Lyrics for Karma Police as interpreted by piesupreme

Karma Police Lyrics
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

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suclid003
10-12-2009

Rated 0 
to me, this song's about the fear of causality and risk and how we're all just cogs in this deterministic machine known as the universe and how our inhibitions are a product of chemicals and interactions we can't control....yup, did some wikireading up on karma and determinism. i read the "i lost myself" as some parallel universe he didn't go down and now he's where he's at and only has the laws of the universe to blame....yup, i've been getting into sci fi novels lately.

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enamorata
09-10-2009

Rated 0 
Nice concept- Reassuring to know that a police presence is always there as and when required.

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maynkbhatt
09-04-2009

Rated +1 
this song directly refers to the society we are living in and its different faces.karma police can be compared to the moral police or the inbuilt morality meter we all have inside us.we want all the wrong people to be punished but hesitate if its us.we see evil in in others but try to hide it if its in our own conscience.Panic! the disco got all the right moods of this song with a great melody.And Radiohead rocks all the same.

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maynkbhatt
09-04-2009

Rated 0 
this song directly refers to the society we are living in and its different faces.karma police can be compared to the moral police or the inbuilt morality meter we all have inside us.we want all the wrong people to be punished but hesitate if its us.we see evil in in others but try to hide it if its in our own conscience.Panic! the disco got all the right moods of this song with a great melody.And Radiohead rocks all the same.

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ridiculously me
08-19-2009

Rated 0 
It seems to me that I get a pretty different interpretation of this song. The message I get from this song is more of a "thoughts of revenge can consume you in the end."

The narrator will be Thom for arguments sake. He is suppressed and abused by others (and society.) He therefore holds cynical viewpoints and wishes to get back at the people he feels have wronged him. The first man, the one like "a detuned radio," is the background noise of his life, a constant presence which is disturbing and oppressive to him. He talks in condescending tones and tries to keep control of other by talking "in maths." This man is possibly his boss because of the themes throughout the album of capitalism and comments made by Radiohead.

The girl looks down on others in much of the same way, hence the reference to Hitler, whom oppressed people as well. Thom is tired of being walked all over by these people, so he gets back at them in spiteful ways, like attending the girl's party uninvited. Nevertheless, he desperately wants to get back at them all in a big way.

He's becoming increasingly frustrated by his life, trying to get where he wants but getting nowhere, finding it is "never enough." He is giving all he can to find someplace better, but is tired of waiting on karma, so he takes matters into his own hands.

He resents the past so much that he is stewing in corrupted fantasies of retaliation. The decent person he once was is becoming corrupted by thoughts of revenge, and he becomes lost in his own festering anger. He loses sight of his former values and in a sense "loses himself" to his OWN evils.

I see this theme clearly in the video, the person driving the car is resolute in his pursuit to "deliver some karma" to the man he is chasing in his car. The lethargic Thom in the back seat is probably his inner voice encouraging the driver to go through with his plans, as he only appears on screen to sing the lyrics "this is what you get when you mess with US" I.e. the driver and his inner voice.

However, the one who get burned in the end is not the one the man who is being chased but the driver, quite literally. The driver looks to the back seat only to find that his thoughts have abandoned him, leaving him alone with his decisions and the repercussions of them.

I think the moral of the song is harsh, that people will mess with you and sometimes you just have to take it and move on, because that is the nature of the world (thus the world must handle it, not you). The song warns you of the danger of seeking revenge as it is an evil act in itself, and you might find yourself on the other side of karma because of it.

Thats my opinion, tell me what you think

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jcarrig
07-19-2009

Rated 0 
like anythin, it means what you want it to mean, but im pretty sure i heard thom say somewhere it was a bit of a fk-yoo to their upper management.

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Numbpk3r2
07-18-2009

Rated 0 
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say its about Christianity/Atheism. The Karma Police is the Church/God taking vengeance on all of the non believers, and finally he begins to see that it he can't handle it any longer, but is then scared back into his old beliefs.

When it says:
Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio

To me this seems like a Christian who feels that his Church/God knows all that is right and will Arrest (Damn to hell) this Non-Believer, since Atheists are, in most cases, for the advancement of Science and Technology. He hears the guy that "talks in maths" and wants to avoid it by not listening and relating it to an annoying sound.

In the next bit that goes:
Karma Police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party

The girl resembles Hitler only do to her hairdo and he will look no further than that and begin to immmedeiatly loathe her to the point of becoming ill . Again he wants this girl Arrested (Damned) for resembling the leader of the Nazi Party, that was undoubtedly crashed due largely to the involvement of many prominently Christian countries.

In this next part:
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us

This is where the man is explaining what will happen to the people who disagree or look different. Essentially, telling them they will be damned.

