Radiohead: Lyrical Duality
Hello, my 7 followers, I am not dead. I’m sure you are cast into a state of utter elation in response to my long-awaited return. Save it.
Today, we’re going to try something new: music. Music is an unflinching art form, that not only inspires art, but forms a symbiotic relationship with it. Music is everywhere. It finds itself lurking within a packed movie theater, booming across center stage, or looming softly among a barren cafe. Not many bands capture music’s sensory resonance quite like Radiohead does. Radiohead is a critically-acclaimed English electronic-infused alternative rock band, headed by lead singer and songwriter, Thom Yorke. We’re going to analyze their subtle, yet undeniably profound lyrical prowess present on two songs: Fake Plastic Trees (The Bends) and Karma Police (OK Computer).
Fake Plastic Trees:
A green plastic watering can For a fake Chinese rubber plant In a fake plastic earth That she bought from a rubber man In a town full of rubber plans To get rid of itself [Chorus 1] It wears her out It wears her out It wears her out It wears her out [Verse 2] She lives with a broken man A cracked polystyrene man Who just crumbles and burns He used to do surgery For girls in the 80s But gravity always wins [Chorus 2] And it wears him out It wears him out It wears him out It wears him out
[Verse 3] 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 [Chorus 3] And it wears me out It wears me out It wears me out It wears me out [Outro] And if I could be who you wanted If I could be who you wanted All the time All the time
From these concise lyrics, we as listeners imagine, in a literal sense, a utopian world, still and dormant. Everything tangible is attuned and programmable to the recipient. The song touches on our desire for mass efficiency and foreshadows a future where we will all at one point be androids, measured and perfect, while sacrificing the blemishes that make life worth it. This is a future not so far removed from that of the present.
Despite the song’s ambitious yet disturbing view of what’s to come, it’s deceptively simple. At its core, this is a song with a simple theme. It’s about not fitting in. It’s about wanting to fit in. And ultimately, it’s about how that yearn to fit in is only quenched when you lose some of yourself. The main character pines for the love of a woman surrounded by the unoriginal, the cookie-cutter, the bland. He knows that the only way that she could be had is if he was void of what makes him unique, and different, and imperfect. If he could be what she wanted all the time, he would never be himself.Â
Thom Yorke juggles between the vastness that is society itself and the intimacy of struggling to conform and fit in. The sheer disparity between the song’s literal nature and it’s core nature showcases a lyrical depth in more than one place that all depends on your understanding.
Karma Police:
[Verse 1] 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 [Chorus] This is what you’ll get This is what you’ll get This is what you’ll get When you mess with us [Verse 2] 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 [Chorus] This is what you’ll get This is what you’ll get This is what you’ll get When you mess with us [Bridge] 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
Like Fake Plastic Trees, this song envisions an alternate society, more specifically a totalitarian one where karma acts as judicial law and one’s morality is prone to punishment. The narrator is an onlooker, pleading for the arrest of those that don’t act according to his own questionable ethics. He doesn’t strike judgement upon the racists, or the murderers, or the rapists. He strikes judgement upon those he doesn’t understand, that he doesn’t get. He’s unreliable. Similarly to the narrator of Fake Plastic Trees, this narrator struggles being comfortable in his own skin. He wants desperately to condemn those that distinguish themselves, while failing to realize that his flaws are his own.
Both songs perfectly capture Thom Yorke’s own fractured psyche: Fake Plastic Trees explores his desperation to be understood, while Karma Police explores the bitterness that follows. He’s a man with a wondrous imagination, yet a humble wish. He sees the sprawling cities, the worrisome future, and its inevitable demise. He sees it clearly and blatantly. Perhaps it’s even beautiful to him. Yet, behind the grandeur, he simply seeks comfort: comfort in knowing that he’s not alone among it all.Â
