Lyrics for Videotape as interpreted by black_cow_of_death

Videotape Lyrics
When I'm at the pearly gates
This'll be on my videotape
My videotape
My videotape

Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me

This is one for the good days
And I have it all here in
Red, blue, green
Red, blue, green

You are my centre when I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape

This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it fact to face
So I'm talking to you before
No matter what happens now
I won't be afraid
Because I know
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen

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knezavich
11-13-2009

Rated 0 
I think this song is a lament/reflection of someone either dying or contemplating suicide (the later because of the tone of the music suggests someone thinking obsessively and repeatedly about something, with the dark repeated chord sequence)...

They're saying that when they die at least they'll have some evidence of having lived a happy and full life and therefore would be able to make a case for being allowed through the pearly gates.

The videotape represents a number of things - like people have said, it's either a metaphor for the person envisaging their happy memories as they fade out of consciousness or an actual videotape that the person has made to 'say goodbye, because they can't do it face to face' - like you see in movies and tv shows when a someone knows they're going to die and wants to leave a message to their family. The red, blue and green I think is the pixels of the tv, the hard evidence.

Open to discussion, take it how you hear it.

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FatRat
11-09-2009

Rated 0 
Not taking tenses in mind, this was a beautiful scene of a dead soul who lived his life unhappy but now could see that things really were beautiful. The echoed moans come in, overlapping. Past moaning in his life, all the needless dread and worry. Also add in the image of the lost souls must like himself coming in behind him from the darkness to take him with them. And as they do, he watches the memories continue to unfold, tears in his eyes--though tears of happiness, now finally appreciating the best times in his life before the lights go out forever.

But with tenses in mind, the man is not dead. Not yet. This is an actual videotape. A collection of old memories. Family life. Good times. And he's made his final realization. Same tears of happiness, but he has his final moments ahead of him.

Depression cuts deep. Symbolism in an artistic mind can turn frightening. How appropriate he feels that the final clip of this video collage was for him to record his last thoughts. He knew how tomorrow his thoughts would change again and he would lose this purity as it's buried by sleep and unrelated thoughts and more pointless frustrations. A final good-bye and thank-you before he leaves on his high note, knowing that by doing so, it will be the devil's hand that takes him in the end. But how was it ever different in life?

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solvealways
10-16-2009

Rated +1 
People have alluded to this, but "Faust" as in Faust Arp (earlier in the album) was a character in a German legend who makes a deal with the devil (Mephistopheles - "Mephistopheles is just beneath") in order to attain high knowledge and have the devil serve him until Faust experiences the pinnacle of human happiness at which point the devil may take his soul.

Maybe more importantly, Faust is represented by Adrian Leverkühn who is a composer who makes the deal with the devil that he will receive 24 years of brilliance and success if he renounces love - which he does. About 16 years into the deal, Adrian's nephew dies and he believes it is because he loved his nephew. So, he brings all his friends and guests together for a new composition but instead of playing music he tells them about the deal he made with the devil and he then succumbs to brain disease and dies 10 years later.

This is a stretch but Radiohead signed their first record deal in 1991 and In Rainbows came out in 2007 which was about 16 years into the deal.

Anyways, it is interesting and I think Faust Arp and this song go together... I just don't know to what extent.

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radiohead32
09-22-2009

Rated +1 
to me, this song is describing a relationship between a guy and girl, and that for some reason this is their last day together. thom yorke is saying that although he might not see this girl again, its okay because he shared this perfect day with her and he got it on 'videotape', meaning his memory-to play over and over again. this gives him enough strength and motivation to live life the best way he can because their is hope that perfect days exist and although their is a slim chance he will see this girl again, its worth the hard work and effort to be the best person you can be so that if/when you finally do, you can live this perfect day with them

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truman7878
08-14-2009

Rated 0 
"red, blue, green"

if you look closely on a television, you can make out a series of red, blue, and green cells. ummm yeah...

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wickeand000
08-13-2009

Rated +1 
i always thought that his "videotape" was just thoughts/memories playing over in his head, which is really depressing for me because that means that he never really says goodbye, just in his head.