In the next bit:
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

He is explaining to his God/Church that he is ready to give up and that he has given all he can, but he assumes he is still saved.

The next part is obviously a repeat from above:
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us

But this time I believe it is be spoken from his Church, explaining his fate if he gives up on God.

And lastly:
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

This is where he has been scared back into his beliefs by the Church.

Makes sense to me, I guess.



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TheSubslime
07-15-2009

Rated 0 
To me this song is about hypocrisy.
People can get so caught up in criticizing others ('he talks in maths, her hitler hairdo is making me feel ill'), yet they're nearly always just as bad for criticizing them in the first place, often doing things just as bad, or worse (we have crashed her party)

the 'given all I can, but we're still on the payroll' part, to me, speaks about how some people get so caught up in doing the 'right things' for all the wrong reasons: how they become so moralistically obsessed for personal benefit, which of course completely defeats the purpose.

And of course, the 'for a minute there I lost myself' part voices how people can completely lose themselves in little actions so trivial, forgetting the bigger picture completely.

Personally, I don't believe in Karma at all, and I think dear Mr. Yorke probably feels the same way, he seems to be having a fat go at the concept here :P

btw, the 'talks in maths' thing to me means that the guys talks during maths class and disrupts the lesson a bit.. would explain why he 'buzzes like a fridge'. I mean, imagine this good little schoolboy trying to pay attention to the lesson and feeling all self-righteous, meanwhile he's being pretty hateful to the class motormouth.

Same can be said for the girl with the Hitler hairdo. They criticize Hitler because he was so unaccepting, as if they're even giving this poor chick a chance.. but i really like the idea of the word Hitler symbolizing her following a massive trend.

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Josep
07-10-2009

Rated 0 
Simple.
Killing the ego.
Nothing more.
You're really the one who's running in front of the car, and the car trying to kill you is you EGO, he wants you to do whatever he wants... and when you are down at your knees, when you can't do nothing more... you face him... and "HE" runs away...
And.. for a minute there... I lost myself...
And certainly, for a minute I lost myself, and I was free, not captured by my own EGO.
This is the meaning of this song.
It's about personal freedom.
Just a perfect song with a perfect videoclip.

It's all about losing yourself, finding freedom by this way, but YOU won't find never freedom.
You lose yourself, and then freedom comes.
Nothing more.

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xlillith
06-27-2009

Rated 0 
It's like society had these ideas for what is proper, and some people get angry when others do things they don't like, so they try to force them to be more like everyone elce.
and with "this is what you get when you mess with us." It makes me think of those people out there who act like anyone who is different than them is bad bacuse they are somehow hurting society just by exsisting, regardless of weather or not they are actually doing anything to anyone elce. so they deserve to be treated badly.
and "I've given all I can
It's not enough
I've given all I can
But we're still on the payroll" we try hard to fight against the unfair generalizations and to be ourselves, but sometimes it just gets too hard and you are forced to play along just to survive.

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AgainstMeFan1
04-23-2009

Rated 0 
i got this ringtone at http://doiop.com/free-ring-tones

i set it to play whenever my girlfriend calls =)

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lpmusicman2808
04-21-2009

Rated +1 
well everyone already knows that karma can basically be called "what goes around comes around"
If you put it in the following way....for me it makes sense, even tho radiohead can be interpreted in different ways...this is what i got

Karma Police
Arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio

This is about an intelligent man, who shows off his intelligence to everyone. he talks in maths, buzzes like a fridge as in no-one can understand him. They say karma police first because they are actually telling the "karma police" what this guy is doing...they're snitching on him for showing off basically

Karma Police
Arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo
Is making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party

Once again they are snitching on someone. If you think of hitler hairdo, rather than an ugly hairdo but.....hitler had people following him and doing what he said. The fact that she has a hitler hairdo means that she is one of those popular people who set trends and command respect sort of people. They personally don't like her, and have "crashed her party" by telling the "karma police" so that they can dish back to her what she gives out. (The whole purpose of karma, what goes around comes around)

This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
This is what you'll get
When you mess with us

This bit is what made me think they were sort of spies for the karma police. They are telling people, thats what will happen to you (we'll tell the karma police and they will get you), is you mess with them, as in the whole band are "imformatives" for the karma police

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 part can be seen as if they are now telling the karma police that they help them so much, by telling them of other people being bad, "its not enuf" saying maybe they need to try harder because they are "still on the payroll", as in they are still getting bad karma from the karma police, bad things are still happening to them

The next bit is a repeat, and i think it is them going over what they are actually doing, and realizing what it means in the next bit

For a minute there
I lost myself
I lost myself

This part is when they've realized that telling on other people for being bad, is bad in its own right. That they are just making more bad karma for themselves, that they are still "on the payroll" because they inform the karma police. For a minute there i lost myself- is the way, that once they realized they were still getting bad karma, they thought about it and then realized what they were doing wrong. They "Lost" themselves but have now seen there is no way to git rid of the karma police besides just being good, and being a spy for them - actually makes things worse
---------------------

well thats what i got from it ha


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lacey89
04-06-2009

Rated 0 
I loove the way he sings this song and the beat.
not a big fan of the lyrics though.


