Last Flowers

It's about depression.

It's a very personal song to Thom, as he wrote it during the OKC sessions, and was prompted by the depression he was suffering through, at the time. Notice how emotive his performances are, every time he plays the song?

I have no doubt that depression was the original 'muse' behind the song. I too (also years ago), went through a period of clinical depression, and he articulates the internal panic one feels, at the possibility of being left alone to wallow in one's own negative thoughts/emotions (in an endless, cyclical nature) in a beautifully heavy-hearted manner, "I can't face the evening straight"

But, he is speaking to someone close to him (probably his partner), asking them to spare him from this moment of pain/weakness, by keeping him company, "You can offer me escape"

All of his surroundings only compound his negative thoughts, "Appliances have gone berserk I can not keep up Treading on people's toes Snot-nosed little punk / Houses move and houses speak"

(notice how the latter line is similar to a line in Street Spirit, "rows of houses, are beraing down on me, I can feel their blue jands touching me" - recalling the types of associations he has with the things that get him down). He pleads with his lover to embrace him, so they can share the burden (which he also imagines she can relate to herself), "If you take me then you'll get relief"

He doesn't care what they talk about, as long as he can keep his mind busy and distracted (the subject is unimportant, he just wants her company, and to show she's there for him), "And if I'm gonna talk I just wanna talk Please don't interrupt Just sit back and listen"

It gets to the point where one becomes unable to ignore the overwhelming sensation, if left to one's own devises, "It's too much Too bright Too powerful".

• That was all a little rushed, but I hope you get the gist.

I interpret the song as being about aging, staying stagnant as the world continues to move forward, and the feeling of becoming a burden to loved ones as you get older.

'appliances have gone berserk I cannot keep up' has to do with the person's view that the world is progressing so fast while they are being left behind.

'and if i'm gonna talk.. ...sit back and listen' is the desire of the elderly to share their experience/knowledge and to be heard instead of written off and ignored by others. 'snot nosed little punks' probably the fact that every older generation finds the younger ones to have less respect and discipline.

'If you take me their you'll get relief' refering to a retirement home or hospital perhaps.

To me it just seems like a really sad song about getting closer to the end of your life and feeling confused, unwanted and unfamiliar with the world around you. Also, I don't think it could be about Thom dealing with the media over the popularity of OKC, being that this song was written during the OKC sessions but didn't make the album.

Goddamn. Radiohead is one of my favorite bands and..

Goddamn. I always hear people talking about how incredible Motion Picture Soundtrack and Street Spirit are, but neither of them have affected me as much as this one. I dunno why, something very dark but very beautiful about it- and I'm only listening to the acoustic live version.

The end where he goes "Toooooo much...toooooooooo bright...too powerful...makes me feel like staring into the sun. Goddamn.

This appears to just be a general reflection on the overwhelming magnitude of trying to survive life on a daily basis by someone who's clearly battling some sort of demon. Yorke is describing trying to cope with life through an escapist mentalitity since this is easy. Could be referring to drugs, sex, or any other type of "relief" that humans tend to gravitate towards in order to numb. That's just my take on it.

this reminds me of trying to get off the drugs, and then when it comes to the evening you start to worry about what the world is going to look like sober, so you get some more

The song is actually called "Last Flowers to the Hospital" and I often wondered why it would be called that when there was apparently nothing in the lyrics related to someone being ill or dying. Today I came across an article about a woman with bipolar disorder who suffered a psychotic episode. It said that the woman would hear the house speak to her. Apparently psychosis causes a person to hear voices coming from people or things.

I'm not saying that's what the song is about. It could be just about someone needing to let off steam or something else, but it certainly made sense to me more. The lines about the appliances going berserk and all that now take a different meaning for me.

In my interpretation, the narrator is asking someone to take him to the hospital, perhaps.

The lines 'it's too much, too bright, too powerful' also fit in, I think, and take a new meaning for me.

"Appliances have gone berserk I cannot keep up Treading on people's toes Snot-nosed little punk"

I think the song is about aging and being around younger whippersnappers who do things different than you, how technology is changing and Thom professes that he simply can't keep up. The younger generation is stepping on people's toes and the final line of that lyric is "snot-nosed little punk" which affirms the point I'm trying to make.

Also known as Last Flowers or Cogs. Green Plastic for more info.

i can only find the instrumental. no vocals. no words. no nothing. sucks man.

incredible. a old song that never saw the light of day, written at three in the morning. says thom.

hopefully be on a new album tho.incredible. suggestion for the ? above is lyric "and if i don't attack" any other suggestions?

incredible