the national anthem

By Robb Colborn

This song is describing a crowd atmosphere, and it's few lyrics describe just that:

Everyone, everyone around you
- This is quite obvious

Everyone will stop here
- This explains the crowd stopping to see/hear what's happening

What's going on?
- This describes the element of crod confusion

Everyone will stop the fear
- In the crowd, there is no fear, everyone is together

That's all the lyrics. But also the music describes a crowd. The hypnotic bassline shows how the crowd could be hypnotized by what's going on (a concert?), and the massive variety of instruments used shows a massive crowd.

The title gives a sense of 'togetherness' also

By Butterat

Out of all the songs on KID A, this is my second favorite (my favorite being Idioteque of course) I like this song because it is funny as crap. The lyrics are very simple, yet very complicated, showing the confusion and frustration associated with the end of the world. Every is so near-- The people are running around in big giant herds, trying to escape rather than confront their fears. What's going on?-- The person who has been in the dark concerning political issues is wondering why the cattle are stampedeing. Everyone has got fear-- The people are still running, but the persona isn't concerned with that. He sees all of society running away from the real world and hiding, and when every is hiding away, he can't help but wonder "What's holding on?"