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fakeplasticman
08-09-2009

Rated 0 
when i see the lines "this is my way of saying goodbye, because i cant do it face to face" i always think of this girl i fell so in love with and i never told her. my bestfriend stabbed me in the back and is now going out with her. i couldnt live with or without her. so i had to cut her off completely and i didnt even have the courage to go see her in person of call her to tell her how i felt and that i had to say goodbye, i did it over msn. it was a bit ridiculous, but i couldnt do it any other way. if i didnt do it, id always have to deal with seeing her name pop up somewhere or seeing a pic of her with an ex good friend of mine and it would juts destroy me.

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emmagain
08-02-2009

Rated +1 
I don't think this song is really directed at a romantic love, but rather at family/children.

This is my way of saying goodbye/Because I can't do it face to face/So I'm talking to you before....

I don't think he is dying or suicidal, but rather contemplating the struggle of mortality. He has found some resolution with his eventual passing because of the "perfect day" - he has experienced a happiness that has fulfilled him.

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2 Replies
IronandVino
07-28-2009

Rated 0 
I think this song is about a part of you life you want to be remembered by. Other comments say that it is a videotape for personal pleasure to look back on your life or perhaps just one day.

This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it fact to face
So I'm talking to you before
No matter what happens now
I won't be afraid
Because I know
Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen

Whoever this is about wants to be remembered by the best possible day or part in their life, but they knew which day it was when it came and they weren't afraid to be remembered by that part/day in their life even though it is a very important decision to make because they "know today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen"

Just a guess, who knows what thom yorke was really talking about. I don't think anyone one of Radioheads songs have been perfectly interpeted anyway...

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TheDingo
07-28-2009

Rated 0 
...I think of the Columbine High School shootings, when I hear this song. The gun-fire like drum beat that kicks in at about 1:20. The whole reference to videotape, where the killers were recorded on the high school video cameras.

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ButterflyInHurricane
07-28-2009

Rated 0 
If you look for Mephistopholis and Pearly Gates, you'll see this is about going in to Heaven and being judged. When he says video tape and red, blue, green, it's like he's taping everything and saying goodbye to someone he cares about. He'll probably leave him/her the video.

Crazy but so cool.

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bar
06-12-2009

Rated 0 
I shall agree with DJgif, the only comment i have bothered to read, and conclude that this song primarily concerns suicide

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1 Reply
sounds_familiar06
06-04-2009

Rated 0 
i love this song, it's effortlessly beautiful.

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1 Reply
cubero24
06-02-2009

Rated 0 
Sounds like a train. I think he is leaving

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DJgif
05-26-2009

Rated -1 
ugh, I can't read all these comments.
But I'd like to say this song is amazing, happy but more depressing.
I think this is much more than just someone going away. It's the speaker's death which is inevitable; either he has a terminal illness, or he plans on killing himself and nothing can change that. I'm not sure how to explain it; but it all makes sense in a feeling.

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stitchgrimly
05-09-2009

Rated -1 
Listen to Alan Watts !!! The most lucid western philosopher of the 20th century. When I discovered him 18 months ago it changed everything for me by reassuring me that everything was fine just the way it is... if that makes sense. When I listen to Radiohead and especially Reckoner and Videotape I feel that Thom had been listening to and reading a lot of AW at the time. It all fits. We are all God playing the game of not being God.

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DSta89
05-03-2009

Rated 0 
Thinking it was impossible, Faust sold his soul to the demon Mephistopheles for the chance to feel true, unrequited happiness. In the end, Faust accomplished happiness, but it cost him his soul.

The image of Mephistopheles reaching up to grab him is incredible. It represents how he sacrificed so much for the happiness he's found, but it doesn't even matter because even if it was short, it was something beautiful and wonderful that few people will ever experience. The song is basically thanking whoever for that opportunity.

It's not a suicide note or a literal goodbye even, per se. Rather it is figurative for trying to thank someone for making you the happiest you've ever been, even if it came with a price. How do you do that? Its both beautiful and sad at the same time... just like the song.

