like than happenings in the real world, which she tries to ignore, and can only love someone if they look like they fell out of Vouge magazine.

    Actually sounds like most of the people I work with
    Flag ZA81on February 20, 2007   Link

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