Lyrics for 2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm.) as interpreted by SyntaxLies

2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm.) Lyrics
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

It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now

Because
You have not been
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Yeah, I'm not feeling it
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Yeah, I need it
I needed attention
I needed attention
I needed attention
I needed attention
Yeah, I love it, the attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention

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

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

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 214 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
nonnycries
10-12-2007

Rated 0 
Read 1984 and this song's meaning becomes clear

Log in to reply
dotty675
11-02-2007

Rated +1 
I'm surprised only one person on seven pages of this has mentioned Dostoevsky! Just to add my two cents:

Before Orwell was born, Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground used the idea of 2+2=4 to represent normally accepted truth. Clearly 2+2=4, right? Not a controversial fact. The problem with such a fact is that it's sheer irrefutability is unacceptable. The narrator and protagonist (if you can call him that) of the book argues that this constitutes an incursion upon his free will in the most basic, human sense. Everyone and his brother believes that 2+2=4. None of them, he says, are content with this not because they know it's true, but because they're too stupid to try and break out of the confines of commonly accepted reality. So therefore, one would do well to consider that "twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too."

Since Thom has apparently said explicitly in Spin magazine that this song isn't about US politics, I think this interpretation merits some consideration. Even though the song seems to fit in the 1984 context, I think that

"I stay home forever
Where two and two always makes a five"

looks like a more active choice like that taken by Dostoevsky's narrator, and not propaganda handed down by a totalitarian government. Whether it's the case or not (and in the spirit of 2+2=5) this song seems to me more like it's about a psychologically violent existential crisis than a direct narrative like 1984.

What chance is there that this song'll come up on my playlist right when I'm writing this review, out of 149 songs? I guess 1/149. Not bad. Clearly this means that I'm right :p

Log in to reply
buttsauce
11-28-2007

Rated 0 
Oh,my duah!! Now who is this? Tweezer? So they good, I like love is all we're on my Tweezer. I like to read it on my bicycle all time lows by whisperguy is a cool song to. I think they played it on the rads! So much change in mah pocks! Ima go buy some IC! Yeah yeahyeah!!! Ohuh! You know it! Radhead looks like some kinna cool band name, I play seven types of foiod!

Log in to reply
buttsauce
11-28-2007

Rated 0 
Oh,my duah!! Now who is this? Tweezer? So they good, I like love is all we're on my Tweezer. I like to read it on my bicycle all time lows by whisperguy is a cool song to. I think they played it on the rads! So much change in mah pocks! Ima go buy some IC! Yeah yeahyeah!!! Ohuh! You know it! Radhead looks like some kinna cool band name, I play seven types of foiod!

Log in to reply
FreshOwnage
12-04-2007

Rated 0 
ah i go shudder when i hear this song. Mostly of u are on the same road of explaining the song meanings. But anyway when i red it and few of post i thought about Bill Hicks and his quota "The world is like a ride at an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it, you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey – don't worry, don't be afraid ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King murdered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan.... wounded. But it doesn't matter, because – it's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace."
So this song is kinda mocking to eyes of fear. It's funny that this quota was said on 20 years ago and nothing really changed, u can still see the eyes of fear fucking up this world. It's ok to escape from reality through music of mostly bands like radiohead, listening the nice indirect packed words, and live u r fucking life that is everything except dream -_-

Log in to reply
greeny.t
12-06-2007

Rated 0 
for the more musical.
i believe the beginning part is in 7/8 time.
correct me if i'm wrong but my ear's normally pretty good at picking those things up.
anyway it just gets you off guard when they effectively skip a beat at the end of each bar and does for me emphasise the way that it should be 2 + 2 = 4 but it's not. we expect the conventional 4 beats in a bar and that's what we hear until the last beat. common feature in a lot of radiohead songs, playing with the bar lengths, and time signatures, makes it on edge - something missing from society - things aren't adding up. this is obviously stretching it a bit , but i do think there is something that heightens the sense of something seriously wrong with society.

thoughts?

