I DON'T believe this is supposed to be an optimistic song at all, or about a love relationship going wrong (or right)...
Here is what THOM YORKE himself said about Lucky back in a 1998 interview:
"Any artist wants to include everything. And then they discover that their best pieces of work are the ones where they haven't said any of the things they thought they were going to say.
'Lucky' was like that - (it) was pages and pages and pages of notes, none of which fitted in at all. It was all bollocks. It was trying to be really political. And in the end it wasn't. It was much better to say, "The head of state has called for me by name/But I don't have time for him." And that was it."
Granted, Thom still doesn't go into detail regarding the song's actual meaning - but IMO this quote gives credence to the view that the lyrics contain a definite political sub-text, even though no specific event or global issue is overtly described.
Personally, I'm guessing that the narrator is some kind of lone maverick, vigilante or political/religious fundamentalist; someone who believes there is glory in dying 'for the cause'.
The song is told from this person's radical POV so that the (supposedly) positive-sounding references to their true situation ("it's gonna be a glorious day" / "my luck could change" / "I'm your superhero") are the result of their own skewed/blinkered mindset.
I DON'T believe this is supposed to be an optimistic song at all, or about a love relationship going wrong (or right)...
Here is what THOM YORKE himself said about Lucky back in a 1998 interview:
"Any artist wants to include everything. And then they discover that their best pieces of work are the ones where they haven't said any of the things they thought they were going to say.
'Lucky' was like that - (it) was pages and pages and pages of notes, none of which fitted in at all. It was all bollocks. It was trying to be really political. And in the end it wasn't. It was much better to say, "The head of state has called for me by name/But I don't have time for him." And that was it."
Granted, Thom still doesn't go into detail regarding the song's actual meaning - but IMO this quote gives credence to the view that the lyrics contain a definite political sub-text, even though no specific event or global issue is overtly described.
Personally, I'm guessing that the narrator is some kind of lone maverick, vigilante or political/religious fundamentalist; someone who believes there is glory in dying 'for the cause'.
The song is told from this person's radical POV so that the (supposedly) positive-sounding references to their true situation ("it's gonna be a glorious day" / "my luck could change" / "I'm your superhero") are the result of their own skewed/blinkered mindset.