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degree7
03-28-2009

Rated 0 
Well, karma is when you give shit to other people and it ends up coming back to you.

So this guy is hating on all these weird people with Hitler hairdos and whatnot, and then he loses himself for giving so much hate, and he gets bad karma. So the karma police "arrest" him.

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dadu1
03-20-2009

Rated +1 
Is about Karma, as the name says, someone who had been hurted is asking "karma" to get those persons who hurted him, then.. he threatens.. " This is what you get when you mess with us" suggesting, sooner or later, you have to pay the price.

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ImaginaryButtons
03-11-2009

Rated 0 
Im just wondering about these lines:

He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge

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firewall87
03-06-2009

Rated 0 
If you think about it from a character stand point, this is what any number of broken down secret police could feel like. This particular guy is talking about arresting the people at the beginning, seemingly mad at their mindlessness (which is odd, since mindless people are generally what dictators want, this could hint at him cracking). A man talking in maths instead of in actual feelings, just droning on. And a girl with a Hitler hairdo, someone unquestioningly loyal for no reason other than that was what she was told to be.

He then goes on to say that he's given all he can but it's not enough, he's still on the payroll. He's trying to break out of the organization he's a part of, but that's just not happening.

Think of the last part, "Phew, for a minute there, I lost myself," as him reprogramming himself to be a dutiful little robot who does what his masters say, not thinking anymore.

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Obi198
02-21-2009

Rated 0 
Ok, the way I've always seen the song is that the person who is singing the song is part of some group of people called the Karma Police. And, as can be seen from the first verse, he's calling out people who these people should arrest and explaining why they should be arrested. Then, in the second verse, he's explaining how he wishes to no longer be part of the Karma Police. He feels like he's "given all I can but we're still on the payroll". And I guess the second part of the song is like the guy realizing that he's been a fool for being part of this police system. And he's realizing that he almost "lost himself". I guess this song is about how we can judge people sometimes and become these Karma Police. But maybe we should take a step back and realize how ridiculous we are when we do this.

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sshinytoyguns
02-20-2009

Rated 0 
This song was basically a joke and not meant to take seriously. The song was Ed's idea. It was about how people looked at you and not in a good way.

"This is a song for someone who has to work for a large company. This is a song against bosses, fuck middle-management! Hahaha." - Thom


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bgbobcat77
01-02-2009

Rated 0 
To me, this song is simply an indictment on the world community for their blatant disregard for anyone's feelings and needs but their own. The "Karma Police" part is probably a satirical look at America as the center of moral purity. I believe it is definitely deeper than the lyrics suggest.

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theoval
12-28-2008

Rated +1 
You kids need to get better at placing the songs to the time they were written. This song is simply about political correctness and being tired of it. Sheesh, someone says "karma" to young people and suddenly everyone wants to write a book or start a religion.

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andweirdfishes
12-12-2008

Rated 0 
I believe in the first part he is talking about himself, and how going against the grain on anything will start talk from the crowd. The second part adds onto this by talking about a girl going against the grain, and the crowd starts to talk. The third part is the crowd talking to the people going against the grain, talling them this is what you will recieve for your actions. The fourth part is about the people trying to fit in by critisizing the outcasts. The ending is the saddest part, it is the outcast apologizing/taking back what he said, to avoid the crowds harsh judgement.

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My_Fake_Plastic_Love
11-23-2008

Rated -1 
I remember first hearing this song as a wee one. It completey changed how I thought about music

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BrandNewman55
10-23-2008

Rated -1 
I think this song is pretty literal.. it talks about how you should not do bad things because the "karma police" will get you. {what goes around comes around}. This song reminds me of a friend of mine who always seemed to do bad things but never appeared to suffer any concequences for them.. I thought that one day he would really get it by the "Karma Polce" haha

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oldeBlueEyes
10-08-2008

Rated -1 
john galt is right. i heard this from somewhere also that it was a song aimed at thier own label. but like i always say its what you make of it. that may be thier meaning of the song but they made the song for you to interpret it how you want to. there's realy no wrong way to take a message from a song. as long as its somewhat logical then heck go with it. if it makes sense to you. great song love the video check it out. karma is simple as the word itself theres no breaking it down.

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