Log in to reply
kreuzberg
01-01-2008

Rated -1 
haha i have no idea greeny

Log in to reply
greeny.t
01-08-2008

Rated -1 
haha
yeah on rereading that, what i said does seem very farfetched.
anyway , i like it. that's what counts. right?

yorke ftw

Log in to reply
BrazilianFan
01-18-2008

Rated 0 
please, people......listen to the Easy All-Stars project called RADIODREAD....IT´S an Ok Computer entirely covered ON reggae style.......IT´S FREAKING AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ESPECIALLY "PARANOID ANDROID" , "CLIMBING UP THE WALLS" AND "LUCKY"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Log in to reply
jjc886
01-30-2008

Rated -1 
obviously taken from 1984. i think its about when a leader abuses power. the numbers have no reference to bush or the election...read 1984 by george orwell and this book will make a lot more sense

also the song karma police is a reference to the novel.

Log in to reply
ishotmyself
02-01-2008

Rated -1 
it's in reference to doublespeak. where people are told something enough times from the establishment that they replace the facts with fiction.
0 weapons of mass destruction+1 foreign country (Iraq)=500 billion us dollars.

Log in to reply
BeneathTheSkin
02-22-2008

Rated +2 
I don't know if it's already been said, but the song is most likely based on Dostoevky's Notes from the Underground. The protagonist is... abnormal to say the least. Beautiful specimen.

"Are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights?"

Well then. The closing of the novel discusses how with more freedom, relaxed discipline, and a widening of the sphere of our activities, we would most likely be begging for the ordered life to be reimposed on us. He knows from experience, because he has chosen to alienate and isolate himself from society, and live in a damp cellar by himself.

"I stay home forever, where twice two always makes five."

This is directly related to the book. He talks about a world in which all values and ideals are tabulated, and knowing that behaving according to virtue will always logically work in one's favor, would be of no consequence and not impose any lasting changes on behavior, because humans are not entirely rational creatures; they are highly emotional and prejudiced. He refers to the argument as an exercise in logic rather than evidenced by the senses, a sample of "twice-two makes four," when, in his opinon, "twice-two makes five" sums up humanity on a much grander level.

He's incredibly spiteful, seeks to alienate himself from, subjugate, and dominate everyone he comes in contact with, and is incontrovertibly incapable of love. He is also incredibly narcissistic, and paranoid. This is what the devil's way now bit is all about. And the fact that others castigate or ignore him just adds to the spite he nurses within himself, and only finds an outlet for in others.

"I try to sing along; I get it all wrong."

He tries to instate himself in society, fit into the harmony, but he's too different from everyone else; he lacks certain human characteristics and is so vain and desires so much to impress others with his notions of the "sublime and beautiful" that he's unable to interact with others. He usually just ends up exploding at them, and regretting it bitterly or hating them even more.

Some other stuff I'm not sure about, blah. Read the book and you'll see the correlations.

Log in to reply
cookiejar
04-06-2008

Rated 0 
It's clearly based on the novel 1984.
you can see Winstons transition into love of Big Brother at the end

But it's not
Maybe not

Also, during the "pay attention" bits, the lines:

Yeah, I'm not feeling it
Yeah, I need it
Yeah, I love it

Log in to reply
higginst
04-30-2008

Rated 0 
I think we can draw the conclusion that there is NO WAY this song is not alluding to 1984.... a great novel IMO

I love how the song goes awesome at 2:25 and that radiohead would've not planned that but planned it at the same time because the song runs through seemlessly.....

Log in to reply
vedderman
05-18-2008

Rated -1 
i love that the song ends with the possibility of the sky falling....or maybe not....seems appropriate to me

Log in to reply
RIverX
05-29-2008

Rated 0 
Devil's influence too strong in this place.Too high influence of the Black Substance(self-absorbing substance,The Devil).EVERY civilization will fade out of here in a certain time(including our civilization)...It is inevitable...Don't ask me why...Just imagine what direction has Lie(hostile,enmity,for example) and Truth(benevolence,love) flows in you...Like black holes and stars.Self-absorption and radiation substance,huh?...

