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I do not
Understand
What it is
I've done wrong
Full of holes
Check the pulse
Blink your eyes
One for yes
Two for no
I have no idea what I am talking about
I'm trapped in this body and can't get out
Oh
Make a sound
Move back home
Get an invitation
With the edges
Sawn off
I have no idea what you are talking about
I'm trapped in this body and can't get out
Oh
Has the light gone out for you?
Cause the light's gone for me
It is the 21st century
It is the 21st century
You can fight it like a dog
And they brought me to my knees
They got scared and they put me in
They got scared and they put me in
All the lies run around my face
All the lies run around my face
And for anyone else to see
And for anyone else to see
I'm alive
I've seen it coming
Understand
What it is
I've done wrong
Full of holes
Check the pulse
Blink your eyes
One for yes
Two for no
I have no idea what I am talking about
I'm trapped in this body and can't get out
Oh
Make a sound
Move back home
Get an invitation
With the edges
Sawn off
I have no idea what you are talking about
I'm trapped in this body and can't get out
Oh
Has the light gone out for you?
Cause the light's gone for me
It is the 21st century
It is the 21st century
You can fight it like a dog
And they brought me to my knees
They got scared and they put me in
They got scared and they put me in
All the lies run around my face
All the lies run around my face
And for anyone else to see
And for anyone else to see
I'm alive
I've seen it coming
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Track duration: 04:01
"Bodysnatchers" as written by Thomas Edward Yorke, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Colin Charles Greenwood, Edward John O'brien, Philip James Selway
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"Make a sound
Move back home
Get an invitation
With the edges sawn off"
It doesn't make sense at all. We all know that Radiohead's lyrics are always confusing if we want to interpret their meaning. I think this time it is easier than ever. It's just a description about how someone who's probably been kidnapped and his organs are going to be sell; feels. He is lost, does not understand what's going on and many parts of the song reflect that feeling and situation. Someone who is scared, people around checking vital signs and the real piece of lyrics that's missing there:
"You killed sound
Removed back bone
A pale imitation
With the edges sawn off"
Whether "I'm a lie" or "I'm alive" are suitable for this topic
This song could be literally intrepreted as a case of organ trafficking from the victim's point of view as simple as it reads.. I could go over every line but if you read these lyrics again the way I see it, there's no explanation needed, the song speaks by itself... but I might be wrong of course ;)
I think anyone old enough to have started the physical aging process understands the feeling of being trapped in a body that doesn't feel like your own. You think of yourself as you were when you're young and it's a shock to look in the mirror one day and find that person isn't there anymore. (I've heard countless times people justifying plastic surgery as 'just wanting to feel like yourself again'). "All the lines wrapped around my face, and for anyone else to see". But of course you knew this would happen - "I seen it coming" - which only makes the failures more painful.
Of course physical aging is only one part of it. More broadly it's about looking around at your life, mid-life, and wondering how you got there. Feeling suddenly useless, lost, having sold out on your own integrity. Perhaps obligations, work, the daily toll of modern life are what wore you down - "It is the 21st century... and it brought me to my knees" You've become a corporate puppet over the years, supporting your family, paying the bills - eventually the light's gone out, and "Your hand only moves with someone's hand up your ass". Suddenly you feel like a corpse, dead in your skin - "check for pulse, blink your eyes..."
"A pale imitation with the edges sawn off" - how so many people feel when they look around years later and realize their lives pale in comparison to their youthful ambitions.
I guess it doesn't have to be about an individual's decline, it could be about society's as a whole, but this is how I relate to it. The panic and frenzy in the song is the fight against this downward slope, and in that way, I find it really touching. As well as being a bitchin' rock song.
"I do not, understand, what it is, I've done wrong,
Full of holes, check for pulse,
Blink your eyes, one for yes, two for no"
-I think this verse refers to a man (or woman for the PC among us) who can't understand what it is he did wrong to get himself into the empty, disconnected life he is living (pointless, shallow, unrewarding 9-5 job) in comparison to his dream-filled, "alive" childhood - I think most of us can relate to that. I also think it could be interpreted that he has questioned the status quo and is now being held in an asylum or something like it and he doesn't understand that he did anything wrong by questioning his life... Full of holes, check for pulse... etc. - Could indicate that he is being drugged and poked with needles for questioning his life and not being satisfied with it - wanting something more - and that all our society cares about are biological vital signs rather than emotions - that in this society if we can blink for yes and no that is enough to make us functional in our mindless, pointless work. That's all we need to be robots.
"I've no idea what I am talking about, I'm trapped in this body can't get out"
- I believe this refers to the man succumbing to society telling him that he's crazy for questioning this modern life - or perhaps he is speaking satirically - because oftentimes others will call you crazy for questioning the way of the world because it threatens their comfort. Sometimes even though one knows something is wrong, they still feel crazy because most people's minds are not strong enough to overcome societal brainwashing making people who do feel isolated and unsure of themselves- unable to connect with others, the world or themselves. As far as being trapped in this body I think body may not only be physical but just attached to his life, his name, his role, his job and not knowing how to escape it.
