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Karma police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio
Karma police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us
Karma police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us
For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio
Karma police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us
Karma police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us
For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme
Track duration: 04:24
"Karma Police" as written by Thomas Yorke, Edward John O'brien, Colin Charles Greenwood, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Philip Selway
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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'Karma police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio'
I thought I would clear the air about what this actually means, It's written about a maths teacher (Mr Pritchard) at the school I currently attend named Abingdon Boys School, the same school that Thom Yorke and the other radiohead band members attended.
'He talks in maths' - Referring to the teacher, being a maths teacher.
'He buzzes like a fridge, He's like a detuned radio' - Refers to the teachers very distant, crackling and droaning voice which is very distinct,
"Karma police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio"
Thom's calling the karma police on a pop artist because:
He talks in maths = his lyrics are a bunch of bull shit,
He buzzes like a fridge = There's no emotion. It's like a fridge buzzing.
He's like a detuned radio = Kinda obvious, it sounds like shit.
"Karma police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party"
Pop artist with a crazy hair-do. "we have crashed her party" is referring to Creep, I believe. For a little while, I guess Radiohead saw themselves as these people, and that's why they "crashed her party." Their song was more popular and they got ahead of her on the charts.
Not really sure about the next part, with all the "this is what you get". I think maybe it's referring to the industry poking around at Radiohead and Radiohead is saying Karma Police (song) is what they get in return, something that exposes all of their bullshit.
"Karma police
I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll"
They've tried to move past who they became with Creep, for example, My Iron Lung, but it's still in the spotlight and they're still cashing in money from it, possibly making them feel guilty.
"For a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself
Phew, for a minute there
I lost myself, I lost myself"
Again, directed at the band they were when Creep was released.
then it shows the same situation from a female perspective, like how she's used to being judged for her unorthodox dressing or whathaveyou, maybe even just mindset, and how her own internal guilt comes after her late into the night, no one needs to say anything compared to what her own self-doubt will say to her.
and at the end, they both come back, saying "For a minute there, I lost myself" in this really overarching sadness that kinda indicates they know they will be slipping back to that place in a matter of time, the sadness of how easily they can get lost, how lost they feel, but still relieved to found even if just for one more moment
[also, the line, 'i've given all i can / it's not enough / we're still on the payroll' seems to me that they've gone through this process and tried to get past the self-doubt/paranoia/anxiety, but they just keep coming back to it]
And by the way, please stop showing your love for christianity here. No body cares. And if you do continue doing it, atleast don't use caps-lock for single words. Its REALLY irritating. :) :) :) :)
Anyway, this isn't religious music, so it doesn't make you look very intelligent when you rant about how the content of this song doesn't make any sense because you believe in God. People don't tend to like it when people shove religion in their faces when it isn't relevant. Just saying...
"You know, when you meet these people and they just talk to you 'cause they want something from you. They really know you're the key, you have something they want. And you want to take a cold shower afterwards. You know what I'm talking about?"
During performance @ Coachella 2012