I know its a long and lame int. and I'm probably reading far too deeply into it, but I just can't understand how a song can be so amazing and brilliant.

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1 Reply
White|Willow
05-02-2009

Rated 0 
I think this is the perfect song about death/dying. It just captures it for me so well. Addresses how after death,almost our only existence is through memory,pictures and video. We cease to be a person and we become entity: An idea and a memory. Proof of existence only in memory of those who knew them and through pictures and videos. "When I'm at the pearly gates|This'll be on my videotape". what it addresses is that when he is gone,he will be able to live on through those video tapes of perfect days (This is one for the good days and I have it all here in Red, blue, green(video pixels)... I won't be afraid Because I know Today has been the most perfect day I have ever seen *seen as in on video* ) and in essence through memory and video, he knows he'll live on in some way. Even though he is no longer alive.

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andweirdfishes
04-19-2009

Rated 0 
It's very very very very hard to understand what Thom means in this song. He is not a religious man at all. Why would a non religious man write a song like this? it's either not about him at all, or it is him realizing he has kids now, and he's not sure if he wants them to believe in a heaven or not, because he's obviously been tormented by daeth his entire life.


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tommy91
04-15-2009

Rated +2 
I believe this song talks about the divine beauty of the world. The videotape is metaphorical of one's lifespan, and how beautiful each experience within life can be 'Because i know today has been the most perfect day I have seen'. As Ed O'Brien stated, In Rainbows had 'No political agenda; its about being human'. Yorke's evoking that no matter what happens through fate and inevitability, nobody should be afraid, more or less be grateful for experiencing the divine beauty of life

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Irishmonk
04-13-2009

Rated 0 
I think of this as the last act of Thom Yorke's "Death Trilogy": Street Spirit (Fade Out); Motion Picture Soundtrack; Videotape. Play these three songs in a row and you will experience the incredible emotional weight of dying, or at the least, the sad, devastating, irrevocable fact of what awaits us all. There is no other artist, in any medium--except maybe Bergamn and Tarkovsky in film--who has captured the inevitable fact of one's mortality as stunningly as Yorke has. Depressing, but spiritually moving.

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Blackmofasa9
03-07-2009

Rated 0 
Its about Nicole from Dead Space. Think about it.

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Ximalim
03-01-2009

Rated +1 
I think the song is about holding on to a memory that's slipping away with time. The song itself is kind of documenting the beauty of the moment. He's capturing whatever he's feeling in the song, much like a videotape would capture a brief section of time. He knew it wouldn't last forever.. whatever that moment was, you can absolutely tell that it was deeply meaningful to him.

For me though... when I turned 19, my then girlfriend and I used to just lie in bed all day. There were moments were we would just be. I get all these fucked up visualizations of just getting like... transported into the past. Unfortunately that point in time has moved on, and listening to this song transports me to back then. I have a feeling that songs as good as this can only be made with those type of experiences in mind. I don't think I've ever heard a more beautiful song in that way in my entire life.

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jrocktheparty
02-11-2009

Rated +1 
I wholeheartedly agree with Drewb18c1 in his saying that 'Thom has put his heart and soul into this song.'

This really impresses me as message that is particularly close to Thom's heart.

I was so pleased to find that it was in fact 'mephistopheles' that I was hearing in these lyrics. Thom's character shows through his singing so well. For me, using mythology invokes mystery and uncertainty surrounding death. I am a young twenty-something with misgivings surrounding my pentecostal upbringing. Nevertheless, I've always retained a sense of 'spirituality' that I can't help but accept.

I'm not sure how much this song has to do with Thom and a videotape 'goodbye' or 'i love you'. I interpret it as a manifestation of Thom's sincere feelings for someone through song- probably his most articulate medium. Maybe this is Thom's exploration of human spirituality.. a voicing of sincere conviction and connection with someone.

Its inspiring.

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lindentaber
02-08-2009

Rated 0 
this song is the end to faust.
a myth about a man who makes a deal with the devil
he can have anything he wants but at the moment he find true happiness his sole will be given to the devil. (Mephistopholis in this song)

its a love song about that. he has finally found true happiness in love.

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