Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour

Murderers, you're murderers
We are not the same as you
Genie let out of the bottle
Funny how, funny how

When the walls bend, when the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing
When the walls bend, when the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing

With your breathing
They will suck you down to the other side x4
To the shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells

Shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells
They should be ringing x12
This is the gloaming

Shadows blue and red
Shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells
Your alarm bells

Shadows blue and red
Shadows blue and red
We're alarming
We're alarming

And the walls bend, and the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing
And the walls bend, and the walls bend
What is he doin' what is he doin'

This is the gloaming [Repeat: x 4]
This is the



Lyrics submitted by ruben

"The Gloaming (Softly Open Our Mouths in the Cold)" as written by Thomas Edward/selway Yorke

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


The Gloaming. (Softly Open Our Mouths in the Cold.) song meanings
Add your thoughts

37 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment:what the f*ck does this song mean. y'all keep posting about it tonight so hopefully YOU know what it means. I surely do NOT; however, I love the band. Geesh...pick a new song, pleasel
    Flag MissCharlotteSometimeson January 15, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the bass and general theme reminds of cfern by autechre
    Flag fittkda917on March 13, 2011   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This song seems to take the opposite view from No surprises.

    No surprises, to me, is about giving up on changing the world ("I'll take a quiet life... with no alarms..."). Giving up putting the world to rights so you can have your own "pretty house" and "pretty garden".

    Compare that to this song ("they will such you down to the other side... your alarm bells should be ringing")

    To me this song is about standing up for what's right. MLK Jr. puts it elegantly: "He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it."
    Flag pondforthebeyondon November 18, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:the hell does he repeat the hairy bishop in reverse throughout the whole song? i know the album was inspired by some cartoon with the boney king of nowhere in it, are they related?
    Flag fittkda917on September 29, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:thom is right on - crazy right-winged radicals. all i have to say is thank God for obama being elected. look at everything great he's done so far!

    haha.
    Flag moonhatchon November 05, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:over time this has become one of my favourite radiohead tracks (but the i always loved idm style stuff anyway). Anyway, just FYI, The actual lyrics at the end of the first verse are 'Funny, ha ha, funny how', not 'funny how, funny how' as stated.
    Flag porpson September 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The From the Basement version of this song is awesome.
    Flag LifeInTechnicoloron April 15, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:just a small note - I'm fairly sure the lyric near the beginning is 'funny ha ha, funny ha.'
    Flag recoveringmaleon February 09, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I really liked what river1 and suic1d3 had to say - really insightful..

    to me this song is very spiritual and brought to the surface childhood experiences i had in the dark, thinking about how big the world is, and if there is another realm out there operating at the same time.


    so.. back to times in my room as a young kid, and i would see this spiral of electricity. moving after images. almost like it was drawing my soul or spirit out into the void of something much greater than i was.

    this song would be the artistic expression of these experiences that climaxed in my teen years. i would press in deeper in this void and have seen shit that you wouldn't believe if i told you.

    the phrase in the song i would like to expound on is "they will suck you down to the other side, shadows blue and red" it is a scientific fact that when you gaze into the void blackness, small pixilated images appear. you can see them with your eyes open in a completely pitch black room. these are called afterimages. similar to what you would see if you glanced at the sun and shut your eyes - you would see a reverse negative circle that would be a blue/purple/red colour. shadows blue and red.. to any one looking for these with a clear mind, they are just scattered and meaningless. it is my own belief that many people have had this intimate experience on multiple occasions... and that if you could read the stories of these experiences, they would reflect whether the person has a lot of evil and is connected with the occult or if the person has a desire for goodness and is curious about the 'light' side of the supernatural.


    now whether or not thom wrote the song about the same tunnel or portal into the spiritual realm.. uhh.. i dunno.

    <3 this song!
    Flag sostereoon November 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:many people already said this and hit the nail on the head.. this song is about the right wing. i can definitely understand why some people would have a hard time listening to this, but for me, i could listen to it over and over. it's so creepy and beautiful; i love the distorted sounding static. the very beginning is amazing: genie let out of the bottle, it is now the witching hour. it hits you so hard. thom yorke <3 you are the man.
    Flag scrletbegoniason November 05, 2008   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain