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Faith your driving me away
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung.
Were too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are loosing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
Our twentieth century bitch and we are grateful for our
Iron lung.
Suck suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total w.a.s.t.e. of time.
My Iron lung.
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's OK [Repeat: x 2]
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung.
Were too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are loosing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
Our twentieth century bitch and we are grateful for our
Iron lung.
Suck suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total w.a.s.t.e. of time.
My Iron lung.
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's OK [Repeat: x 2]
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme, edited by rahvii
Track duration: 04:36
"My Iron Lung" as written by Thomas Edward/o'brien Yorke
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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they hated how popular creep was and how they were just known for it
they felt it was useless just like an iron lung
they even refused to play creep live for a few years they hated it so much
You all think you're so cool & hip but you're actually frightened little kids- and thats ok. You've got every reason to be.
The contrast of the derision & flippancy of beforehand makes this last couple lyrics seem even more compassionate & unexpected. Really shows that Radiohead love/hate relationship with their audience that makes them so worthwhile. I don't think you could say much worthwhile as a popular band in this society without hating your listeners a bit. If you have any kind of insight you know what you're feeding.
You all think you're so cool & hip but you're actually frightened little kids- and thats ok. You've got every reason to be (their next four albums will obsess over these reasons relentlessly)Let's rock out anyway.
The contrast of the derision & flippancy of beforehand makes this last couple lyrics seem even more compassionate & unexpected. Really shows the Radiohead love/hate relationship with their audience that makes them so worthwhile. I don't think you could say much worthwhile as a popular band in this society without hating your listeners a bit. If you have any kind of insight you know what you're feeding.
Its gotta be Radiohead's plain heaviest song too.
sorry about the double post
I think this is also the anger that Thom probably felt towards always having people tell him he's crazy, batshit fucking crazy. I know that I have an incredible amount of anger towards people constantly telling me there's things wrong with me, telling me I should get this or that procedure, take this or that pill, see Dr. So and so, live the rest of my life hooked on pills and getting cheap thrills off of alcohol and being responsible. It's so frustrating, and to me, this song is kind of a "fuck you, I don't need your fucking help, I might be screwed up, but that' me, that's life, stop trying to make things the way you want them."
Faith, you're driving me away
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung
** Faith means fear, fear about losing someone (I'll explain why someone later...) and he's losing any kind of hope... he knows he's getting worse because he wants something he can't achieve, he's "dying" because he can't get it, the iron lung is the most beautiful part of the song, it means something you need but you don't wanna have... for example: when you love someone you don't wanna love, but she/he makes you happy sometimes, even though it's just a lie. **
We're too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are losing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
A twentieth century bitch
And we are grateful for our iron lung
** Just as said before, he's losing someone, and they won't talk about it, but there's plenty of time (we're to young to fall asleep, this means there's plenty of time to talk about it, yet, they won't), and he's quite angry that she (in my opinion it's about a girl) doesn't even care. "We scratch our eternal itch, a twentieth century bitch" they won't do anything about it, and they will feel kind of uncomfortable, but they'll pretend there's nothing wrong, and pretend they are fine (just like everyone does, and that's what 20th century means). And they'll pretend they're fine depending on an "iron lung" (that keeps them "alive") **
The headshrinkers
They want everything
My uncle Bill
My Belisha beacon
** Headshrinkers as headhunters are like fears, he's starting to lose control, his head is like a belisha beacon and he's losing it **
Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This, this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung
** he's saying like "keep being so childish, pretending everything's alright, eventually it will be". "This is our new song, just like the last one a total waste of time, my iron lung" I love this part, I'm also a composer, and writing a song is like writing down your feelings and finally let them go... but some feelings are really really sad and even if you make a lot of songs, you can't make them go, and you hope that when you write a nice song for someone, that someone appreciates it, but when she/he doesn't, you feel like crap, like a waste of time... **
And if you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
** Cause he's not **
I hope you like it, obviously it's not the perfect meaning, because unless you're the writer, you can't completely understand a song... but that's the way I see the song...
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung"
A girl (named Faith, or faith could just be the faith towards this girl) the speaker is attracted to is acting stupid, driving him away with her flaws, though she doesn't know. She, however, is the only thing keeping him going ("I'm better off dead" -Prove Yourself), so this disillusion is hurting him, a lack of life support.
"We're too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are losing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
A twentieth century bitch
And we are grateful for our iron lung"
The general state of relationships in the 20th century-- people are too young and rash to just forget about their love, too scared to express their feelings; they lose it, and just obsess, scratching the eternal itch.
"The headshrinkers
They want everything
My uncle Bill
My Belisha beacon"
Not too sure on this one :s
"Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This, this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung"
The "song" is love, a total waste of time seeing as the girl is unlikeable anyway, but they'll still have feelings when completely disillusioned. It's all a waste of time, including Creep ("the last one") which is about the same girl (in my horrid interpretation).
"And if you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay"
The situation is frightening, as there's really no way out.
The lung gives the band some breathing room and keeps their popularity up to par.
The lung however is Iron; cold and shallow. It's not real. Not real Radiohead.
Thom was suffering from writers block and he understood that the band needed a hit song. Frankly he hates the track he says so in the lyrics. But it ended up the song was a huge hit and people listening to it on top 40 didn't even realize that the lyrics are just him trashing his own song. Priceless.
One of my favorite Radiohead songs.
though I prefer iron lung lol! how 'iron'ic!
Gotta love every one of radioheads songs :D