There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere.) Lyrics
I go walking in your landscape
Broken branches
Trip me as I speak
Doesn't mean it's there
Just 'cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there
Singing you to shipwreck
(Don't reach out, don't reach out
Don't reach out, don't reach out)
We'd be a walking disaster
(Don't reach out, don't reach out
Don't reach out, don't reach out)
Doesn't mean it's there
(Someone on your shoulder
Someone on your shoulder)
Doesn't mean it's there
(Someone on your shoulder
Someone on your shoulder)
Lonely, lonely?
To me, to me?
Waiting to happen
Waiting to happen
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I think: "There There" (The Boney King of Nowhere) God = The Boney King of Nowhere There There = Thom Yorke's sympathy for the human race.
"In pitch dark, I go walking in you landscape"=
I trust you to guide me where I need to go.
"Broken branches trip me as I speak"=
you let me fall when I trusted you.
"Just cause it feels there, doesn't mean its there"=
god isn't there, he's just in your head.
It's possible: Thom Yorke has searched for god for a long time and could never seem to find him and now he just thinks god doesn't exist.
"There's always a siren, singing you to shipwreck"= Something calls to you and tells you this is the right way but when you get there you crash and fall.
"don't reach out" = don't even listen.
I think this song is done from a sympathetic and mournful point of view. The rest of the song is easy to figure out after the information I've supplied.
Draw your own conclusions, This is just my interpretation.
I hadn't quite put it in those terms, but I like your explanation a lot. Not least because I think such an amazing song must have some equally compelling inspiration- not just relationships or politics, but his understanding of life itself. Also, I love how the implications of the shift from quiet and mournful to triumphant rock'n'roll, once he's come to terms with the futility of his search for a god and such: "I'm all there is? OK, I'll have a good time as I am!"
I hadn't quite put it in those terms, but I like your explanation a lot. Not least because I think such an amazing song must have some equally compelling inspiration- not just relationships or politics, but his understanding of life itself. Also, I love how the implications of the shift from quiet and mournful to triumphant rock'n'roll, once he's come to terms with the futility of his search for a god and such: "I'm all there is? OK, I'll have a good time as I am!"
Or at least, that's my take.
Or at least, that's my take.
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This song is about not being able to trust yourself. He feels things and has desires but can't trust that they're taking him down the right path. It's like knowing you have depression. You have these dark feelings but at the same time you know a mental disorder is causing them and it's difficult to reconcile reality with what you're feeling.
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the saddest song radiohead have ever done
He says we gotta walk on... but there are always rocks (troubles) in our always... there are sirens atraccting us to death, to ruin... There are always branches tripping us as us speak...
And when the song says the just ´coz you feel doesnt mean it´s there, it´s about the plato´s cave... it´s about the doubt of reality... just ´coz you´re seeing, just ´coz you´re feeling, doesn´t mean it´s there...
So we got troubles in ours lives, but who said this life is reality? What´s real and what´s fake? Who are we? Is this a lie?
And in the end... we are just accidents waiting to happen... Excelente... the gratest radiohead´s song..
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To me, this song is about trying to love someone who has depression or some other mental illness.
In pitch dark I go walking in your landscape Broken branches trip me as I speak // I trying to understand you, but it is a constant struggle. // I am trying to help you, but I never find the right thing to say.
Just because you feel it doesn't mean it's there // Just because you feel sadness doesn't mean the pain is real.
There's always a siren Singing you to shipwreck // Even when you get out of your depression, you fall right back in.
Don't reach out, don't reach out // Maybe I should leave you alone. // Or...you never ask me for help.
Steer away from these rocks We'd be a walking disaster // Do not fall back into depression. It will hurt our relationship.
There's someone on your shoulder // You are depressed.
There there! // It will be okay!
Why so green and lonely? // Why are you sad?
Heaven sent you to me // I will make you feel better.
We are accidents Waiting, waiting to happen // I will make you feel better.
I agree with the depression/mental pain/nightmare hypothesis !
I agree with the depression/mental pain/nightmare hypothesis !
