Radiohead – 2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm)

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  Song Meaning:The song's title recalls the symbol of unreality from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the book, inhabitants of an authoritarian future state are made to engage in doublethink, replacing their own conscience and beliefs with those imposed from above. The 'Thought Police' in the novel coerce self-aware citizens into admitting that two plus two equals five to prove the point that even though two plus two does not logically equal five, logic does not matter when no one else is willing to agree that two plus two equals anything else, under threat of pain or death.
  Hail to the Thief lists subtitles, or alternative titles, for each of its songs. The alternative title for "2 + 2 = 5" is "The Lukewarm.". Singer Thom Yorke has mentioned it as a reference to the works of Dante
  
  Hail to the Thief's opening track is a rock song that builds to a loud climax. Its title references the slogan "two plus two equals five" from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The song's subtitle was taken from Dante's Inferno; Yorke explained that, according to Dante, the "lukewarm" are "the people who don't give a fuck ... The lukewarm are on the edge of the Inferno, cruising around near the gates but they can't actually get out. They're like, 'What are we doing here? We didn't do anything at all.' And in Dante's eyes it's, 'That's exactly why you're here. You did fuck all. You just let it happen.'"[

  Flag sepultura1987on February 04, 2013   Link

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  General Comment:War is Peace
  Freedom is Slavery
  Ignorance is Strength

  Flag Yazardshiron January 20, 2013   Link

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  Translation:Does anyone else hear "Me and mine have been paying attention" (The thirteenth time he sings "paying attention') ?

  Flag ihearechoeson December 23, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I tried to give shamone12 a +1 but for some reason it won't let me.

  Flag Genesisfanon December 19, 2012   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:The title is incorrect. I just checked on my calculator and the answer is 4. Amazing how some mistakes just go unnoticed.

  Flagged shamone12on December 19, 2012   Link

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• -5
  General Comment:average, all that radiohead is

  Flagged warzasawon June 22, 2012   Link

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    get out of town

    Flag AGomez65on August 29, 2012  
• +5
  General Comment:This song got me on to 1984, it's quite obvious when you read the book through. It seems to allude that we're turning to an Orwellian world. This is basically an essay, so read on if you're interested :P
  
  In Britain cameras are all over the street, like hidden telescreens. People can be followed by satellites. Sounds like that loss of privacy you see in the book.
  
  George Bush Jr was being projected over the world in 02/03, promising to avenge 9/11, almost like Big Brother since he has so much indirect influence over the rest of the world, not just over the USA. And I do believe he cheated his position, perhaps his family moving to make a faulty voting system, to continue the royalty. There's a sense we have no control. And if people like Bush can get into the top seat without public approval, we don't have a choice.
  
  Thom Yorke may be British, but he noticed it's a big sign that the world is heading to an Orwellian dystopia. We need to pay attention. If we don't, a totalitarian government may rise behind the mist unopposed. We may wake up one day and find that thinking against the ruling class is a crime, and find we have Thought Police. Then again, why was John Lennon asassinated when he was a man for world peace and equality? 'Imagine'? ARE YOU SUCH A DREAMER- TO PUT THE WORLD TO RIGHTS? Some people didn't like his criticism of the class system. Think of Goldstein's book in 1984. The ruling class was seeing world peace and equality as something to be avoided. That may be why he was killed, and I think Radiohead referenced this. The first 2 verses are doublethink, with the fear in the mind-control phrase 'TWO AND TWO MAKE FIVE' leaking out the tiniest bit. The sandbags and April showers may be the destruction of the planet by mankind, which may work in favour of the government, keeping the middle and lower class in fear of the end.
  
  It's the devils way now
  There's no way out
  You can scream and you can shout
  It's too late now
  
  This is the point beyond no return, where none can stop the new world order, where nothing but the most cataclysmic natural disaster (i.e. dinosaur-like extinction event) will bring it down. Everything after 'paying attention' is the experience in 1984, how it's so hard to keep incriminating thoughts back (Trying to sing along-but like flies the buggers keep coming back). 'But i'm not' is reference to the Ministry of Love. 'You do not exist'.
  
