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No [Repeat: x 42]
I don't know why you bother
Nothing's ever good enough for you.
(By the way) I was there and
It wasn't like that.
You've come here just to start a fight
You had to piss on our parade
You had to shred our big day
You had to ruin it for all concerned
In a drunken punch-up at a wedding
Yeah
Hypocrite opportunist
Don't infect me with your poison
A bully in a china shop
When I turn 'round you stay
Frozen to the spot
You had the pointless snide remarks
Of hammerheaded sharks
The pot will call the kettle black
It's a drunken punch-up at a wedding yeah
Oh no no
I don't know why you bother
Nothing's ever good enough for you.
(By the way) I was there and
It wasn't like that.
You've come here just to start a fight
You had to piss on our parade
You had to shred our big day
You had to ruin it for all concerned
In a drunken punch-up at a wedding
Yeah
Hypocrite opportunist
Don't infect me with your poison
A bully in a china shop
When I turn 'round you stay
Frozen to the spot
You had the pointless snide remarks
Of hammerheaded sharks
The pot will call the kettle black
It's a drunken punch-up at a wedding yeah
Oh no no
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The band and their audience really had a great time, but the show was slated by a reviewer, and their fans disparaged for being a bunch of depressive elitists or somesuch, which Thom resented mightily coming from notorious musical-snobs the English music press - hence this song. ("I was there / it wasn't like that"... "You had to piss on our parade / you had to shred our big day")
The titular "wedding" is obviously a metaphor for the above event; the "punch-up" referring to the cutting comment made by the critic/s concerned, intended to spoil this *special day*.
This song seems to be centered around the fragility of something that should be absorbing and beautiful. It could just as easily be about being splattered with mud from a passing truck while carrying a piece of artwork. Or something like that. The "No no no" seems like denial. We want to believe that these beautiful things can exist without being ruined.
All this links to the "lawlessness" theme, since the album was partly inspired by the time Thom Yorke was mugged. (Which would actually be pretty awesome for the muggers since they helped inspire a major album that was much longer than the actual crime... anyway.) The fight at the wedding is an example of anarchy, and how it intrudes on our everyday lives. This really doesn't seem like a line-by-line-able song to me, since the lyrics all say similar things, but that's the general idea I think it tries to capture.
Those "strictly British" sayings that you all are talking about... can't be, because I'm American and I've heard them all my life.
Now, I'm going to go through every line and say what the song means.
I don't know why you bother
(Why do you listen to music if you can't appreciate it?)
Nothing's ever good enough for you
(My band just tried its absolute best, and you dismissed it as if it was nothing!)
(By the way) I was there
(See that in the video? Yeah, that was me up on that stage.)
It wasn't like that
(Clearly, whatever it is you saw, you misinterpreted.)
You've come here just to start a fight
(The only reason you say things about peoples' music is to create controversy which makes you money.)
You had to piss on our parade
You had to shred our big day
(You saw us having a blast, and we became your targets. We didn't deserve that.)
You had to ruin it for all concerned
(Our momentum is seriously damaged now, just because of what you said.)
In a drunken punch-up at a wedding, yeah
(The "wedding" is beautiful art of music, and the "drunken punch-up" is a fight that doesn't belong)
Hypocrite opportunist
(Oh, is that a Linkin Park CD that you're hiding there? My bad, I thought you liked music.)
Don't infect me with your poison
(I'm not going to let your stupid comments bring me down)
A bull in a china shop
(People like you are unspeakably destructive.)
When I turn around, you stay frozen to the spot
(You talk quite a bit when I'm not paying attention, but when I respond? Jackass.)
You had the pointless snide remarks
(Think before you speak, and then don't.)
Of hammerheaded sharks
(You, and critics like you, feed on the blood of good bands.)
The pot will call the kettle black
(Yeah, I'm talking to you. Get out YOUR fucking guitar.)
It's a drunken punchup at a wedding, yeah
(etc etc.)
Was that so hard?
Also, the people that argue simplicity. Thom Yorke got an English degree at Exeter. Really.
Ironically (given your parting comment), this is a fairly simple song. (Except for people who can't grasp metaphors, I guess.)
gives me shivers.