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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tbone271
10-17-2007

Rated 0 
landobain...where do you get this idea, that its christian mythology. If your reffering to the bible, which unbeleivers would call a mythological book ( i would think), its definitly not there. And according to wikipedia its german mythology..

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Skam33
10-27-2007

Rated 0 
I've got to say, I originally considered the Videotape to be a reference to a record of someone's life, but reviewing the lyrics I think the Videotape is what's left behind by a person who has passed on to a loved one. (The 'you' that is the centre when he spins away).

The reference to Mephistopheles implies the idea of a Satanic Pact, possibly for the "most perfect day I've ever seen".

Red, Blue, Green... seems quite obviously to mean the constituent colours of any televised image.

Obviously there are more complex layers, but as an overview of the form, I think this is about right.

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Turbo07
10-28-2007

Rated 0 
Well first let me say this song has a great feel. You know it's the last song on the album, even before the album came out. It just has an incredible sense of finality that there is no other place the song could fit on the album.

But this is the end of someone's life. The videotape is symbolic; it's the mind, the memory.

"This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face
I'm talking to you after it's too late
From my videotape"

He's remembering someone, thinking about them, seing a memory of them in his mind (or videotape). He is thinking about a certain individual throughout the whole song, possibly a lover.

"No matter what happens now
I won't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."

Thinking of this individual obviously calmed him, rid him of fear. "...the most perfect day I've ever SEEN." He didn't live this day, he thought about it, saw it on his "videotape."

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dameinnot
10-28-2007

Rated 0 
I just found out yesterday that an old friend of mine committed suicide. I had just downloaded the In Rainbows that very same day, and was overcome when I heard this song.

"This us my way of saying goodbye, because I can't do it face to face."

That line makes me cry over and over. I will miss you Taylor, and rest in peace, we all love you so much.

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SilentZephyr
10-30-2007

Rated 0 
80 comments already, damn... this song is beautiful too. "Nude" and "All I need" are my favorite songs.

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SilentZephyr
10-30-2007

Rated 0 
this song sounds to me like it's about a videotape someone left as a will for someone else to watch, and they are just saying goodbye.

"Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."

i think this line is too happy to be about a suicide video.

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pupuliwahine
10-31-2007

Rated 0 
I thought about it being a spiritual tape shown to you after you have died, but after viewing the lyrics more closely.. I think it is a suicide videotape left for loved ones who he cant say goodbye to.

Obviously depressed to a point of no hope from the words "this is one for the good days"... the only time I have ever heard someone say that is when they are severely depressed most of the time, but they have a good day here and there.

He goes on to tell someone special that they were his center when he cant handle his life, basically thanking them for always being there... also saying goodbye because its too painful to say goodbye face to face.

Following that, he is telling them not to worry about him because suicide is what he wanted.. its the most perfect day he has ever seen because all of his life's troubles are finally over.

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thecuckoosnest
11-01-2007

Rated 0 
good god, thom's done it again

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sheffry
11-03-2007

Rated 0 
I'm reminded of Rufus Wainwright's "Movies of Myself" where he refers to his own imaginings of how life is/will be.

In this song, though, I get the feeling that the video is both literal and figurative. The imagined world becomes real (Pinocchio).

I'm hearing this: This is my way OUT of saying goodbye / Because I can't do it face to face / So I'm talking to you before (I don't hear "it's too late" - when is it said?) No matter what happens now...

Whether the death is literal or figurative, he is not able to accomplish it "face to face," implying shame. What a classic (and classical?)image of the sufferer caught between heaven and hell. A chilling image of Mephistopheles reaching up.

Does anyone hear the other sounds of another song beneath the song?

The music at the closing of the song is suggestive of the videotape looping, spinning out...
The tape counter ticking away as life clicks away? The breathing in the left ear, the last gasps for air? "You shouldn't be afraid" (I hear "You" and not "I") are his last words of comfort to the viewer who was his center. For me, today was a perfect day AND the perfect day, as well.

Sad and beautiful. Who are we to judge, yet we judge each other under the scrutiny of videotape. Have compassion. Open the Pearly Gates.

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AloneInACrowd
11-04-2007

Rated +1 
"Imagine living as though death was not a worry and no harm could come of it because you found true purpose and experienced happiness and love so grand that everything else seemed arbitrary in comparison. I think that is what this song is about."
Read it somewhere and (for me) it just touches the feeling I get when listening to the song.