"Are you such a dreamer
To put the world to rights?
I stay home forever
Where two and two always makes a five?"-I don't feel the Truth(God).Why should i try to do this?This is nice place anyway.I can built here my own little "truth"...2+2=5-This is my own little "truth"...No one dare to condemn me...because i have an authority and respect here...Money convinced me in my rectitude...And all my friends agree with me...
"I'll lay down the tracks
Sandbag and hide
January has April's showers
And two and two always makes a five"-what tracks? I have an amount of my own tracks? And i can sell you one of it...All my friends said that my tracks
is much better...
"It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now"-Devil?Hahaha!I stay here in my own paradise forever...But...Why...I'm so decrepit...And who i am?Where i am?....the eternal gloaming....street spirit....you are the street spirit right now.Stay here till Truth-absorber coming...You are has no way back.
You are already the Devil's being...You betray humanity during all your "material" life; you betray IT(the Truth) there...

Absorption is easier than radiation...It is inevitable...It is natural...It is most painful...

But IT will never betray us...IT'S Love is Infinite...
We cannot give up...

Log in to reply
zzazzman
06-14-2008

Rated 0 
If it hasn't already been said, there's an amazing fan video made by Gaston Vinas of grapevineindustries for this song. Whether or not you think the song is a reference to Dostoevsky, you cannot deny that it also has references to 1984. The video takes some artistic liberty and stretches the theme to another Great George Orwell book, Animal farm. Everyone should watch it.

Log in to reply
rufo.13
06-17-2008

Rated 0 
well... if you're paying atenttion... it's the soundtrack for 1984 and Animal Farm ;)

Log in to reply
cxntcake
08-19-2008

Rated 0 
Okay...I'm done being pissed off....everyone gets the lyrics wrong and it drives me crazy....these are the exact lyrics, and the ONLY lyrics....look at the caps...if you don't believe me...listen to the album version with big headphones....on top volume...

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

It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now

Because
You have not been
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
YEAH THAT MIGHT BE IT
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention
YEAH THAT MIGHT BE IT
PAYING ATTENTION
PAYING ATTENTION
PAYING ATTENTION
PAYING ATTENTION
YEAH I MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Paying attention
Paying attention
Paying attention

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

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

Log in to reply
cxntcake
08-19-2008

Rated 0 
or put me in a box*

Log in to reply
ohBALLS yeah
09-15-2008

Rated 0 
here's what i think it means. i think he's basically tell the govt to shove it. they can feed their propaganda, but he sees through it all. we all can understand what "hail to the thief" refers to. if not you shouldnt be listening to radiohead

Log in to reply
Radioface
10-16-2008

Rated 0 
I think thom doesnt want people to rape his work. accept it how you hear it. it is a beautiful song. lets not destroy its beauty.

also, thom mentioned that if the album was politically motivated it would be a shitty album. so it isnt.

think and do what you want to but i think it is best to leave it alone and appreciate its awesomeness.

Log in to reply
plasticathexis
10-24-2008

Rated 0 
This shit is deep. I think it's about God and consciousness as most of there stuff is. People are in a haze of confusion hiding in their homes being fed lies from the television where nothing quite adds up (2+2=5). The world got taken over by satan because people stopped paying attention to god. By god a mean this reality and consciousness that makes it up, not some bearded figure on a cloud. We as a whole forgot that we run this place and it has been destroyed by ego and power. We cant stop it now either, its like Babylon where they tried to have heaven on earth without god. It will eventually slap us in the face. I believe the thief he speaks of isn't necessarily GWB, but the DARK HAND/Illuminati/reptilian humanoids, or whatever it is you believe in controls this planet. They have stolen our souls in a way by controlling our minds, or THE mind that makes it all one.

Log in to reply
scrletbegonias
11-05-2008

Rated 0 
when i listen to this song driving around in my car i ALWAYS think my car is making a funny sound because of that very subtle screeching in the background.. but yeah, this song kicks so much ass. the meaning is pretty straightforward i feel.. the whole album "hail to the thief".. i mean, the name says it all. it's very political. are you such a dreamer to put the world to rights? i mean, come on..

Log in to reply
aaaannddy
11-28-2008

Rated 0 
I really like the Dostoevsky theory, but how does "hail to the thief" fit in to that?

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here