SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN (4:28) Song info The breath of the morning
I keep forgetting
The smell of the warm summer air
I live in a town
Where you can't smell a thing
You watch your feet
For cracks in the pavement
Up above
Aliens hover
Making home movies
For the folks back home
Of all these weird creatures
Who lock up their spirits
Drill holes in themselves
And live for their secrets
They're all uptight
Uptight.. (x7)
I wish that they'd swoop down in a country lane
Late at night when I'm driving
Take me on board their beautiful ship
Show me the world as I'd love to see it
I'd tell all my friends
But they'd never believe
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely
I'd show them the stars
And the meaning of life
They'd shut me away
But I'd be all right
All right..
I'm just uptight
Uptight.. (x7)
Back to Radiohead Lyrics.
Back to Follow Me Around.Available on: OK Computer
Other Versions: live, acoustic version - available on: Rare on Air Volume 4.
Originally called "Uptight", which was how Jonny referred to it in its early stages, the song pays homage to Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues". It deals with alien abduction and stems from an incident in Thom's life. It occurred in Abingdon School, when he was assigned an essay question that went something like this: "If you were an alien from another planet arriving on Earth, how would you describe what you saw?" (Clapps)."Subterranean Homesick Alien" was first played acoustically back in 1995 during radio broadcasts. It wasn't until OK Computer was made that the organ was added. The earliest version was released on the compilation Rare on Air: Volume 4, which sees Thom and Jonny playing the song with acoustic guitars; both versions are sung together and the song closes with the chorus. [Radiohead: From a Great Height]
Thom: A tribute to Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. [sings] "Jonny's in the basement mixing up the medicine, I'm on the pavement thinking about the government". Do I really hope to be on a spaceship? Why not. I believe there are aliens under the ground. I want to see them. I want to see ghosts. I want to walk on the street smiling, knowing that there are little green creatures with incredible large brains and big, beautiful, black eyes, that are filming us with their videocameras.
Colin: John Power of Cast believes that in the middle of the earth there is a sun where aliens live. They get to the sun from two entrances: one on the south-pole and one on the north-pole.