Lyrics for Fake Plastic Trees as interpreted by piesupreme

Fake Plastic Trees Lyrics
Her green plastic watering-can
For her fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth that she bought
From a rubber man in a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself, it wears her out

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns
He used to do surgery for girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins and it wears him out

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love

But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
And it wears me out

If I could be who you wanted all the time

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zZaKk_21
05-02-2003

Rated 0 
This expresses one aspect of how fake the world has become. I love the lyrics and it's fun to sing along with. Beautiful song.

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oskerwillkill
05-03-2003

Rated 0 
Was anyone as surprised as me to see how the video to this song looked like? Ok I expected to be fucked up as Radiohead are such geniuses that we can conprehend what they on about. I just pictured something more dark maybe moodier, like Street Spirits video. Oh well, its still good. This is my personally my fave Radiohead song. Make me cry everytime and I don't who you are, male or female - you just will. Makes me think of life in a different way, the song can really stir up such emotions. Anyone feel the same? Truly something moving. Radiohead have created a masterpiece in 'Fake Plastic Trees', and as to what the song is about.... dunno - I'm dumb.
What has made me laugh is that I work behind a till and a supermarket and just they other day I took a green plastic watering can through my checkout - had to laugh. Oh well hehehehe.

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losrivas
05-04-2003

Rated 0 
The Bends is like the ocean at a little lonely beach in Santa Cruz, on a starlit night, all by yourself. You see the stars dance and play on the water's face, you hear the rush of the tide, but is it high or low? You don't know, but you test the water, feel its steel coldness. You're scared, but the tempation of finally feeling something new and fresh is too enticing, so you venture further. The water pulls and pushes at your feet, and as they go numb, the tears well up inside you and you dive in. And the stars play on your face, and the waves take you away.

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5isa4letterword
06-08-2003

Rated 0 
yeah, its not quite as hopeless as "street spirit" but it sure is sad as hell. i love it to death though. i get that feeling sometimes where you just look at everyone and you think, god what a pathetic planet. and in a sense thats where this comes from, and goes to. i dunno. great song.

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xspankx
06-08-2003

Rated 0 
this girl has no sense of right or wrong. completely faithless, hence her living with the 'broken man'.. 'fake plastic love' = faking the emotions. everything nowadays is fake, yadda yadda yadda. and the beat goes on.

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Tyre
06-10-2003

Rated 0 
Being one of the best songs out there, there are so many ways to interpret it. I interpreted it as everything being so fake, but he finds this girl within it all who he sees as so real. She is different: "She looks like the real thing, she tastes like the real thing." But the irony is that she does not want him, and this wears him out. He will never find anyone. "I wish i could be who you wanted, all the time."

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eddie85
06-27-2003

Rated 0 
this song is great. all of the interpretations are right, it is what you want it to be. it's weird, i'm currently pretty down on life, but there is this one girl, she is so perfect in my eyes...but i know, i really know that no one is, but i don't want to believe it, because i'm looking for something to live for. and when i'm around her, i try to act different than who i really am to please her, or to please the popular idea of what attractive is, and i know it's wrong...but i just can't help it. something so unnatural has become the "natural" thing to do. it's sad really. i wish i could just talk to her, just tell her all of this stuff, just get real deep into the core of her, so she could understand why i am who i am. but she's probably to affected by the superficial world to have any desire to do so. i have dreams in which the world is ending somehow, but i don't care, because i'm with her, we're just staring into eachothers eyes. i'm as happy as i've ever been just being with her, even though death is certain. i could go on and on.

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cygnus
06-29-2003

Rated 0 
So many great posts on this song....I just gotta share one of the moments when this song reached out and grabbed my soul and wouldn't let go.

I was housesitting for two dear friends of mine(mid-20's); I had watched them grow up together (they began dating in eighth grade), go through high school and college, acquire good-paying corporate jobs, and settle into a pretty much upper-class suburban lifestyle. Through it all they remained the same great kids I knew when they were 12, and I still love them dearly. So now they're off on vacation, the house is fine, the pets are asleep, it's after midnight, and I crank up some of my mixed cd's. On comes FAKE PLASTIC TREES.

The song ends. I have to push repeat (how could I not?), and by the end of the second playing I'm crying uncontrollably! As I play the song over and over I look around to see a house full of green plants of all sorts in any direction I look -- not a one of them real. Beautiful candles adorn every room -- not a one of which had ever been lit. Paintings of roosters perch on every wall, which match the dishes, which match the coffee cups, which match the napkins, which match the fake metal rooster on the kitchen bar.......for no other reason than she was told by a "Southern Living" magazine that this was a tasteful way to decorate a home in order to proclaim: "We've made it! We're successful. We're doing all the things 'successful society' suggested we do to proclaim our success."

I cried for them; I cried for all the people who have bought into a fake plastic life of any sort in a quest for success; I cried for the world in general; I cried because the song demanded I cry. When I was finished crying I felt good - healed in some way. There's no way I could put into words all that the music spoke to my soul. This story is the best way I can share my understanding of this song with you.

