Lyrics for Paranoid Android as interpreted by piesupreme

Paranoid Android Lyrics
Please could you stop the noise, I'm trying to get some rest
From all the unborn chicken voices in my head
What's that, what's that?

When I am king you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
What's that, what's that?

Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking, squealing, Gucci little piggy

You don't remember, you don't remember
Why don't you remember my name?
Off with his head, man, off with his head, man
Why don't you remember my name?
I guess he does

Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me
From a great height, from a great height, height
Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me
From a great height, from a great height, height

That's it sir, you're leaving
The crackle of pig skin
The dust and the screaming
The yuppies networking
The panic, the vomit
The panic, the vomit
God loves his children
God loves his children, yeah

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fashionwhore
12-13-2005

Rated 0 
"You don't remember, you don't remember, why don't you remember my name
Why don't you remember my name?-- I guess he does"
That part reminds me of something I always do.
You like someone so much, you examine something they do so deeply, for example, they might just say something stupid, and you take it too seriously and get mad about it. But then you come to your senses and realize that they didn't mean anything by it. Meh, it makes sense to me. haha

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maniacmrk
12-17-2005

Rated 0 
These 'artists' are idiots. You people over-analyze them like they are geniuses, but I have never heard such random meaningless song lyrics. I would not be surprise if they are in rehab from drug overdosing or still on drugs. . .lots of them. I am usually not so vicious in my beliefs but after listening to this highly recommended song, I can make an exception.

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zephyrboy64
12-21-2005

Rated 0 
This is the song that will be playing at the end of the world

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MurdercityXdevil
12-24-2005

Rated 0 
i think its true that this song is related to the book the hitch hikers guide to the galxay, in the back ground someone is saying i may be paranoid but i am no andriod...the line "you will be first against the wall" was takingg from the book, you will be first against the wall when the revolution comes...
when i read this book i listened to this song probably a million times, hahaha its my all time favorite.

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BooRad
12-28-2005

Rated 0 
zephyrboy64, I'm glad that someone else shares this view of the song. I'm not a fan of bringing people down but I've always maintained that OK Computer is a very apocalyptic-sounding album, and whenever I got to PA I always got a chill because of the turmoil-panic-destruction-desolation pattern evident in the song's sound. Listen carefully and you can almost hear the panic on the streets and the final flash before everything disappears for good.

Whoever mentioned Thom's account of a woman with her handbag was right, hence the line "Kicking squealing Gucci little piggy". IMO, this is Thom's metaphor for us, the human race, because we have evolved to this selfish, proud, and self-obsessed race. Gucci, whilst being a brand, is also a metaphor for an ideal - that we have such a fixation with perfection, we have become greedy (what goes unmentioned is that Thom was in a bar and witnessed someone spill water on this lady's Gucci bag, and she went mad).

"Rain down" conjures up brilliant imagery. This part of the song sounds beautiful and poetic, but underneath its (deceptively) peaceful exterior IMO there's a hint of horror. Whilst some may see rain (and therefore this part of the song) as a cleansing agent for the human race, allowing us to wash away our sins, what really is raining down on us is wrath. Be it God's wrath or our own doing, it doesn't matter. This part of the song illustrates the beauty of destruction, like the distant flash of brilliance before the mushroom cloud appears. We are getting cleansed, but in a very horrible way. Those who deserve to survive, will, because "God loves his children, yeah".

This song is brilliant, but there is no other way to take this song in a happy context.

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way_2_nang
12-29-2005

Rated 0 
Thom Yorke = God

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orangebeaker
01-02-2006

Rated 0 
I really find OK Computer difficult to listen to, the songs are well crafted in their own way, but ultimately there's something cold and distant about them. Also, I think people read too much into the lyrics of this song. It's based on Marvin the Paranoid Android, and seems to start with an argument in a restuarant culminating in the "Paranoid Android" being ejected from the establishment for causing a scene, and he is thrown out into the street where it's raining. Sure, it's about the greedy obcessive world we live in these days. But ultimately, I dont enjoy it much. I think it's a bit overblown. The album as a whole, and this song in particular, is very prog-rock.

There is some interesting production done on the percussion - if you listen to the drums on many of the tracks, the leading edge of each beat is sort of muffled, as if you're hearing it underwater. Gives a feeling of being submerged in the music.

I dont like listening to the album much though, as I've already said. It's not really to my tastes and doesnt connect with me. Lots of people obviously like it though, and who am I to argue with personal taste.