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februaryraven
11-04-2007

Rated 0 
I love all the Faustian references guys, has anyone read Monbiot's Heat? Because he makes a fantastic metaphor of our 21st century Faustian pact with the Devil, the "Fiery One" or cheap fuel. We are living on borrowed time, all our wealth and speed is hurtling us into extinction...
But again, I think this song sounds like a backwards loop, like a life in review, but who reviews our life when we die? I think that it is our own consciousness that survives death, and the imprint of a life lived is left on it. "You are my center" again who is this "You"? I have read that Thom is a meditator, and he would know something about bringing the mind back to a point when it drifts.

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necrophage
11-05-2007

Rated 0 
omg... such a fucking great closer for an evan greater album, I almost cried when I realized the cd's almost over... but I know It'll be cliche but: Less is Defiently more in "In Rainbows" case...that simple drum pattern against the piano and thoms voice just gives me chills...

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Kristafon
11-08-2007

Rated 0 
"No matter what happens now
I shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."

To me I think this could simply be a love song. I remember once feeling so content and happy when everything came together I thought "if I was to die right now, I wouldnt mind". I think maybe this is what the song is getting at. Maybe the videotape could be a metaphor for a review of his life, hes saying when he dies the moment hes experiencing will be there since its so memorable.

"You are my center when I spin away"

Could this just be him saying "you are my rock" to the person he loves?

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jimmytree
11-09-2007

Rated +1 
IMO:

The song is NOT about being judged at the Pearly Gates OR a suicide note.

The author is leaving someone for a difficult unexplained reason, and instead of saying goodbye or writing a note leaves them a videotape. On that videotape is the recording of the "most perfect day" the author spent with that person. That day is not from the past, as at the end of the song there is the mention that it was "today".

The video tape is not really a metaphor, since there is reference to the RBG color model (and i have it all here in red blue green) AND there is also the beautiful reference to the film spinning away from the roll of the videotape (you are my center when i spin away out of control on videotape).

The mention of Pearly Gates simply means that the contents of the videotape are so crucial that the author may be judged at the Pearly Gates or snatched away by the devil not according to the way he lived his whole life, but according to the way he lived those very special moments recorded on the videotape.

The constant monotonous repetition of "videotape, videotape, videotape..." hints on the possibility that the author watched the tape on his own, again and again, before leaving it for the person he addresses in the song.

We dont know why the author is leaving, but is has to be pretty serious judging by the lines "when i spin away out of control" and "no matter what happens now, i shouldn't be afraid".

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Ani_Smith
11-09-2007

Rated -1 
I mostly agree with jimmy... but the song in and of itself makes more sense as a father leaving a tape for his children because he is going to die. He is speaking to them "after it's too late" (This is from the original version of the song), after his death, on the videotape--this was from a movie by the way. He made this tape to show his children the "good days" when he had them. Certainly his children would be his "center when [he] spins away" possibly thinking about killing himself becasue of his condition. I think about a father with some terminal condition playing with his kids for the last time:" the most perfect day he has ever seen". That is why he is not afraid to face his death. This makes a lot more sense then him just randomly leaving after today, being the most perfect day he spent with a GF.

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bestwombat11
11-10-2007

Rated 0 
gorgeous

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Ekstasis
11-11-2007

Rated -1 
i see the song as the last day of his life.
starts off with him standing at the pearly gates...
next a demon is reaching up from below him to grab him (to take him to hell)
this is my way of saying goodbye... cause he cant do it face to face ( the videotape was for his family or someone else) and the last verse describes how beautiful death can be

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bobgreen
11-12-2007

Rated 0 
Granted I'm not familiar with Faust story many of you have referred to, but the meaning behind this song seems fairly transparent to me.

I agree with the suicide assessment. Most of the verses have already been disected but I think that one point that is missing deals with "No matter what happens now
I shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen. "

No matter what happens now= heaven, hell, purgatory.

I shouldn't be afraid Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen = Imagine yourself deeply depressed to the point of suicide. To take your own life you've obviously reached a bottom; there are no good days, there are no fond memories, everything is hopeless. What would be the greatest thing to ever happen to you? Death. It would be the greatest burden lifted from a depressed sole to have a living hell end. He shoudn't be afraid because it can't get any worse than life had been.

