Try to save but a death will come off the road
Try to build a wall that's high enough
It's all boiling over, all boiling over
Try to save your house
Try to save your songs
Try to run

But it follows you up the hill
It's all boiling over, all boiling over
Your loved ones, your loved ones.

No more conversation, no more conversation.
You show it to me and I'm running out of chance
All our rooms renumbered and looses tender
Don't turn away, don't turn away



Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death, edited by radiotoast, BIRDDUDE830

Track duration: 05:14

"Cymbal Rush" as written by Thomas Edward Yorke

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., CHRYSALIS MUSIC GROUP

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Cymbal Rush song meanings
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36 Comments

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  • 0
    Lyric Correction:I'm pretty sure it is actually

    "you should've took me out when you had a chance x2
    All the rooms renumbered and losers turned away"


    rather than
    "you show it to me and im running out of chance x2
    all the rooms renumbered and looses tender"

    Great tune but that goes without saying when it comes to thom yorke.
    Flag porpson December 21, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've listened to this song many times, and for some odd reason I thought it was about God talking to the folks left behind during the end of the world.
    Flag quichieon May 26, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Do I even need to say "I love this song"? It's become an unnecessary formality, though true.

    Actually, when I read "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, this song really reminded me of the ending. It was all very bleak and depressing, yes, but also beautiful, in a way -- not to mention poetic.

    Any word on the possible reason for including a lyric from the nursery rhyme "Ten in a Bed" (there were ten in the bed and the little one said roll over)?

    I can't believe iTunes has this as, like, the second lowest-rated song on the album.
    Flag bentheindividualon September 16, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:is it just me or what
    everytime i listen to this song.. the sound effects gives me so many tickles in my head, and i kind of get dizzy, but in a good way. i feel like im moving, even though im lying on my bed with the headphones.. its cool.
    i love the whole album!
    Flag pyramidjuliaon April 18, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"There were 10 in a bed and the little one said, 'roll over'."

    that's the outro, I'm pretty sure.. a traditional child's rhyme in the UK
    I think this song is about the climate-related disasters that are on the rise and how we should've "took it out when we had the chance".. but we'll probably just not act till there's no time left for conversation. don't let this happen

    danmansmusic.com/childrens/…
    Flag rhodesondeson November 12, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:Some really really great ideas coming out, but as always with Yorke and Radiohead's songs, I think they mean whatever your subconcious wills them to mean. Half the time I don't even hear the words, the movements of the music speaks to me on it's own.
    For this particular song for me, it's just the end of the desperation after you tried your absolute best to stop your own oblivion happening. You're on your knees, you've gone numb, you're just sitting there unable to do anything because it just doesn't feel right.
    Flag TheBarnardon October 01, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:The Eraser was filled full of mythological references to the great flood, so I think the people talking about the tsunami or hurricane Katrina maybe aren't so far off the mark. I think the idea of it being water that's following is implied in the song- with references to damming, property destruction and "boiling over", as well- like in the cover. I'd say the song is about global warming, and the flood mythology being a metaphor for the very real flooding that'll be imminent unless we're careful. Thom's green politics are hardly hidden- being spokesman for Friends Of The Earth and The Big Ask and gawd knows how many other environmentalist pressure groups. The message is that unless we "take it out while we've got a chance", this nightmarish image of the flood will become a reality.
    Flag Appers66on August 29, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:the last lyrics the ones that sound strect say
    "There were Ten On the bed, The little ones said roll over X2
    Flag Chocobo610on August 25, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:oops, i meant "they were ten in a bed, and the little one said "roll over"
    Flag ror000on August 21, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The last stretched words at the end of the song are a nursery rhyme: They were then in a bed, and the little one said "roll over"
    Flag ror000on August 21, 2008   Link

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