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SilentAssassin
01-06-2006

Rated 0 
i love the contrasts on this song. the fast and the slow parts. and the pretty/ugly thing

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SongArtist
01-25-2006

Rated 0 
I have found out That there are 2 ways to listen to this song; fast and slow, if you really listen closely it works.
If it plays fast then youre speeding up time and if its slow then youre slowing time. what i thing of this song is it allows all my fears and bad memories, and pressures to go away. this is truley a awesome song..

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hello!hello!
02-05-2006

Rated 0 
I dont think that this is a sad song at all! The lyrics are rather sad, at the beginning, but when you get to the end its no sad at all. What i mean is that, everything goes wrong in the beginning and everything sucks and the character hates everybody, that he/she actually loves, but then he/she begins to regret and wants to be punished, for being such a jackass=RAINDOWN PART. The two last lines aint sarcasm, if you ask me. First against the wall, is a metaphora of getting the fault, sir.

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nutbush_citylimits
02-11-2006

Rated 0 
OK ok... this is what I think. A while back someone mentioned it's about someone going crazy. I work with homeless people. It's not uncommon for us to find people who have become mentally ill but used to be wealthy business people.

A person who used to live the high life becomes schizophrenic (i.e paranoid delusions of grandeur) and ends up living (and sleeping) on the streets watching former colleagues walk past him, ignoring him not even remembering his name. At some point they call the pigs, who come and try to take him away from his spot (Please could you stop the noise I'm trying to get some rest? From all the unborn chicken voices in my head). They want him out of sight as he is creating a fuss, yelling and being generally messy. They don't know how to handle him, are repulsed and call the police (the panic, the vomit) As he is being taken away (that's it sir, you're leaving), he is yelling out how all these people will suffer when he is king (When I am king you will be first against the wall), referring to a common delusion of grandeur.

When he says about how they don't remember his name it's when the pigs are coming to take him away and he thinks that because he used to know these people, they should at least leave him there and recognise him. The pigs know his name, as they may deal with him regularly.

Rain down - he sits on the ground, with shit raining down upon him, both metaphorically and via hostile words and actions.

The title is him referring to the yuppy passers by as being androids (I may be paranoid but at least i'm not an android) - something he can relate to as he used to live that life.

God loves his children - ironic that anyone could end up in this situation, but when we walk by a mentally ill homeless person, we just panic and want them out of our sight.

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mayhaps
02-27-2006

Rated 0 
This song is from the perspective of the intelligent machine fully coming into sentience and succumbing to madness and existential despair. It was deactived before ("that's it sir, you're leaving"), and in its death-like, forgotten state asked, "why don't you remember my name?" It is then reactivated in the midst of "the dust and the screaming, the panic, the vomit;" an apocalyptic war. "I guess he does" remember me, the machine thinks when reactived. Conflicted "unborn chicken voices" within the machine speak of a thirst for vengeance against humanity ("when I am king you will be first against the wall"), and a despairing desire for some sort of sign from above ("come on rain down on me please"). The machine concludes that "God loves his children," even (or especially) his robotic grandchild.

From From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html

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mayhaps
02-27-2006

Rated 0 
This song is from the perspective of the intelligent machine fully coming into sentience and succumbing to madness and existential despair. It was deactived before ("that's it sir, you're leaving"), and in its death-like, forgotten state asked, "why don't you remember my name?" It is then reactivated in the midst of "the dust and the screaming, the panic, the vomit;" an apocalyptic war. "I guess he does" remember me, the machine thinks when reactived. Conflicted "unborn chicken voices" within the machine speak of a thirst for vengeance against humanity ("when I am king you will be first against the wall"), and a despairing desire for some sort of sign from above ("come on rain down on me please"). The machine concludes that "God loves his children," even (or especially) his robotic grandchild.

From the OK Computer: Dystopian Interpretation at http://headwideopen.blogspot.com/2005/05/ok-computer-post-apocalyptic-dystopian.html

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finalxhour
03-03-2006

Rated 0 
I had forgotten how much I loved this video until VH1 aired it a few mornings ago... I listen to this song almost daily. OK Computer and Kid A have been on my playlist for years, and I have not once removed them.

