nice dream
By mElodY RoscheR

Essentially I find this to be the most evidently sarcastic song in the history of Radiohead releases. We all know the feeling of being discarded under the false pretense of , " I'm not ready for a relationship," or " We are such good friends...wouldn't want to spoil it." And now here is a song about this scenario. The " Nice Dream"  in this song is the presented illusion from a girl-friend who has given many excuses to why a relationship will not work, a diversion from the truth. the last two lines, "...if you think that you're strong enough/if you think you belong enough." are in reference to the personal strength and honesty one must have to realize all 
of the excuses, are lies.  ....and so it's a nice dream, when you don't know....

By Sandra Mandelis

"They love me like I was a brother/They protect me/Listen to me" speaks of what we all ultimately wish--to belong, to feel safe, to have a shoulder to cry on--yet we rarely find in real life. "I called up my friend the good angel/But she's out with her answerphone/She says that she'd love to come help but/The sea would electrocute us all"--Even when a friend is unable to be there for one, she still shows regret that she can't make it. During the louder, angrier part of the song, it says: "If you think that you're strong enough/If you think you belong enough." I believe this symbolises the point of the whole song: That these wonderful things are unattainable. When the song returns to its quieter, relaxing chorus at the end, it reminds us that life can still be in harmony with others even if it isn't as perfect as in our dreams. Somewhat depressingly, Thom sings that it is all a "nice dream"--something that will never happen. One last thing I would like to add is the chords at the chorus of the song--"Nice dream/Nice dream/Nice dream" are similar in structure to the chords in the Beatles' song "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds", and the theme of the lyrics is similar, too.

By Milton Martins

this song was one of my favourites until i realise that they don't talk about friendship or whatever. What Thom really means is a sarcasticism with the politicians...... they suck and everyone expects something from them but they never do anything. Everyone who believes in politicians has Nice Dreams about what they would do for the people, the world, the fucking economy. When he says "If you think that you're strong enough" he talks about power (not physical) but politic and when he says "If you think you belong enough" he talks about personal influence. The song is the view of a person who has his creed on politicians.
By Carly and Rachel

we interpert "nice dream" as kind of a high school experiance with cliques and teenage girls in general. "they love me like i was their brother--they protect me-- listen to me" refers to how groups of girls will originally support and protect a person they accept as a member. "they dug me my very own garden--gave me sunshine--made me happy" these are the feelings one gets when acceppted into this kind of social situation. the next verse depicts the other side of the groups dynamic, which is the painful exclusion of the members deemed unworthy to be included anymore. "i called up my friend the good angel" the good angel being the leader of the clique, who was at one time a friend. "but shes out with the answerphone--she says that she'd love to come help but the sea would electricute us all" this is the ultimate sign of a friendship near end, when one friend starts making up excuses to be away from the other, and no longer shows the support that she once gave. "if you think that your strong enough-- if you think you belong enough" if you think you are strong enought to endure the suffering that goes along with belonging to a social group. and if you think you belong enough to actually open up to the other people without it negatively affecting your social standing. "nice dream" describes the situation as a whole, the reality that it is JUST a dream, nothing more, nothing less.
By Mark

My take on this song is that it was written about the music industry/record company.

A lot of promises are made to young bands about how huge they're going to be and how much care the record company will take of them. Once they've signed the dotted line, however, it can be a different story if record sales are not instantly huge.

The bottom line is that no one interpretation is the right or wrong one - the fact that the meaning can be taken on so many different levels is testament to the songwriting skill of Thom Yorke.
By Mr Philosopher (attempting)

Reading through these different interpretations of these songs i have come to realise that people are busy trying to incorporate the these songs into different situations that Thom had intended. I am of the view that we are grabbing the dog from the wrong end of the tail. I think that Thom looked at different situations such as relationships, click groups etc. And tried to create a view that was abstracted from these situations. Instead of wasting time trying to figure out which situation applies for what song. The focus should be more on what is Thom saying in his songs, which will naturally lead us into applying these insights into many different situations that arise in life. Thom said once that for inspiration he sets up a camera in a room and studies what people do (metaphorically) THank you for taking time to read this and keep listening to that sweet stuff.