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Ani_Smith
11-14-2007

Rated 0 
The suicide interpretation is stupid. It works, but not as well as the interpretation of someone dying for some other reason. He wouldn't say this has been the most perfect day if he meant death... death doesn't take a day. Death takes just a moment. I might buy your interpretation a little bit if he said that that this is the most perfect moment.

This song is obviously about someone who loves life and loves what he must give up, so he is leaving this tape... I think to his son or daughter so they will no because they are too young for him to say good-bye face to face to.

There isn't a single lyric in this song that says he is depresed... you are projecting because you want to see it for some reason.

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liquoricefish
11-19-2007

Rated 0 
So many people have commented on this, and I have no time to read all the comments to compare. But here's my take on Videotape:

This song represents a peak experience, in fact, THE peak experience in life. Although the narrator realizes that someday he will die (when i'm at the pearly gates / this is my way of saying goodbye), and that he will inevitably lose control of his life again (mephistopheles is just beneath / you are my center when i spin away), he still has that one peak experience (today has been the most perfect day i've ever seen), as well as many other good memories (this is one for the good days)- so that now he can face the rest of his life without fear (i shouldn't be afraid - because i know...).

I think the saying goodbye part isn't so much about death or suicide - I think it's about realizing that you've experienced a peak moment, and your life can only decline from there. You will never experience a moment so profound ever again, and you have to deal with that fact. You have to say goodbye to the good days, you have to say goodbye to your youth, to the memories you hold so dear. It's realizing that you have to come to grips with your own mortality, and with the mortality of all those you hold so dear, because soon all of this misery and beauty will fade away.

I also notice that the life version has a lot more buildup, and a lot more intensity, as compared to the more subdued and stripped down studio version. It is really fascinating that Thom says "I won't be afraid" in the live version, which seems so much more confident. In the studio version, Thom sounds a lot less confident and says "I shouldn't be afraid" - showing a tinge of doubt.

What can I say??
BEAUTIFUL!!!
Definitely some of the best lyrics and piano I have ever heard from Thom Yorke.

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beardy1991
11-19-2007

Rated -1 
Some of you are really confused and obivously GOD botherers. Thom is not.
I also think this had the futuristic capitalism vibe of OK COMPUTER sort of saying people wont need to know about lives in teh future the stuff will just be available to everyone not just a family it will be on the internet on a computer hence "in red, blue green" computer monitor imagery to me.

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saturnus
11-24-2007

Rated 0 
I definitely think of being judged, or someone being judged, at the gates of heaven when I hear this song.

All of their deeds that they did all their life have practically been recorded on videotape (it's a metaphor). It means that God or whatever Saint allows you in or out of heaven when you die has access to your entire life to judge you.

The 'going out of control' part is when maybe someone did some bad things, maybe not intentionally, and maybe not even knowing or thinking that they were bad, but nevertheless they were done and that these too of course will be on the videotape, or life record, of the person when they die and are judged.

Obviously there's more than this, ad Thom is referring to some people or person who is the 'center', maybe the one who is dying or has died's friend, lover, or someone they admired maybe even secretly and that may have been the person that they ended up doing bad things to, probably not intentionally. I might be a little off on this part, but that's what it means to me.

In the end (the last paragraph) there is the happy thought that the person dying or thinking about their death had a perfect day and so they're not afraid of what happens when they're judged, because they were happy that day, no matter what the outcome became.

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eatenbytheworms
11-25-2007

Rated 0 
Official lyrics:

Videotape

When I’m at the pearly gates
This’ll be on my videotape
My videotape
My videotape

When Mephistophilis 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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paraluman
12-01-2007

Rated 0 
Ever had a moment that seemed so perfect, that instead of feeling awesome about surrounded by such goodness, the thought of the possibility of never having something as good happen to you again depresses you instead?

I think this song can pertain to that feeling.

I remember how my Philosophy professor that it's better to die young at the height of your life than to wait for everything to go downhill. Perhaps this song can pertain to that, er...life philosophy. The persona thinks he's already reached the peak of his life, and he wants to end it on that glorious note.

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Happyhighland_coo
12-02-2007

Rated 0 
I don't know if it's been mentioned, but I heard that this song was inspired by a movie that Thom saw. It's japanese, and translates to "After Life"

In the movie, when you die, you are taken to a place between heaven and earth and you have a week to chose your favourite memory. At the end of the week, the "staff" members in this place videotape it for you. When you move on to heaven your memories are all erased, except for your one favourite memory.

It's a beautiful film, and the song makes so much sense. It's directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu if anyone wants to look it up

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