The Radiohead album dropped a day early! Happy Friday!!
I haven't listened to this song enough to really get a sense of it. But first impression is that it doesn't stray that far from most Radiohead songs. Drum and bass driven with an interesting beat. Here are the lyrics. Feel free to comment on the meaning.
I will sneak myself into your pocket
Invisible, do what you want, do what you want
I will sink and I will disappear
I will slip into the groove and cut me up and cut me up
There's an empty space inside my heart
Where the wings take root
So now I'll set you free
I'll set you free
There's an empty space inside my heart
And it won't take root
Tonight I'll set you free
I'll set you free
Slowly we unfurl
As lotus flowers
And all I want is the moon upon a stick
Dancing around the pit
Just to see what it is
I can't kick the habit
Just to feed your fast ballooning head
Listen to your heart
We will sink and be quiet as mice
While the cat is away and do what we want
Do what we want
There's an empty space inside my heart
And now it won't take root
And now I set you free
I set you free
Because all I want is the moon upon a stick
Just to see what it is
Just to see what gives
Take the lotus flowers into my room
Slowly we unfurl
As lotus flowers
All I want is the moon upon a stick
Dance around a pit
The darkness is beneath
I can't kick the habit
Just to feed my fast ballooning head
Listen to your heart
Invisible, do what you want, do what you want
I will sink and I will disappear
I will slip into the groove and cut me up and cut me up
There's an empty space inside my heart
Where the wings take root
So now I'll set you free
I'll set you free
There's an empty space inside my heart
And it won't take root
Tonight I'll set you free
I'll set you free
Slowly we unfurl
As lotus flowers
And all I want is the moon upon a stick
Dancing around the pit
Just to see what it is
I can't kick the habit
Just to feed your fast ballooning head
Listen to your heart
We will sink and be quiet as mice
While the cat is away and do what we want
Do what we want
There's an empty space inside my heart
And now it won't take root
And now I set you free
I set you free
Because all I want is the moon upon a stick
Just to see what it is
Just to see what gives
Take the lotus flowers into my room
Slowly we unfurl
As lotus flowers
All I want is the moon upon a stick
Dance around a pit
The darkness is beneath
I can't kick the habit
Just to feed my fast ballooning head
Listen to your heart
1 comment:
Here are some initial thoughts on a first reading:
1. The lotus flower is frequently a symbol of the purity of beautiful consciousness growing out of muddy water. The lyrics contain images that I think go on both sides of this dynamic, the dark and the light, e.g. the moon that looks down upon the (implicitly) dark earth, here called “the pit.”
2. The dynamic in #1 might go with a second set of images about emptiness (a pocket, the empty heart) and fullness (a pocket the speaker sneaks into, the empty heart now filled with wings).
3. Overall, I think maybe the empty space finally will NOT take root in his heart because, having unfurled like the lotus flower, he is becoming “free” of the darkness just below where he stands, i.e., HERE.
It strikes me as an almost Buddhist song.
ER
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