"You killed the sound,
Removed backbone
Pale imitation
with the edges sawn off"
- I think "you" may be referring to a "big brother" idea - society killed the sound - the sound of nature, the sound of a person's dreams and aspirations, the sound of realness and life - "removed backbone" - refers to taking a person's ability to go after their dreams, to fight against this shallow, empty, lethal society whether through forcing them to succumb for the need to survive or mentally filling their brains with mush via advertisements and mass media -
"pale imitation with the edges sawn off" - I think this not only refers to himself but all members of society - all of us are just imitations and reflections of what we're told - commercials, television, etc. and that are uniqueness gets smothered away by society because its threatening to people - hence the sawn off - because this is not always a process but people's unique qualities are often violently destroyed
"You've no idea what you are talking about - your mouth moves only with someone's hand up your ass"
- I think this could go two ways
1. the man is retaliating and saying "NO you dont know what you're talking about, I do, forget what I said before - you're the puppets, you other people think I'm crazy but its you who are crazy - and none of you think for yourselves"
2. or this is "big brother" society, whatever, almost poking fun at the man, saying you don't know what you're talking about because you only talk when we puppeteer you, when we allow it, and your words are ours, not your own.
Then the bridge - my favorite
"Have the lights gone out for you?
Because the light's gone out for me"
- this could refer to two things again -
1. The light inside of us, our spirit, being washed out -or-
2. The lights i.e. electricity, the light society tries to put in our minds - has gone out - he no longer wants to live this life - personally I think its more #1
"It is the 21st century, it is the 21st century" - direct reference to modern world
"It will follow you like a dog, it brought me to my knees,
It got a skin and it put me in, it got a skin and it put me in,
all the lines wrapped around my face, all the lines wrapped around my face,
and for everyone else to see, and for everyone else to see,
I'M A LIE"
- Okay, totally love this - but anyway, I think this refers to modern day life spreading its poison everywhere - "it will follow you like a dog" - you can't escape the pressures, the responsibilities, the media, the expectations, no matter where you go. Its viral. The world puts us all in a "skin", forces us into doing what is expected, and to not expressing emotions, just doing what you're told and that's it - brings us to our knees - we need to live by societal standards to survive and society makes it nearly impossible for those choosing an alternative to survive so it can gain full sovereignty over humanity. I think the lines and everyone can see part refer to how this person knows he is completely manufactured by others, and because he is aware of it and ashamed of it, he thinks everyone else can see it - how much of a lie he is - how he is just a tub of manufactured bullshit and unable to escape it because he's trapped in his physical body - but his consciousness wishes to escape to connect to the world, himself and others again on a real, primitive, genuine level -
as for the "I've seen it coming.. "
I think we all know Radiohead has definitely seen it coming for a long time. I love them. <3 Hope you guys liked my interpretation. I know it may be extreme (I think that's the brainwashed part of me saying that) but I think most people in the world can relate to much of their dreams, enthusiasm and connection to the world being squashed out by a 9-5 brainless job, and a world that is getting further and further from nature where we are exposed to on average over 1000 advertisements a day... It's just gross. And this song does an amazing job shouting about how fucked up it is. and it is. We're all lies.
The beginning is someone coming across someone having the death experience. 'Check the pulse, blink your eyes'. The experience is indescribable, or ineffable, so the person who died but came back can't express the experience properly 'No idea what I am talking about'. He feels trapped in his body, because in the NDE you feel so free and comfortable. The body is just there for pain, and other petty things.
The 'move back home' part is moving up to the heavens in the experience, where heaven always feels to be your true home. 'The edges sawn off' means he doesn't know he has to go back down. The rest of the song is the aftermath, where he has to face the confusing and frightening future on Earth. He loses the hope the experience gave him. He isn't quite working with everyday life. But he's seen death. He's seen them coming. The bodysnatchers.
You killed the sound
Removed backbone
A pale imitation
With the edges sawn off
I've no idea what you are talking about
Your mouth moves only with someone's hand up your ass
and the bridge:
Has the light gone out for you?
Because the light's gone out for me
It is the 21st century
It is the 21st century
It can follow you like a dog
It brought me to my knees
They've got a skin and they've put me in
They've got a skin and they've put me in
On the lines wrapped around my face
On the lines wrapped around my face
Are for anyone else to see
Are for anyone else to see
I'm a lie
What it is I've done wrong
Full of holes, check the pulse
Blink your eyes
One for yes, two for no
I have no idea what I am talking about
I'm trapped in this body and can't get out
Make a sound
Move back home
Get an invitation
With the edges sawn off
I have no idea what you are talking about
Your mouth moves only with someone's hand up your ass
Has the light gone out for you?
'Cause the light's gone out for me
It is the twenty first century
It is the twenty first century
It can follow you like a dog
It brought me to my knees
They got a skin and they put me in
They got a skin and they put me in
On the lines wrapped around my face
On the lines wrapped around my face
Are for anyone else to see
Are for anyone else to see
I'm a lie
I've seen it coming
I've seen it coming
I've seen it coming
I've seen it coming