Lyrics for All I Need as interpreted by black_cow_of_death

All I Need Lyrics
I am the next act waiting in the wings
I am an animal trapped in your hot car
I am all the days that you choose to ignore

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

I am a moth who just wants to share your light
I’m just an insect trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you because there are no others

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all right

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liquoricefish
11-19-2007

Rated -1 
So, without really reading any of the previous comments - here's my take on this song.

It's about this crazy came we call love. The narrator so desperately needs to be loved, but at the same time, this game is killing him (trapped in your hot car). It seems about how selfish love can be, and how it's more like an escape from the self, or a way to gratify the self rather than truly caring about someone else, or making it your purpose to please and love someone else. (I am a moth - just wants to share your light. I'm and insect - trying to get out of the night) Realizing that you need someone to hold on to and attach yourself to to make YOURSELF feel better, rather than the other person (I only stick with you because there are no others / I'M in the middle of your picture)

Ultimately, I just think it's about wanting to fulfill the self, wanting to have something to offer (I am all the days you choose to ignore), but realizing that it's just your selfish need. Realizing that you're kind of a parasite (moth/insect/animal), and the other person knows this, and chooses to ignore you, even if you wish you were the next act, or all the days someone chooses to ignore. It's all wrong, yet it's all right. That's the way selfish love goes.

What can I say? Absolutely BEAUTIFUL song, no doubt about it!

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MGHZ
11-19-2007

Rated -1 
This song is not about a stalker, its about someone in an abusive relationship, male or female,but takes it because they feel they are in love or need to be in the relationship to surive, I'm an animal in your parked car. Someone who is in love with someone that ignore thier days but they are still all they need, im in the MIDDLE, the most obvious place, but yet in Reeds, hidden. Unimportant...myspace/faustu

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smoth
11-21-2007

Rated -1 
I never thought about the stalker thing until visiting this site but yeah, I can see where that theory comes from and why some people have interpreted it that way.

I agree with the person who said the line is "im just an insect, trying to get out of your eye". he is an annoyance to the other person, but cant help but be obsessed by them.

Throughout the song, the line that doesnt fit is "i only stick with you because there are no others". that for me is totally contrary to what would be written if this song was, indeed, a typical love song. now looking at it as a stalker song, the line seems to fit a bit better.

who knows? It's great anyway. roll on cd 2.

some great interpretations by the way!

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bakismaki
11-21-2007

Rated 0 
Wow I love this song. Who knew Thom Yorke could be so romantic. This song is about unrequited love isn't it? That's my guess. He's deeply in love for somebody who he feels takes him for granted or ignores him. I love the part about being in the middle of your picture, lying in the reeds. What a great metaphor.

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bakismaki
11-21-2007

Rated 0 
I forgot to add, that the stalker/creepy thing has crossed my mind as a possible interpretation of the song as well. But something tells me the band actually wasn't aiming for the creepier interpretation this time around. Just a hunch.

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eatenbytheworms
11-24-2007

Rated 0 
Official lyrics:

All I Need


I am the next act waiting in the wings
I am an animal trapped in your hot car
I am all the days that you choose to ignore

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

I am a moth who just wants to share your light
I’m just an insect trying to get out of the night
I only stick with you because there are no others

You are all I need
You are all I need
I am in the middle of your picture
Lying in the reeds

S’all wrong
S’alright
S’alright
S’all wrong
S’alright
S’alright
S’alright

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erratic2984
11-27-2007

Rated 0 
just a take on one part

"I'm an animal
Trapped in your hot car"

just had a light bulb moment the other night remembering all these incidents wherein people accidentally leave their pets in their parked car and they die from the heat.

i guess he's referring to him not being too high in that person's priority list as to be "left trapped in their hot car".

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Duino
12-06-2007

Rated +1 
This is a really beautiful song with an incredible crescendo.

For me, it's about a one-sided, co-dependant relationship where the lover has been neglected/forlorn/badly hurt for a long time, is aware of the unhealthiness of not ending it with his beloved, but has nothing and nobody else in his life to sustain him, so he stays - even though doing so only continues to hurt and atrophy him.

The finale expresses this conflict, where his dependency/pain (heart) subjugates his rationality (head).

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taylor_wayman
12-08-2007

Rated 0 
absolutely splendid!

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BlakeNewland
12-08-2007

Rated -1 
WHEN A SINGER SAYS "YOU" IT DOESENT NECESSARILY MEAN HE IS SINGING ABOUT A PERSON. WHEN HE SAYS "I" HE ISNT NECESSARILY TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF. REMEMBER THIS!!!!

In lyrics or poetry, the you is the muse, but it doesent need to be a person. And it hardly ever is in radiohead songs.

In in rainbows, each song follows from the last one, and this is also true of Kid A Amnesiac and Hail to the Theif, as far as i can tell.

These radiohead albums have a central theme.

The central theme of In rainbows is selling your soul to the devil (wiki Faustus and mephistopheles).

The previous song in the album, weird fishes, is about escaping consumerist society. This song, ALL I Need, is
the narrator realising he can't escape consumerism "because there ar no others".

By using the metaphor of a relationship between aman and a woman, Radiohead can talk about their political beliefs without being too in your face about it.

