Electioneering
ELECTIONEERING (3:51) Song info
I will stop
I will stop at nothing
Say the right things
When electioneering
I trust I can rely on your vote

When I go forwards you go backwards and somewhere we will meet

Riot shields
Voodoo economics
It's just business
Cattle prods and the IMF
I trust I can rely on your vote

When I go forwards you go backwards and somewhere we will meet 



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Available on: OK Computer.
Other Versions: none.

Jonny: "We're not a political band, but we are all political people. One of the first things I can remember is Margaret Thatcher coming to power, so just the fact that it's changed is revelation enough. We had a hell of a party that night."   

Thom: "This is about being liberated, this is about getting beyond the dirge, they are all bullshitting, but I'm already laughing. On the other side, I trust I can rely on your vote."   

Thom describes this song as being about preaching to others through a microphone. He uses the metaphor of a politician selling his party platform to critique the live promotional shows Radiohead was doing to sell its music.   

Thom: "We live under a world banking system and media that make it almost irrelevant who is in power. Political systems worldwide are at the mercy of business and bullshit economies. I can't recycle any of the polythene packaging that fills my house. Why?"  

Ed: When you have to promote your album for a longer period, in the United States for example, you fly around from city to city for weeks to meet journalists and record company people. After a while you feel like a politician who has to kiss babies and shake hands all day long.   

Thom: The sentence "when I go forward, you go backwards and somewhere we will meet" is about not giving a damn about that bullshit. After a while, you get this attitude of "You're all in this circus, but I laugh with it". On the other hand, I do need those votes of course (smiles).   

Ed: If Tony Blair can behave as a pop-star, why shouldn't we feel a bit like politicians?   

Phil: We are the New Labour of Rock!   

Thom: The songs are far less personal than the ones on 'The Bends'. I didn't feel that same need to tell my own story. I was much more involved in other peoples world, and I put my own thoughts in perspective.   

Colin: The lyrics are more like trips in Thom's mind than really personal thoughts.