Rows of houses, all bearing down on me
I can feel their blue hands touching me
All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole
And fade out again and fade out
This machine will, will not communicate
These thoughts and the strain I am under
Be a world child, form a circle
Before we all go under
And fade out again and fade out again
Cracked eggs, dead birds
Scream as they fight for life
I can feel death, can see its beady eyes
All these things into position
All these things we'll one day swallow whole
And fade out again and fade out again
Immerse your soul in love
IMMERSE YOUR SOUL IN LOVE
Back to Radiohead Lyrics.
Back to Follow Me Around.
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Available on: The Bends (US CD), The Bends (UK CD), The Bends (Japan CD), Street Spirit [fade out] (UK CD1), Street Spirit [fade out] (UK CD2), Street Spirit [fade out] (Australia CD1), Street Spirit [fade out] (Holland CD1), Street Spirit [fade out] (UK 7"), Street Spirit [fade out] (2 Meter Session Holland CD), Radio One Evening Session, World of Noise
Other Versions: Acoustic at Eve's Club - available on: Fake Plastic Trees (UK CD2). 2 meter session - available on: Street Spirit [fade out] (2 Meter Session Holland CD).
This song was written in 1993, around the same time as "My Iron Lung." "Creep" is Radiohead's American hit, this is the British equivalent. Laced with Ed's absolutely perfect arpeggios, the track has a mesmerizing quality that links it to the work of Stereolab. With lyrics about feeling like a very small person in an intimidating world, this fan favorite is memorable and timeless. [Radiohead: From a Great Height]
Thom:
"'Street Spirit' is our purest song, but I didn't write it.... It wrote
itself. We were just its messengers... Its biological catylysts. It's core
is a complete mystery to me... and (pause) you know, I wouldn't ever try
to write something that hopeless... All of our saddest songs have somewhere
in them at least a glimmer of resolve... 'Street Spirit' has no resolve...
It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic
emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition.
We all have a way of dealing with that song... It's called detachment...
Especially me.. I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldn't
play it... I'd crack. I'd break down on stage.. that's why its lyrics are
just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive
explanation of its meaning... I used images set to the music that I thought
would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together...
That's what's meant by 'all these things are one to swallow whole'.. I
meant the emotional entirety, because I didn't have it in me to articulate
the emotion... (pause) I'd crack.... Our fans are braver than I to let
that song penetrate them, or maybe they don't realize what they're listening
to.. They don't realize that 'Street Spirit' is about staring the fucking
devil right in the eyes... and knowing, no matter what the hell you do,
he'll get the last laugh...and it's real...and true. The devil really will
get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself
think about that to long, I'd crack. I can't believe we have fans that
can deal emotionally with that song... That's why I'm convinced that they
don't know what it's about. It's why we play it towards the end of our
sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell everytime I play
it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious
to the tragedy of it's meaning, like when you're going to have your dog
put down and it's wagging it's tail on the way there. That's what they
all look like, and it breaks my heart.
I wish that
song hadn't picked us as its catalysts, and so I don't claim it. It asks
too much. (very long pause). I didn't write that song."
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