I think that the other popular hypothesis for the "feeling" that is "not there" (love) does not explain as well some parts of the song.
I think that the other popular hypothesis for the "feeling" that is "not there" (love) does not explain as well some parts of the song.
Some key lines must be explained by any hypothesis :
Some key lines must be explained by any hypothesis :
"There there" <- Title of the song
"There there" <- Title of the song
"Why so green and lonely?"
"Why so green and lonely?"
"Heaven sent you to me. We are accidents waiting to happen"
"Heaven sent you to me. We are accidents waiting to happen"
Those lines are hard to explain with the "love" hypothesis.
Those lines are hard to explain with the "love" hypothesis.
Here are 2 interpretations of the song in line with depression/nightmare...
Here are 2 interpretations of the song in line with depression/nightmare hypothesis :
1) Rachel telling Thom that his deamons are not real. This song could be a follow up of "I might be wrong" and "Optimistic" from the previous albums.
2) Thom/Rachel telling Noa that her nightmares are not real
Let's review the lines according to thoses interpretations :
1) "There there": sounds like a reassuring statement from Rachel to Thom.
"Why so green and lonely?" : The reality is that I'm here with you. Isn't it a good reason to be happy ? How can you feel lonely ?
"Heaven sent you to me." Love statement from Rachel to Thom. Or maybe Thom thanks Rachel for saving him from his daemons.
"We are accidents waiting to happen": Everybody can go awry.
2) "There there": sounds like a reassuring statement from a mother/father to a child.
"Why so green and lonely?" : I'm here with you. Don't be afraid ! You are not alone !
"Heaven sent you to me." : Noa is the most beautiful thing for her parents (like every children ! ^^)
"We are accidents waiting to happen": Everybody is the result of an extremely random biological process. (but why "waiting to happen"?)
My 2 cents.
"Just because you feel sadness doesn't mean the pain is real" - Yeah because when people have depression its just a fake pain that can be waved away and all we need is a good waking up call.
"Just because you feel sadness doesn't mean the pain is real" - Yeah because when people have depression its just a fake pain that can be waved away and all we need is a good waking up call.
"Even when you get out of your depression, you fall right back in" - think of depression as drowning slowly, you cant escape it but sometimes some driftwood comes along and gives you a breather (but you are still stuck in the water).
"Even when you get out of your depression, you fall right back in" - think of depression as drowning slowly, you cant escape it but sometimes some driftwood comes along and gives you a breather (but you are still stuck in the water).
@happyaura This interpretation hit me real hard. I was in a two year relationship with a girl that suffered from depression. Coming from a country where mental health is taboo subject, I really had a hard time understanding her. She left me, understandably.
@happyaura This interpretation hit me real hard. I was in a two year relationship with a girl that suffered from depression. Coming from a country where mental health is taboo subject, I really had a hard time understanding her. She left me, understandably.
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Two words for you: 'Blind Faith'....okay, more than two words:
This song clearly addresses the concept of going strictly off of blind faith and emotions to guide you through life as it relates to religious or personal beliefs. I agree it could be interpreted in other ways too and even more specific ways as many song can be; which is fine. However, songs are quite often written about fairly general and widely thought about topics such as love and religion or the meaning of life (these being some of the most written about topics. In terms of this topic, many people base their beliefs entirely on a “good feeling” they get about something after they've thought or prayed about it a lot, and nothing else; hence, blind faith. This is usually backed up by some sort of bias; as in a desire for it to be right, or true. Additionally, there is a general notion throughout the song of cautioning against this method of decision making. Think about this concept as you read through the lyrics again and I'm sure a light bulb with go off in your head!
Let me break it down:
“In pitch dark I go walking in your landscape”: This is someone walking blindly in a world they have built up in their head.
“Broken branches trip me as I speak”: The problem of being “tripped up” as the person constantly tries to speak for and justify their fantasy world as it continually clashes with reality; being that it's based on nothing but there own bias and belief.
“Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there”: Simply stating that, just because the person wants it to be true and has a good feeling about it in their heart, doesn't necessarily mean that's the way it is or that it's true.
