January 9, 200719 yr Strange question I know but it has been playing on my mind ever since I heard the song "Street Spirit" by Radiohead. I always thought I knew what all lyrics meant in the music I listen to but when I read this (below) I realised how wrong I was. No matter how much I try I cannot understand that song the way I feel like I'm suppose to. This feeling also goes for many songs too...mainly Radiohead. Maybe theyre just out of my depth but I really want to understand them the way they were intended :\ Thom Yorke on Street Spirit: Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didn't write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers; its biological catalysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me, and, you know, I wouldn't ever try to write something that hopeless. All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve. Street Spirit has no resolve. It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song. It's called detachment. Especially me; I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn't play it. I'd crack. I'd break down on stage. That's why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning. I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together. That's what's meant by 'all these things are one to swallow whole'. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didn't have it in me to articulate the emotion. I'd crack... Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they don't realise what they're listening to. They don't realise that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes, and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, he'll get the last laugh. And it's real, and true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that too long, I'd crack. I can't believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song. That's why I'm convinced that they don't know what it's about. It's why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell everytime I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when you're going to have your dog put down and it's wagging its tail on the way there. That's what they all look like, and it breaks my heart. I wish that song hadn't picked us as its catalysts, and so I don't claim it. It asks too much. I didn't write that song.
January 9, 200719 yr I don't get some songs...actually, I don't think of them. Only my dearest ones are worthy enough to be understood. All other ones, if I understand, if I don't...it's all the same.
January 9, 200719 yr i don't think there is any one single right way to listen to anything. it's how you interprete the lyrics and the music, so basically everything. a lot of music i listen to is pretty abstract and hardly ever says what it means straight up. like what clocks or street spirit means to you most likely means something completely different to me, but who is to say you are right and i am wrong and vice versa. music is all about interpretation, to me atleast. there is no single right definition. but i know what you mean annie! btw i see you're listening to mew - great!
January 9, 200719 yr Author i don't think there is any one single right way to listen to anything. it's how you interprete the lyrics and the music, so basically everything. a lot of music i listen to is pretty abstract and hardly ever says what it means straight up. like what clocks or street spirit means to you most likely means something completely different to me, but who is to say you are right and i am wrong and vice versa. music is all about interpretation, to me atleast. there is no single right definition. but i know what you mean annie! btw i see you're listening to mew - great! Yes, you are a good promoter of them lol I guess I just feel like I listen wrong. Sounds silly eh.
January 9, 200719 yr Come on, that's what music is about. You listen, you apprehend, you think, you feel, you associate - it's all about you. How you can understand this or that song, the lyrics, how they fit the situation or the life in general. I think it'd be kinda pointless if we just listened to music and thought what did the artist feel while writing it. We should associate the music with ourselves too.
January 9, 200719 yr The good thing about Radiohead lyrics is that most times I can't understand Thom anyway, which is strange because with most bands I know the lyrics by heart and with Radiohead... I'd rather not. Because somettimes when I read the lyrics and don't like them it makes the song less appealing. I mean, some Radiohead lyrics are really easy to understand though, or so I think, and other just don't really have any meaning to me. Just lines creating an atmosphere, well I guess that is a 'meaning' as well, but it's not a story and I don't feel the lyrics actually tell me something, there just there to add to the song which is already telling me something anyway... And with Coldplay I often think 'this is so cheeesy' and 'what the hell is he trying to say?' at the same time. I don't even think about understanding them rigth most of the time. I think 'the way you re supposed to get it' doesnt exist anyway.
January 9, 200719 yr yes i do understand them, though everyone interprets lyrics differently, it's all about how our personality recieves the message of the lyrics. sometimes melody plays a big role on how we perceive the lyrics too.
January 10, 200719 yr Can you understand X & Y ? I personally can't. It may be about life, love, friendship but what exactly i have no idea
January 10, 200719 yr I like when you can make music mean what it wants to yourself. The same song can apply to different people in different situations but still have just as much meaning. (I don't know if that makes sense)
January 10, 200719 yr that's what i love about music. everyone understands something else and it's so much fun to share one's own thoughts with someone else. many lyrics are way too abstract to understand them. sometimes you just listen to a song you've never really understood, but then that one time you understand them because you're in a certain situation that made you think about the lyrics in a different way.
January 11, 200719 yr There is rather a lot that i don't understand..but then i just check on the net..read it..and then listen to the song again...and then usually i understand it.
January 13, 200719 yr Author Can you understand X & Y ? I personally can't. It may be about life' date=' love, friendship but what exactly i have no idea[/quote'] Yes, most Coldplay songs are pretty clear and straight forward for me but Radiohead is just... I can't even form my own meaning even if I try.
January 13, 200719 yr that's what i love about music. everyone understands something else and it's so much fun to share one's own thoughts with someone else. many lyrics are way too abstract to understand them. sometimes you just listen to a song you've never really understood, but then that one time you understand them because you're in a certain situation that made you think about the lyrics in a different way. I think its the same way will all other arts and not just music:)
January 13, 200719 yr you re not alone of course :) I don t understand,too Especially Radiohead's songs..It must be Thom's way:P But never mind i feel it in their music:)
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