I will say that I heard from a reliable source that when the record company realized what a powerful song this is they presented a remixed version to the band that eliminated a lot of the technological and musical goodies from the album version so as to emphasize Thom's vocals. The band rejected that, and instead Thom went into the studio to record an accoustic version. By the end of the second take, Thom was crying so hard he could sing no more. So if you have heard the accoustic version, now you know a little more about what went into making it.

So if this song makes you cry, I think that that's a good sign - your soul is still tuned to universal truths. And if this song doesn't touch your soul, perhaps you need to tear down some walls, because the Eyes of Truth are always watching you.

bo

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eddie85
06-29-2003

Rated 0 
"I will say that I heard from a reliable source that when the record company realized what a powerful song this is they presented a remixed version to the band that eliminated a lot of the technological and musical goodies from the album version so as to emphasize Thom's vocals. The band rejected that, and instead Thom went into the studio to record an accoustic version. By the end of the second take, Thom was crying so hard he could sing no more. So if you have heard the accoustic version, now you know a little more about what went into making it. "

That is great. It makes me feel so good to know that he puts so much emotion into his music, that it makes even himself cry.

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portoparty
04-20-2004

Rated 0 
If this song was just the last line "if i could be who you wanted all the time" it would still be my favorite song ever.

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emimi
05-02-2004

Rated 0 
i used to be her...

get out while you still can... it really does wear you out. fall in love -- don't look for it and try to make it happen.

that's all i have to say

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davidecoyote
05-07-2004

Rated 0 
One of the saddest, most beautiful songs ever written. I think it's about the challenge of living in a superficial world, even if you're not a superficial person. The girl you love for everything she is as a person (and not for superficial reasons) may indeed turn you down for someone more attractive.

It's heart-ache to the nth degree, it really is.

Mostly because you know she can't be happy forever with the deluded choice she's made, but you can't tell her that just the same... sigh... okay, sorry i'm ranting now.

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Mothra666
05-21-2004

Rated 0 
this is about a blow-up doll obviously, kinda sick and twisted, but i LIKE it....

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ripchord
05-29-2004

Rated 0 
lol.blow up doll..?maybe.. cool song no doubt

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gabe4au
05-30-2004

Rated 0 
Isn't the last line piercing though? - "If I could be who you wanted/If I could be who you wanted all the time."

It's desperation definately. Throwing your hands up in frustration and exhaustion and just letting go - screaming to the top of your lungs at the anger of what you can't be/what she can't be. Great song.

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Mothra666
06-01-2004

Rated 0 
well i hope the line isnt too "piercing" cause then he'd pop his blowup doll...

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gabe4au
06-01-2004

Rated 0 
um... ha ha? No... wait... was I supposed to laugh?

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gabe4au
06-01-2004

Rated 0 
Don't think I'm dismissing your idea... it's a good idea. I almost agree with you, but I think that it's about a lot more than a blowup doll. It has more of a deeper meaning than just the words on the surface.

And please... no more jokes. It's just going to discredit your idea even more.

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peripheral
06-10-2004

Rated 0 
I don't have any comments that haven't already been raised.

I'd just like to say that this is a lovely song.

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blowpop51
06-26-2004

Rated 0 
the last line in this song is the most significant to me..
if i could be who you wanted... if i could be who you wanted.. all the time...

wow. great song.

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SpecialEdd
07-04-2004

Rated 0 
I don't think anybody's brought up this point yet, but he also describes the people as being made of rubber, and I know somebody mentioned blow-up dolls earlier, I think they were right to an extent. But I don't think it's a blow-up doll, but a normal, pretty doll. If you've ever seen a child playing with a doll they actually talk to it and pretend it's real. I think that's what the song is about.

I think he's just trying to have a reltionship with a woman who's pretty and seems perfect, but she's a fake and superficial as a doll. Also, she's always around somebody who supports (and is employed by) people being so superficial and caring what other's think. He lives that way himself.

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ScottyDont
09-25-2004

Rated 0 
this is my favorite song ever written

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mdanks452
09-26-2004

Rated 0 
this song is so utterly sad and displays comeplete hopelessness, and its just so good and meaningful with saying such few words i can't get enough of it. the lyrics especially show the energy it takes to fulfill someone elses or your own expectations, especially shown in the last line. such a great song and a great voice too.

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rockinmozart
10-12-2004

Rated 0 
My favorite Radiohead song, always has been always will be. I've seen Radiohead in concert a number of times but they won't do this song. I think this song can be incorporated in to everyones life and some low point they have faced.

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Ryeter
10-21-2004

Rated 0 
This song is about the painful discovery and acceptance of an illusion. A woman realizes her whole universe isn't real, and she's hopeless. The man she lives with realizes the illusions he created aren't real, and the man's hopeless. -- He loves her, but she doesn't love him back, and he realizes he never really loved her (because he can't be who she wants him to be), and he's hopeless. The truth is they're all hopeless. This song is confusing because his love is real. That's why he "can't help the feeling." But it doesn't matter to him, because he thinks if his love is real, then she would love him back. He thinks if he really loved her, he could be who she wants him to be, and he can't. -- It's a deeply faceted, beautiful, sad song.

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