“There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck”: This is talking about whatever is fueling or driving the person's desire for their belief to be true. The “siren” representing something beautiful or attractive about their belief drawing them to like it and hold to it. And the “shipwreck” representing the deception that often accompanies the “siren” or beautiful idea.
“Steer away from the rocks, we'd be a walking disaster.....Don't reach out”: Again, just a warning to avoid this sort of thing as it will most likely lead to disaster.
“Someone on your shoulder...just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there”: This possibly referring a “little companion helping to guide the person through this path of blindness; whether that's their own thoughts or bias or feelings or whatever. Basically it's just them convincing themselves in one way or another. And again, 'just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there' or real.
“Why so green and lonely?”: Not sure about this part other than, maybe just a sense of loneliness with the false notions.
“Heaven sent you to me, to me?”: This line being posed as a question may be signifying a sense of doubt in the individual concerning their reasoning's and belief's. If it's not posed as a question, then maybe just a feeling that their beliefs come from something divine.
“We are accidents waiting to happen”: I think this is simply Tom York stating that we, as humans with tendencies to reason in this way, are accidents waiting to happen.
Even if I'm wrong about it specifically being about religion/belief's, I think it would still be the same concept, just referring to something other than religion or belief's. But this makes the most sense and would be most typical.
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The best art tends to have more than one level, to mean more than one thing. And there are many different ways to read a piece of art, whether it be autobiographical or feminist or Marxist or whatever. With that condescending preamble out of the way, I've always been interested in the allegorical aspect of the song.
Mark Lawson on The Late Review interpreted the line "Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there" as a comment on Bush's misadventures in Iraq, most likely as a reference to unfound Weapons of Mass Destruction. Clearly, the album itself is a gloomy reflection on our Bushworld but some of the lyrics within the song itself suggest, at the very least, a specific allusion to the invasion and aftermath in Iraq. In this way, Sandor was on to something when he said, "i think the song is about entering foreign territory, leaving your comfort zone."
The first two lines summon up the image of blindly blundering into a place that isn't yours, hindered at every turn by the chaos of the environment. The siren, though usually interpreted as a sexual metaphor, can also stand for any kind of dangerous temptation. (As it happens, I also think paraluman's sexual reading has a lot to recommend it, especially when we consider the first two stanzas and the prevalence of Eros and Thanatos in art)
"There's someone on your shoulder" suggests to me two images. Either it speaks of a paranoid or well-founded fear of being followed or, in my preferred understanding, it invokes the notion of the demon on the shoulder, urging you on to commit bad or unwise acts.
"Why so green and lonely?" is the most intriguing line of the song. Its meaning is unclear until we consider the following line, "Heaven sent you to me". Notoriously, it was reported that Bush had said, in so many words, "God told me to invade Iraq". "Why so green and lonely?" is Bush's question to all of us. Paraphrased, "why are you so naively upset about my invasion and your powerlessness and resultant further disconnection? Iraq is my God given right".
And so, "There There" is what you say to someone to soothe them when you don't know what to say or you don't care. In this interpretation, it becomes mocking - Bush's uninterested and unconcerned shrug of the shoulders. Finally, as has been already noted, George W. Bush is the ultimate accident waiting to happen. For all of us. These final lines suggest an abdication of responsibility.
I always felt the ending of the video, where Yorke initially manages to get away with his theft before becoming permanently rooted in the foreign landscape, reinforced the allegory perfectly. Having said all that, it's clear to me the song's primary goal is on the level of emotional feeling rather than literal meaning. It creates a general air of lonely unease, wistful mistrust of everything - including oneself - and a gloomy fatalism. It's not difficult to see how it could lend itself to many different interpretations.
I totally agree with you. It pretty matches with all these stuff about Irak war. The title seems to me like if the agents were telling Bush they don't find the massive destruction weapons and Bush is like pointing different places at random 'There, there! look there'. Just an excuse to go into war.
I totally agree with you. It pretty matches with all these stuff about Irak war. The title seems to me like if the agents were telling Bush they don't find the massive destruction weapons and Bush is like pointing different places at random 'There, there! look there'. Just an excuse to go into war.
