Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) Lyrics

Sit down, stand up
Sit down, stand up
Walk (sit down) into the jaws of hell
Walk (stand up) into the jaws of hell
Anytime (sit down)
Anytime (stand up)
Sit down, stand up
Sit down, stand up
We (stand up) can wipe you out anytime
We (sit down) can wipe you out
Anytime
Anytime
Stand up
Sit down
Oh
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
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The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
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The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
The rain drops
Song Info
Submitted by
ruben On Jul 31, 2002
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Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

To me, (and this may be a stretch), this song is a commentary on the the current state of the Catholic Church. To that end, I need to reference 'Paranoid Android'. In the line, "rain down on me from a great height" he is speaking about tears from God.

If you have ever been to a Catholic mass, you know you have to stand up and sit down many times. A small metaphor to how the congregation mindlessly follows a priest's directions, trusting in his leadership.

Well, several priests have betrayed that trust and led us into the gates of hell. The raindrops, i assume, are tears from God yet again.

Am I off my rocker?

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

"Hail to the Thief", like the rest of Radiohead's albums, is conceptual. It's a statement--through music--on rarely addressed issues in our society. And with a title like "Hail to the THeif", it's obvious that this album's general concept is about the tyranny of government (or more specifically the Bush Admin.).

So this song, like 2+2=5, pretty much falls in line with the concept of government tyranny and dictatorship. I believe the title "Sit Down, Stand Up" is a euphemism for the control the government has over us all. To think that the government (especially one as the US-govt) doesn't have control over us would be foolish and stupid. Through propaganda, informational filtering, and other manipulations, we are basically told when to "sit down" and to "stand up" "anytime" at the government's will. When to support, when to oppose; what should be our concern, what shouldn't; when to sit down, when to stand up. have little influence in global "We can wipe you out anytime" is self-explanatory as being another allusion to the power of government. We, as normal people, who have no major influence (international decisions, war, peace), as oppose to people in power (government-ranking individuals) who do have that kind of influence, can be "wiped out anytime".

To sum up, I basically interpret "Sit Down, Stand Up" to be about the secret power of government. Or perhaps Thom is talking about some force (i.e secret organization, occults, movements) in this world we don't know of.

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

Before I read the lyrics, I had always mistaken the raindrops part for repetitions of "arrange us, rearrange us"

Funny coincidence

@danvalicevic A Friend of mine,.long time ago,.he understood the first instead of RAINDROPS ,..Power rangers,..power rangers,..it was sooo funny,.it is weird,.if wanna u can understand power rangers,..

@danvalicevic A Friend of mine,.long time ago,.he understood the first time ..instead of RAINDROPS ,..Power rangers,..power rangers,..it was sooo funny,.it is weird,.if wanna u can understand power rangers,..

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

this song seems to be structured like a war that sprung from political manipulation and the act of exercising power.

'Sit down, stand up...' could be a reference to the inconsistencies of a regime (esp. the Nazi's, who were renowned for changing their policies to suit the requirements of the masses). triggering pretentious peace keeping states to interfere, which they shud rightly, i suppose.

'walk into the jaws of hell...' is pretty obvious if you take the war perspective. it's like invasion of a hell that you are goin to liberate (very Bush, if he can spell it) or going into a culture you dont understand and make hell for it (again, ironically, very bush and blair, or beavis and butt-head, as they should be known).

'We can anytime....We can wipe you out...' i'm not going to insult your intelligence any further.

'The rain drops...' could be about the rain washing away the blood, the mud, the conflict...the mistakes (?) or.......... it could be about the return of a regime from obscurity or hiding, or maybe about terrorism. you know? you can create hell for these people, but the rain is still gunna drop on you. your like putting yourself in the position for a soaking.

but for some reason, the song creates an image in my head (like any radiohead song) of it raining up until the crazy part (which fucking rocks) and it stops suddenly as it breaks into the electronic orgasm it seems to be having.

over analyze, but cool! we can analyze the lyrics whatever we want, as creative as we can be =D

Not Valid
Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

It means whatever you want it to mean.

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

Yeah I really like this song a lot. Great piano lick.

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

It's about nuclear war. "Walk into the jaws of hell", "we can wipe you out any time" - c'mon, can't be that hard to find :)

"The Raindrops" likely refers to either the black rain that occurs after a nuclear explosion or the actual falling of bombs.

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

Just one small comment, I think you forgot one line of "The rain drops." =P

@SirTarquin I guess not,.i counted,.in song he sings 47 times,..and here stands 47 times,.????????????????

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

Oh man, so I was walking back from doing my paper route. I was very pissed off. This song comes on: "Sit Down, Stand Up, Walk into the Jaws of Hell.." You just feel like you're being controlled..the man. Grrr. And to top it off, it started raining. "The Raindrops, the Raindrops, the raindrops.." I love the idea of Big Brother; makes you mad as hell, but still somewhat cool. Very 1984-ish, as is this entire album. x_x

Cover art for Sit Down. Stand Up. (Snakes & Ladders.) lyrics by Radiohead

off the new album, Hail to the Thief, due out June 9th.