  'Hail to the thief' is back in 03, where George Bush was loved by so much while he was in a position he probably didn't earn. How a lot of people loved him blindly, thinking it was patriotism. Kinda like Big Brother.
  
  'Don't question my authority or put me in the box/dock, cause i'm not'
  
  You can't easily push George Bush from his position until his two terms run out. Of course, Obama's there now. But Thom may have been saying Bush shouldn't be re-elected in 2004, because Bush isn't as decent as he says he is.
  
  'Go and tell the king that the sky is falling in
  When it's not
  maybe not'
  Potentially a 9/11 reference, but more than likely the asteroid strike that might be the only thing to bring down the Party. I think 'Where I End And You Begin (The Sky Is Falling In)' follows this, about the end of the Party, the end of thought control and the end of Big Brother.
  'X will mark the place, like the parting of the waves, like a house falling into the sea'
  'I will eat you alive' Waves of fire and water, eating up and destroying each Ministry and killing every Party member.
  'There will be no more lies' the end of the Thought Police, end of reality control, and the survivors free to think.

  Flag WillAndWindon April 02, 2012   Link

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    Just goes to show that intelligence does NOT translate to an understanding of the political process or an honesty, for that matter. First, let's put your little mind to rest. The hanging chads had to do with three Florida counties. The three election supervisors for those counties were (2) democrats and (1) Independent. Two of the supervisors were later fired because they had declined training on using the new system in place.(Unlike you, I don't get my news from MSNBC, whom P.E.J. rated the most biased in the 2008 and 2012 elections or from similiar "news" sites like CNN, NBC, The NY Times, or even Fox, for that matter.) Second, do you know how many innocents have been killed by Obama's drones, and how the media has pretty much silenced his brazen activity to protect him (although one usually unprofessional and liberal outlet has requested the information multiple times). And while we're on the subject of the WORST president in U.S. History (hello...U.S. household incomes have dropped 4 straight years, and since 2010 U.S. jobs have gone overseas at recrod numbers), how do you like his no tax hike on the middle class. LOL...check your paycheck and "read his lips." If he were Bush, the media would report it 1,000x over. Until quacks like you stop being liberal sheep (or conserative sheep) and realize that there is little difference between the two Washington parties, the American Dream will continue to die. Most musicians are high school drop outs OR less-than-academically successful, well-read people. And when they put their politics in music, they sound like the idiots they are. Just because they can make music and make money does not mean they are bright. It's kinda like intellectual college profs who know NOTHING about fiscal matters, politics, and who are extremely dishonest when they post on such topics....Just saying... (BTW, I make no apologies for not being passive and classy. I am neither and don't give a shit about impressing anyone.)

    Flag IllToast2Thaton January 15, 2013  
• +1
  My Interpretation:I think this is about the Nixon era, and general '70s malaise, and how this era laid the groundwork for the trickery of the Bush era, using 1984 as an allegory for this (if that made any sense).
  
  
  Are you such a dreamer
  To put the world to rights?
  I stay home forever
  Where two and two always makes a five
  
  I'll lay down the tracks
  Sandbag and hide
  January has April's showers
  And two and two always makes a five
  
  This part has been analysed to death; the 1984 reference is obvious. This is desperation for certainty in the most destructive and truth-destroying away.
  
  It's the devil's way now
  There is no way out
  You can scream and you can shout
  It is too late now
  
  This requires no analysis, really. It's hopelessness writ large.
  
  Because
  You have not been
  Paying attention
  Paying attention
  etc.
  
  This part is just "because you have not been paying attention, paying attention..." repeated. I can't hear any of the other lines listed here.
  This sounds like blaming oneself
  
  I try to sing along
  I get it all wrong
  Because I'm not
  Because I'm not
  I swat them like flies
  But like flies the buggers
  Keep coming back
  But I'm not
  
  Here's where the Nixon stuff starts. "Them" could be doubts, or 1984's thought police. "Buggers", on the other hand, is an interesting choice of word to describe them. I'm English enough to know the usual implications of the word, but "buggers" as in those who plant bugs?
  
