Fitter Happier

I definitely hear this as a commentary on our society's tendency toward medicating people into normalcy. Although most of the song describes the blandly idealized lifestyle of the fitter and happier individual, there are lines strewn about that hint at a very dark past for this person.

"No killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants"

"No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows"

"Slower and more calculated"

and of course... "No longer empty and frantic..."

I think it's these lines that deal with the PAST of this individual that tell the true story. This individual has been medicated somehow, through antidepressants or something, and we are expected to look at their new "calm" lifestyle through the lens of a dark and chaotic past. So from this angle, every positive statement in the poem is really drawing attention to its opposite. I imagine a character who was once unfit, unhappy, drinking too much, not sleeping well, paranoid, etc. And while the medication may have brought them into some state of idealized normalcy, it also took a depressing tax on the person's soul:

"Fond but not in love."

The idea that this is about being medicated is epitomized in the final line. The pig in a cage is a metaphor for a trapped person, who is only surviving through medication, not true freedom. To raise a truly healthy pig, you don't just shoot it up with antibiotics, you give it freedom to graze. I suppose for the person, true freedom would mean a release from the bleak and suppressive expectations of our culture, like settling down, becoming a parent, being responsible and following a routine (all things the song alludes to). But instead this person is medicated and conforms to the prescribed path, driving a safer better car, raising a child in some traditional manner, with only the memory of an "empty and frantic" past.

As other people have mentioned, there is really way too much to say about this song. You could write a whole essay on it. On top of this general analysis there are the interesting contradictions, repetitions and juxtapositions:

"Concerned, but powerless. An empowered and informed member of society."

"Not drinking too much" ... "Enjoy a drink now and then."

"Will not cry in public" ... "Still cries at a good film"

"Fond but not in love" ... "Still kisses with saliva"

I think these are meant to express the bizarre hypocrisies, contradictions and double-standards in what our culture considers normal, acceptable behavior.

It's dark stuff. Given that Thom has spoken about his own experiences with depression (especially around the time of OK Computer), I would imagine these ideas come from deep within his own thoughts and feelings.

Incidentally, the song reminds me lyrically of Nirvana's "Lithium." I think Lithium does not have as much poetic depth or subtlety (I don't blame it considering it's written as a rock song, not a poem over music like "Fitter Happier"), but both songs dwell on the calming effects of medication by making ironic juxtapositions and contradictions. The Nirvana line "I'm so horny, but that's okay my will is good" reminds me of lines in this song like "fond but not in love." Both evoke an emotion but show that it has been blunted into a passive and weaker state, while ironically casting this in a positive, yet unsettling light.