The siren has two meanings for me. On the first verse it refers to a continuous alarm state he wants to mantain in the country, in order to perpetuate in his legislature, like that thing explained in Moore's Farenheit 9/11. He wants american population to believe...
The siren has two meanings for me. On the first verse it refers to a continuous alarm state he wants to mantain in the country, in order to perpetuate in his legislature, like that thing explained in Moore's Farenheit 9/11. He wants american population to believe they're always in danger so they need him. But this alarm turns into that mythological figure in the next verse, because one of this alarms he is creating is finally going to take him to disaster, will turn into a real siren (shipwreck).
Why so green and so lonely? is like a question Bush makes himself about Irak. The green is the rich of the country (fuel), but still it is a deserted place, and so it's wasted. He wants to take to that promised land (sent by God) and prosper.
The band has been asked about this references (not specifically about this song, but about the album), and they admit them but they say they like to think about the lyrics in a more general than allegorical level.
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Everyone sees a song through there own life, it's the only way anyone can. That said, here's my thoughs on it:
This song's about a relationship with a fatalist.
He's involved with somone who sees the world on it's worst terms.
'i go walking in your landscape.
broken branches trip me as i speak'
He has a hard time making her understand that things arn't as bad as she sees them.
Who hasn't fealt pessimistic and or depressed, and seen a situation they know should be simple and happy, but all they can bring up inside is lonelyness?
'just coz you feel it doesnt mean its there.'
'There's always a siren Singing you to shipwreck' here he's speaking to that specter in everyone's mind that sees only the worst,
It's a constant challange when your depressed to keep an optimistic outlook on life. 'Stay away from each rocks We'd be a walking disaster '
'why so green and lonely? ... heaven sent you to me ' He loves her, but she can't get it through, that he's been there as well, in the hoplesness
'we are accidents waiting waiting to happen. ' He uses we here, conveying that they are both in the same situation.
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best radiohead song in my oppinion its just so fucking good!
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In my opinion this song is about being in a hard relationship with someone who you love very much, but you know that it can never work...
"In pitch dark, I go walking in your landscape, Broken branches trip me as I speak." I trust you and try to get to know you better, but things are always getting in the way and making it hard for me. "Just 'cause you feel it, doesn't mean it's there." Just because I can feel the love for you, it doesn't mean it's there...you might not love me too. "There's always a siren, Singing you to shipwreck" There's always something there, trying to get in the way. Always something trying to hurt you. Always something stopping us from being together. "Don't reach out, don't reach out." Don't reach out to the things trying to hurt you. "Steer away from these rocks, We'd be a walking disaster." Steer away from this relationship, you and me would be a disaster. "Why so green and lonely?" Why are you so jealous and on your own, I could be there for you. "Heaven sent you to me." Kind of speaks for itself, but basically you were made for me. "We are accidents, Waiting, Waiting to happen." We should happen, but it's envitable that we'll be together.
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The lyrics that I am looking at are accurate.
"in pitch dark i go walking in your landscape. broken branches trip me as i speak."
Clearly he hasn't done this before, and it's the ragged road of infidelity that will bring him undone, which he knows.
"just coz you feel it doesnt mean its there. just coz you feel it doesnt mean its there."
This is an assurance from him that any feelings they may have, may not be real.
"There's always a siren Singing you to shipwreck (Don't reach out, don't reach out Don't reach out, don't reach out) Stay away from these rocks We'd be a walking disaster (Don't reach out, don't reach out Don't reach out, don't reach out)"
The Homeric reference is immediate; If I follow my insincts (which is to be drawn in by beauty) I will suffer.
"just coz you feel it doesn't mean its there. (theres someone on your shoulder) just coz you feel it doesn't mean its there. (theres someone on your shoulder)"
No longer singing to her, but himself.
"why so green and lonely? and lonely and lonely heaven sent you to me to me to me"
Despite all of his warnings to himself, he's now starting to justify why it should happen.
"we are accidents waiting waiting to happen. we are accidents waiting waiting to happen."
Finally he surrenders to fate, he can no longer justify keeping himself or her apart.