One two three four
Wakey wakey
rise and shine
it’s on again, off again, on again
watch me fall
like dominos
in pretty patterns
fingers in the blackbird pie
I’m tingling, tingling, tingling
it’s what you feel now
what you ought to, what you ought to
reasonable and sensible
dead from the neck up
because I’m stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
for no real reason
Squeeze the tubes and empty bottles
and take a bow, take a bow, take a bow
it’s what you feel now
what you ought to, what you ought to
an elephant that’s in the room is
tumbling, tumbling, tumbling
in duplicate and triplicate and
plastic bags and
duplicate and triplicate
dead from the neck up
I guess I’m stuffed, stuffed, stuffed
we thought you had it in you
but no, no, no
exactly where do you get off
is enough, is enough
I love you but enough is enough, enough
a last stop
there’s no real reason
You’ve got a head full of feathers
you got melted to butter
SONG INFORMATION
Released: October 10, 2007 digitally, December 3, 2007 CD & Vinyl
Found on: In Rainbows
In an interview with the Observer Music Magazine December 2007, Thom Yorke was asked about the theory that In Rainbows is conceptually linked with German writer Johann Goethe’s adaptation of the legend of Faust. The Radiohead lyricist responded: “I vaguely know the story of Faust. But that would involve me having remembered it in some detail or picked it off the shelf. Which I didn’t. But yes, hmm, Goethe’s Faust. I’m going to have to look that one up, actually, ’cause that sounds suitably pretentious. We live in Oxford, after all.”
In an interview with Mojo magazine February 2008, Thom Yorke discussed his creative methodology: “The more you absorb yourself in the present tense, the more likely that what you write will be good. Especially in this f–king town, where everybody’s sitting in front of their desks for far too long, endlessly sweating over words that don’t ever get heard. People are obsessive in this city and work becomes an end in itself. The polar opposite of that is Michael Stipe, who absorbs himself in other people and the life around him, and that’s where he gets his ideas. I’m not like that, but I absolutely understand why he does it. Neil Young claims he writes lyrics and doesn’t go back to them. If he does, he says, the worse they become. But that’s scary. I mean, ‘Faust Arp’ is the exact opposite of that, pages and pages and pages and pages and pages and pages until eventually, the good ones stick.”