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Slight of hand
Jump off the end
Into a clear lake
No one around
Just dragonflies
Flying to the side
No one gets hurt
You've done nothing wrong
Slide your hand
Jump off the end
The water's clear
And innocent
The water's clear
And innocent
Jump off the end
Into a clear lake
No one around
Just dragonflies
Flying to the side
No one gets hurt
You've done nothing wrong
Slide your hand
Jump off the end
The water's clear
And innocent
The water's clear
And innocent
Lyrics submitted by maggotbrain, edited by MrMagpie, Jibab53
Track duration: 04:47
"Codex" as written by Thomas Edward/greenwood Yorke
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I feel like this song can be viewed in at least two ways (plus the multitude of opportunities poetry lets you enjoy).
One is that it's about a death or letting go, maybe a kind of gentle, calm suicide - the jump off the end. That was the way I first saw the song, letting yourself just jump.
The other is that it's about deciding to go ahead with something you shouldn't. It sort of seems like it's about being in a beautiful, secluded place, and making a moral decision about whether to go ahead with something. Infidelity? Say it was:
"Sleight of hand. (a trick, of yourself or someone else)
Jump off the end. (could be literal, jump into the water, or an emotional/moral/cognitive leap)
Into a clear
a lake.
No-one around. (just you and this person you're with, and maybe some dragonflies)
Just dragonflies
fantasised. (You're fantasising about this person. Or maybe you imagined the dragonflies)
No-one gets hurt. (No one will know)
Done nothing wrong. (Maintain your innocence, convince yourself)
Slide your hands. (Touch)
Jump off the end. (Just do it)
The water's clear (metaphorically, see the water being clear and innocent and attribute that to your actions)
and innocent.
The water's clear
and innocent.
The phrase "slide your hands" I think could be the clincher - we've gone from sleight of hand (a trick) to touch; then the repetition of "the water's clear and innocent" seem like reference to letting go any concern about morality and going ahead, because what is there is beautiful and clear. I can see how this could also reflect taking other actions, but this is just the picture I get now. Seen this way, I picture a couple who have gone down to the water secretly, no one around, and they're feeling so connected together that they have to rationalise the fact that actually they shouldn't be together - one, or both, has another commitment.
I am loving reading the other contributions, thanks all!
To me Sleight of Hands through to Done Nothing Wrong is all about the contemplation of suicide. Sleight of Hand giving the impression one is suicidal, but not going through. No one gets hurt and nothing wrong with thinking about it.
Slide your hands, jump off the end is going through with it.
The water's clear and innocent. Well, the water was clear after all, as suggested in the first verse. The intentions were innocent all along. Not playing up for attention, it was real. This person knew what they were doing, but they didn't want to hurt anyone.
Codex sounds like a requiem of sorts, playing out on so many levels - politically, economically, socially, religiously, and intimately private. It lays bare the hurt and disappointment of having tried for so long to reconcile the actions and interpersonal dynamics between people. There is so much hurt and betrayal laced in the lyrics. The piano rises with the sense of hope that keeps the narrator going, only to fall again when the person comes to the conclusion that what's done is done and cannot be erased from their memory.
The imagery of jumping off the edge, clear water, dragonflies yielding as the person falls and the baptism that occurs when they splash down suggests to me that they are looking for rebirth, free from the pain.
I don't see this as a song about death, as much as one about coming to terms with some deeply disturbing and conflicting emotions about that persons place in the world. They are longing for peace of mind, which is more fully articulated in Give Up the Ghost (next track).
It's a beautiful song and a perfect representation of what Radiohead can provoke in the mind of its audience. Between Codex and Give Up the Ghost, I have spent literally hours sitting quietly reflecting on their meanings.
Jump off the end
Into a clear
a lake
No-one around
This entire portion seems to suggest that the narrator has something he is hiding on his mind. Maybe a betrayal. When you first hear "jump off the end" one tends to think something awful particularly when the music resolves at that moment to a more pleasing and comforting harmony (suggesting perhaps jumping off the end is going to resolve the problem). Off the end of what? A bridge? A building? No. Presumably a pier into a lake. That seems almost comforting considering the possible image and the tense harmonies of the song at the point. But what is he hiding? What is the betrayal. Could "Codex" have something to do with it? A codex is an ancient manuscript in book form (or with pages folded accordion style as opposed to a scroll). All ancient manuscripts of the bible were written as codices. Could it be that the narrator has done something or thought something that goes against his religious convictions?
Just dragonflies
Fantasized
No-one gets hurt
You done nothing wrong
But at this moment, now, there is no-one around. Dragonflies seem to evoke childhood innocence. It seems the narrator is either convincing himself that whatever is haunting him isn't actually something that is wrong. Again I speculate that this has something to do with going against what his religion teaches. He is realizing that he hasn't hurt anyone and he hasn't done anything wrong. What could it be? The narrator gives one hint: "Fantasized." Fantasized about what? It isn't clear, but fantasizing doesn't hurt anyone and most people would say that just fantasizing about something isn't doing anything wrong.
Slide your hand
Jump off the end
The water's clear
And innocent.
"Slide your hand" is clearly a play on words from "sleight of hand." Has the narrator resolved whatever was haunting him? The water is clear and innocent with him in it. Hence, the narrator is innocent.
Sleight of hand.
Jump off the end.
Into a clear
a lake.
No-one around.
Just dragonflies
fantasised.
No-one gets hurt.
Done nothing wrong.
Slide your hands.
Jump off the end.
The water's clear
and innocent.
The water's clear
and innocent.
I wouldn't normally do this sort of thing (take the time to sign up and post). But, as someone who develops his own deeper meaning from lyrics, and a massive Radiohead fan, I couldn't bare the thought of someone analyzing and personally investing in dragonflies "flying to the side". I hope this helps someone!