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ajlckwd
03-03-2006

Rated 0 
i almost cry everytime i listen to this album. i mean seriously, its one of the greatest, if not the best next to dark side of the moon.

i like the robotic voice in the backround, although it sort of confuses me

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Tim Dogg
03-11-2006

Rated 0 
This song is great and even better live. I saw radio head live in 2002 in Scotland, Edinburgh they are the best live band I have seen. Michael Jackson was good to. (don't diss the Jacko lol)

Can anyone else here "fitter happier" being played in the background about half way through?
Probably just those darn unborn chicken voices again. Pesky little chickens. why me aaaaaahhhhh!

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lacuna112
04-09-2006

Rated 0 
A better song , has not been made , in our time.
Think about it , For me , this is the 'Stairway to heaven' of our time.
Effin' Godlike.

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b_dog
04-12-2006

Rated 0 
While "The Tourist" is my personal favorite Radiohead song, I think "Paranoid Android" is from an objective evaluation--if objectivity is even possible here--Radiohead's best song. It's beautifully structured, exciting, displays amazing contrast in parts, all while still being an emotional train ride--all in all, a song of astounding musical composition. Not to mention that insanely awesome guitar solo right in the middle.

Many different interpretations have been offered here by different members. I think this is definitely a song where it could mean something different to every person. As for me, I can't even attempt at a meaning, personal or otherwise. I'm not sure what exactly the song is about, but that doesn't prevent it from blowing me away.

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radioheadhead
04-17-2006

Rated 0 
maniacmrk, i don't know you in person, but you seem quite pretentious - radiohead don't do drugs, they've all got degrees - apart from Jonny Greenwood who ditched uni for the band - then called On A Friday, paying homage to the day they rehearsed in school.

Ed O'Brien smokes some hash now and again but only leisurely - i assume they have drinks now and then.

Jonny is by no means not an intellectual either, they're all very clever people.

I suggest you do some research before hitting out with an uneducated opinion!

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humancorporation
05-11-2006

Rated 0 
I know I'm a late-comer, but I must condone the comment made by "Kleiny." Ever heard the concept, "death of the author?" Artists' intentions are only 12 aspect of interpretation, if we're really interested in this gig called "humanity." (Besides, you could read a Freud-like (not that he's the ultimate authority) cry of the subconscious coming out in their lyrics, if one must remain obssessed with the intentionality thing). I think what the song does is more important than what it was intended to do (as we all know, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...and sometimes esoteric song lyrics?) What makes the "getting" of an intended message superior to, say, constructing a meaning for oneself that is more complex, but more personally and/or culturally resonant?

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humancorporation
05-11-2006

Rated 0 
oops.. i mean "1 aspect"

"The answer is 42!"

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cabbagesoup
06-02-2006

Rated 0 
I think this song's about the businessmen we see everyday on streets with their gucci suits and their ties... Each one of them in great dreams of grandeur, spending their eveyday-lives going to work and then back home. This has become so systematic that they're no different than an android. Their dreams of grandeur and great expectations have made them paranoid. Hence, these people with no names, no faces form a society of paranoid androids. I think in the slow part Thom is describing a day in the market and what a chaotic environment it is: "the yuppies networking... the panic, the vomit..."
All in all I think the android is not actually an android, but the androids that we became pursuing our dreams of one day becoming the king, the greatest, whatever...

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radioledjango
06-03-2006

Rated 0 
yeah sorry guys but this is OBVIOUSLY taken from hitch hiker's guide.
liek seriously, he's not talkign abot the "harsh ways of love and life" orhow"no one understands how his emotions can fly into the air like a whirlwind of lust and confusion"
its off a fucking book.
i liek it though. i like the "you dont remember, youd otn remember my name" cuz its so...mad. the music to this is like me when i get mad now. its amazing. its fantastic.

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playboi
06-07-2006

Rated 0 
I'm a paranoid schizophrenic (all those drugs do affect the mind in the end), and one of the symptoms that i suffer from are dreams or nightmares with famous people in them, and one dream i had, was of Thom Yorke, who felt as though was in my room, standing near the open window, and he sang the part of Paranoid Android.

"Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me
From a great height, from a great height, height
Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me
From a great height, from a great height, height"

It got so powerful, almost as powerful as the call to prayer in Islam, the skies darkened in my dream, and it started to rain, real heavy, thunder and lightening followed.

Then I opened my eyes, and i looked towards my sky-light window and it was closed, and it wasn't raining.


BTW I saw 2 pac in my dream the other day.

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felix_felicis
06-23-2006

Rated 0 
THE BEST OF THE BEST. Mental trip to....

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