Prove Yourself Lyrics
Nowhere to sit without a gun in my hand
Hooked back up to the cathode ray
I'm better off dead
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
I'd say I want it but I don't know how
I work, I bleed, I beg, I pray
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
Prove yourself
Prove yourself
I'm better off dead
I'm better off
I think this song is about everyone hating you. I think the fact that he says he needs a gun is the fact that people want him dead. I think the fact and the insults he gets from people make him want him dead. He wants to breathe, and he wants to grow which i think means he wants to escape and start over from the beginning. I dunno something like this just happened to me and it kinda seemed like my life. Thats my thought.
What does the line "hooked back up to the cathode ray" mean? I did something about the cathode thingy in chemistry =p lol and from what i can remember i think it woz the negative bit of a battery. But i cant make sense of that line at all. Any help?
cathode ray = tv (before we had plasma's, lcds..)
cathode ray = tv (before we had plasma's, lcds..)
@x_Heather_x its what old monitors were made from E.G. crt (cathode ray tube)
@x_Heather_x its what old monitors were made from E.G. crt (cathode ray tube)
The meaning is very clear which is not The real Radiohead
This song may be about suicide, but it's also about "proving yourself". Maybe it's just about how if you aren't going to do anything for the world, you might be better off dead. But if you contribute something, or prove yourself, then you should live. And be a good person. "I say I want it but I don't know how" is being lost; without direction in life. What is my purpose in this life? Is the ultimate question. :) Personally I really love this song.
I think this is a get yourself out of the shit hole song. To me its almost as if its saying if you think your better off dead then prove it. Basically meant to knock you out of the pity party attitude.
I take pleasure in how they stopped playing it at the concerts, I don't know why- but I love that image of being on sstage and being horrified you're making these kids kill themselves. I'm not particularly dark, but imagine being up there singing a song for you, about you, and these poor kids just accepting it and getting so into it and so on. Scary thought.
I think its not really about suicide or something i think he (whoever the charachter is) is telling other people (maybe parents or elders) that he had put so much afford but nothing really happened (im better off dead) means i rather be dead than not accomplish anything and has people going on reminding him that he has to prove himself (thats why i think phil and ed sing along to it,wants to create a mass of sounds from different people saying "prove yourself" like they are expecting him to do something that remarkable that is concisered 'proving self' to the world, it could also be about the music industry that you die for your fans but they still expect you to be someone you are not!! I hope this is correct
I think it's a very downbeat song about having personal feelings that contrast greatly with what is expected from others - feeling very depressed about life in general, being penniless, yet having a gun at hand (so maybe in the USA) or maybe that's just symbolic of his own personal feelings of self-destruction, stuck in front of the TV, wanting something better but not being able to achieve that and therefore feeling it would be better to die, sarcastically comparing his own feelings with society's (and particularly maybe other men's) expectation that you should 'prove yourself'.
Radiohead stopped playing this song on tour because they didn't like hearing the kids singing back "I'm better off dead".
its about suicide
I think it's about a really bad, dangerous, possibly expensive town. Mostly, he wants to live with a smaller amount of stress so he doesn't have to carry a gun everywhere. He has nowhere to go without feeling unsafe or endangered. He wants to get out of the town to live and breathe. To get a chance to grow. He knows he wants to leave, but this place is all he's ever known. "I look, I bleed, I beg and pray" would either mean 'I'm a real person. I deserve to not be under this shit all the time!' or else...
I think it's about a really bad, dangerous, possibly expensive town. Mostly, he wants to live with a smaller amount of stress so he doesn't have to carry a gun everywhere. He has nowhere to go without feeling unsafe or endangered. He wants to get out of the town to live and breathe. To get a chance to grow. He knows he wants to leave, but this place is all he's ever known. "I look, I bleed, I beg and pray" would either mean 'I'm a real person. I deserve to not be under this shit all the time!' or else that he tries his best to get out.
He's better off dead if he keeps staying in that town. He's not doing anything for the world or else he's just trying to sustain life for a little while longer.
To prove himself would be to get out of there.
Another idea is everything like that, only instead the 'town' would be his state of mind or emotion. The gun would be fighting his dark suicidal thoughts with his last shine of optimism. To breathe would be to let loose, causing himself to fall apart. He just wants to be away from his depression.