  This is all very tenuous, though. This remains very tenuous, until the last stanza here. I wouldn't have thought up the Nixon analogy at all if it weren't for this:
  
  Oh, hail to the thief
  Oh, hail to the thief
  But I'm not
  But I'm not
  But I'm not
  But I'm not
  Don't question my authority or put me in the dock
  Because I'm not
  Because I'm not
  Oh, go and tell the king that the sky is falling in
  But it's not
  But it's not
  But it's not
  Maybe not
  Maybe not
  
  QED.

  Flag Supremacyon November 13, 2011   Link

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    This album was released after gw bush stole the election with florida. The name of the album Hail to the theif was taken from a sign thom saw a protestor carrying after the election fiasco in florida. The references are Orwellian as stated many times 2+2=5 was what the people were told to believe. IE the people were told to believe in the war in Iraq when it was unwarranted and completely false. Obviously not about Nixon. Why would Thom (a british citizen) care about the Nixon era in our country.

    Flag Midastouchon November 14, 2011  

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    Also the parts where they have the different things for paying attention
    I have always believed and heard him say
    
    You have mafia
    Penetration
    Penetration
    are you paying attention? (he is asking the listener a serious question as in are you paying attention to what I am really saying.)
    
    Then
    Yeah you have nazi
    Penetration
    Penetration
    Are you paying attention
    
    (george bush's First bush not second, grand father was a banker who helped finance the Nazi's and hid Nazi gold and other assests when they were being seized during ww2)

    Flag Midastouchon November 15, 2011  

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    Also the lyrics are
    All Hail to the thief
    All hail to the thief
    but im not
    As in he is not believing the bullshit the governments are feeding him, including the british government americas closest allies which he touches on during a wolf at the door.

    Flag Midastouchon November 15, 2011  

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    Oh lord, would you please educate yourself before speading bullcrap. There were three voting districts that were involved with the "hanging chad" problems. Do you even care that two had DEMOCRATIC election supervisors and the third's election supervisor was an INDEPENDENT. Two of the three district superviors had refused training on the new voting machines.Two of the three were fired after the election. There was no conspiracy and no republican cover-up. I'm sorry if the two liberals and one independent were incompetent and your candidate lost the election, but PLEASE stop trying to influence young music listeners with your either blatant lies or your ignorance on issues. Geesh!

    Flag IllToast2Thaton January 19, 2013  
• +2
  General Comment:This song is full of 1984 references, but it's kind of hard to see that when the posted lyrics are incorrect. For example, the lyrics post here currently omit the line "Cozimnot!" which is a key reference to the novel, as an example of Newspeak (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…).
  
  So what we have here are 245 comments worth of over-analyzation of lyrics just because someone failed to post the correct lyrics to a song on SongMeanings yet again. Having the correct lyrics seems important to intepreting lyrics, but not SongMeanings it seems.
  

  Flag noshowon September 25, 2011   Link

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    Yeah, it sucks, I always to double check on other websites.

    Flag Radiofanon October 24, 2011  
• +3
  General Comment:I think this song on a whole is reflecting the whole ideal that ignorance is bliss.
  
  I stay home forever, where 2 and 2 always makes a 5
  
  Home is the mind, they stay in their safe zone where they accept everything that is told.
  
  I lay down the tracks, sandbag and hide
  
  They go out, work on the outer world then hide from it in their safe area
  The whole ending is saying that they listen because they are afraid of what happens if they don't.
  
  Just my input.

  Flag CaptainTakoon May 24, 2011   Link

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    I personally think thom is speaking about himself when he says
    "I lay down the tracks, sand bag and hide"
    He means I lay down the music tracks and stay out of the publics eye.

    Flag Midastouchon November 14, 2011  

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    I try to sing along
    I get it all wrong
    Because I'm not (thom)
    
    In this line he is speaking about the listener not being him so not understanding his lyrics.

    Flag Midastouchon November 14, 2011  

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