egyptian song (aka nothing to fear and pyramid song)

By Tony Raffini

I don't know if most radiohead fans already know about this but this could go into your description of "nothing to fear". It has big references to Dante's Inferno. Here is a reference for every line:

~(I jumped into the river black eyed angels swimming with me)

Apparently this is Thom repenting perhaps (I didn't know he believed in God) for in the Inferno you enter the first circle of hell after the Vestibule. The River is Acheron. The black eyed angels are demons. I think this is here just to let you know that Thom is in hell. Not literally, i think he had some wierd dream or is a big fan of the Inferno, i don't know.

~(A moon full of stars and astral cars all the figures I used to see) This is where it gets interesting. The last two lines of the Inferno are "The beautous shining of the Heavenly cars. And I walked out more beneath the stars." Thom's lyrics are from the viewpoint of Dante (the writer of the Inferno) because it is when he comes back to the surface through the mount of Purgatory, returning to the things he "used to see".

~(All my lovers were there with me All my past and futures) All the lovers of Thom that he has apparently seen on his voyage through hell. He is placing himself in the shoes of Dante. The past and futures part is interesting because the sinners of hell can see into the past and future but cannot see into the present.

~(And we all went to heaven in a little row boat) Lines 130-135 of Canto XXXIV say right at the end before Purgatory: Down there, beginning a little further bound of Beezlebum's dim tomb, there is space not known by sight, but only by the sound of a little stream descending through the hollow it has eroded from the massive stone in its endlessly entwining lazy flow (There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt) Dante is scared at the end of the Inferno, we can see here that Thom isn't.
By Benrio

here's a text from a 1997 thom yorke's interview by a french magazine called 'Rock & Folk'.

thom speaks about one of his dream =

"I'm getting in a very fast train and i'm watching all the people sliding through the train's window, so i take some polaroid photos, and they are all a little blurred and fuzzy. and the train becomes a tramway, very calm, and i see all the people that i know getting in the tramway with me, all the people i used to see in my life. And then everyone get out, this one get out, this other one get out, and the tram's driving in this sunny city. And i know that's my turn to get out, but i don't, i don't get out. I'm just dying, and that's good, that's really good'. (sorry for my bad english but i'm french so...)

i'm really SURE that there's something between this dream and egyptian song/nothing to fear.

i jumped in the river = get in the train.
black-eyed angels swimming with me = blurred photos symbol.
a moon full of stars and astral cars = the train and the tram
all the figures i used to see = all the people i used to see (!)
all my lovers were there with me, all my past and futures and we all went to heaven in a little row boat, there was nothing to fear
and nothing to doubt...
By Nathan Tice

i'm no expert on egyptology, but there appears to be strong referrences to those types of beliefs reguarding the afterlife. thom mentions a river (possibly the Nile), black-eyed angels (i would think that the egyptian people would think of angels in an image to there own...in other words, their concept of an angel would most likely look as they do...with darkend skin and dark eyes), moon and stars(i beleve those were both worshiped as gods or had gods attributed to them), ect... there's talk of seeing your past and future. i don't know much about the egyptian heaven, but that could fit. i do know that pharohs believed that they could take their "lovers" to the afterlife, as well as their families and possessions. that's why entire families were killed when the pharoh died. someone with more knowledge of the subject will have to fill in the gaps.
By Steve

PERHAPS THIS SONG SPEAKS ABOUT DEATH AND GOING TO HEAVEN. "I JUMPED INTO THE RIVER, BLACK-EYED-ANGELS SWAM WITH ME." CLEARLY EXPLAINING DEATH/SUICIDE AND THE VISION OF THE DEAD/ANGELS.
"A MOON FULL OF STARS AND ASTRAL CARS, AND ALL THE THINGS I USED TO SEE." PROBABLY DESCRIBING THIS PLACE/HEAVEN. YET, STILL RECOGNIZING THINGS FROM THE "PREVIOUS WORLD".
"ALL MY LOVERS WERE THERE WITH ME. ALL MY PAST AND FUTURES." HERE, I THINK HE SPEAKS OF THE WOMEN HE'S HAD GOOD/BAD RELATIONSHIPS WITH. TO HIS SURPRISE THEY WERE ALL THERE. "AND WE ALL WENT TO HEAVEN IN A LITTLE ROW BOAT." THIS LINE GIVES THE IMPRESSION THAT IN THIS PLACE/HEAVEN, THEIR EXPERIENCES, BAD AND GOOD, ARE INSIGNIFICANT AND ARE POINTLESS IN THE BIG PICTURE. AS TO SAY, IN THE END WE END UP TOGETHER REGARDLESS.
"THERE WAS NOTHING TO FEAR AND NOTHING TO DOUBT." THOM REPEATS THIS LINE SEVERAL TIMES AND SAY'S IT IN SUCH A CALM YET ASSURING VOICE. IT'S AS IF HE KNEW THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN, AND ACCEPTS IT ALL. A GREAT SONG THAT GETS BETTER THE MORE YOU LISTEN TO IT. TOO BAD IT DIDN'T MAKE IT ON KID A.