Ill use what a post above me has said to show what i mean, it's so obvious when its pointed out to you. Keep in mind that the relationship is between individual and society, not a man and a woman. And the song is about dependency, not love.

""it's about a one-sided, co-dependant relationship where the lover has been neglected/forlorn/badly hurt for a long time, is aware of the unhealthiness of not ending it with his beloved, but has nothing and nobody else in his life to sustain him, so he stays - even though doing so only continues to hurt and atrophy him"""

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LoserNo1
12-09-2007

Rated +1 
As obvious as that explaination is to you, this album is just as obviously about romantic relationships to me.

I'm not saying this song or any other is about Thom Yorke's relationship with his wife or anyone for that matter, but I think applying "him" as a narrarator and "her" as the audience to in this song is natura as Yorke is a man with a wife and kids. You can't really apply rules to people's interpretations or say, "NO YOU"RE ALL WRONG!!!" to what people think.

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Duino
12-10-2007

Rated +1 
BlakeNewLand - I am fully aware of the possible redundancy of fixing anything on the voice's gender. I'm not doing so - but as the song is for me so clearly about personal relationships, to not speak in terms of lover and beloved without pronouns is...daft.

I fail to see how this song is anything to do with individual and society, and I'm evaluating it in its own terms. Interpreting in its reference to the previous track on the album playlist is your first mistake, tbh.

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Duino
12-10-2007

Rated -1 
Just to finish you off as it were:
WHEN A SINGER SAYS "YOU" IT DOESENT NECESSARILY MEAN HE IS SINGING ABOUT A PERSON. WHEN HE SAYS "I" HE ISNT NECESSARILY TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF. REMEMBER THIS!!!!
In lyrics or poetry, the you is the muse, but it doesent need to be a person. And it hardly ever is in radiohead songs.

...recall the lyrics for Creep and muse about how ridiculous what you wrote sounds!

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BrianBerrodin
12-12-2007

Rated 0 
I have read over some of the comments and I'm not going to attempt to dissect this song but I guess I will share my opinion. After listening to this song once I was hooked. There are a few lyrics in particular that stick out to me in this song.

“I am the next act waiting in the wings"
-the narrator is the next potential significant person/other that is trying to come into his/her/its life.

"I am an animal trapped in your hot car"
- An unusual way of expressing the neglect that the narrator is experiencing.

"It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all wrong
It's all right
It's all right
It's all right”
-perhaps the feeling the narrator has is ethically wrong but seems to be the only thing he/she/it can feel.

*something that I thought was interesting was the use of nonhuman creatures. Moth, insect, animal. This again is just a random of mine thought that maybe Thom is making a connection between the way the narrator feels and the way animals and insects (in general) are treated as a lesser quality of life.

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Divided_Pie
12-18-2007

Rated -2 
I think this song is about death.

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thathaw1
12-18-2007

Rated 0 
All I Need is seemingly the most depressing one-sided love song there is.

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el_chiso
12-20-2007

Rated 0 
This song required a few listens before I appreciated it as one of Radiohead's best works.

The lyrics have not been so miserably nice since Creep.

The climax has not built up so nicely since Life in a Glass House.

Beautiful lyrics!

["I only stick with you because there are no others."]

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Wallamanage
12-20-2007

Rated 0 
How the hell does this already have more comments than Airbag?

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eatenbytheworms
12-25-2007

Rated +2 
Thom Yorke said this is a song about obsession, so I guess it's about someone who is waiting for a woman to pay attention to him. He feels trapped because she ignores the fact that there could be no one else for either of them. Curiously enough, this song shares a lot of the same symbolism (and the same theme) as Thom Yorke's "Skip Divided".

The narrator feels trapped waiting for this relationship to materialize. He feels like nothing is worthwhile without her in his life.

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LoserNo1
12-26-2007

Rated -1 
BrianBerrodin, I hadn't thought about that with the animal symbolism. I think you're right on.

Adding to my earlier thoughts - as much as I think this album is about relationships, I don't necessarily think the relationships described were ever experienced by Thom Yorke specifically, or anyone in Radiohead for that matter, but just that they were observed ( -whew!).

Some of the songs are very obviously about relationships. Like this one is about someone who is obsessed with someone, as has been mentioned. House of Cards is about a set of swingers and 15 Steps is about someone that can't maintain attraction or is getting or feeling coldness from his partner.

Some of the songs, like Reckoner and Bodysnatchers are a little bit more of a stretch for fitting into the whole relationship theme, so I'm just going to listen to them anyway. Nobody said it all had to be about some big Something Important.

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1 Reply
LoserNo1
12-26-2007

Rated 0 
BUT! It's cool if it does mean some big something important to you and I like hearing what you all think.

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elec_trick
01-06-2008

Rated 0 
i think this song is about being in love with someone who isn't in love with you, or being in a relationship just for the sake of being in one.

the little last "it's all wrong, its all right..." is just brilliant.. so simple yet so true and complex.

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shbrunn
01-14-2008

Rated -1 
These lyrics are from the view of a stalker

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Waloacme
01-17-2008

Rated -1 
Just try to picture todays mistreated, used and understated mother nature singing to her loved child (humans).

This song is about the planet and nature. God if you may...

It makes me so sad.

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OHcomely
01-17-2008

Rated 0 
First of all - what an incredibly gorgeous song.
To me, it's about accepting love for all it is good, or bad.

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