So, what ties it all together? I’d heard that there’s a loose narrative structure to it. What’s your take on it?
Any ideas on “OK Computer” while you’re at it?
I don’t think there’s a loose narrative structure in it. The lyrics and lyrics meaning page at Green Plastic, which is usually very reliable, mentions that “Motion Picture Soundtrack” from Kid A was originally supposed to be on OK Computer. Thing was, Thom Yorke liked it and the rest of the band didn’t, so they left it off (and he got it on Kid A). This kind of messes up the idea that the whole album has a narrative structure.
However, there might be a theme to a few of the songs. Thom has said what certain songs are about, though, and a lot of them boil down to certain experiences/dreams he’s had (“How to Disappear Completely” is about a dream of floating).
OK Computer is a similar thing (and the meanings of the songs have been made pretty clear by the band). For instance, “Karma Police” came from a joke of the bands when they were on tour. If someone was in a bad mood they were told to watch out, or the Karma Police would get them. “Exit Music (for a film)” was originally written for the film “Romeo & Juliet”, but Thom thought about the older version when he wrote the lyrics. “Subterranean Homesick Alien” pays homage to a Bob Dylan song and is about a couple of experiences in Thom’s life.
The meanings of each song are so varied that I don’t think there’s a running narrative in them. But again, there could be themes you could find.
All I can say is that both my flatmate and I are fans of Radiohead and we both listen to Kid A quite often and no theme is apparent to either of us except for the general musical feel of the songs throughout the album.
I can’t really see any theme running through the tracks - at least not any narrative theme. The closest you could come, I think, is the idea of the final track - “Motion Picture Soundtrack”. These are mood pieces, random snatches of Thom Yorke’s life set to music. “Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon.” “Where’d you park the car?” “It’s not real. This is not happening.” Odd stuff, if you’re trying to build up a cohesive narrative. I think it’s meant to give you nothing more than a fleeting glimpse of various times, places, happenings and feelings.
I love to play this album when I want to relax. I put it on, close my eyes, and drift away… I feel completely dissociated from the world around me. It’s so ethereal.
The lyric “I’m not here… this isn’t happening” I heard came from REM singer Michael Stipe telling Thom Yorke that if he wanted to get away from it all, that’s all he needed to say, over and over again.
I read that as well, in a Thom interview. I believe it was in Details, but can’t say for sure. Specifically, REM and RH were on tour together and Thom was having trouble “getting it up” for the aduience and reporters etc. Reportedly, Stipes advice was along the lines of: lock yourself in your room close the blinds, put your hands overyour ears and just repeat to yourself “i’m not here, this isn’t happening” this you feel better.
I’d concur that there aren’t “narratives” on these albums so much as themes, but i think the themes are pretty distinct. The kind of feel like before and after pictures of a person losing his sense of identity in the fact of technology. OK has all these glimmers of hope and a traditional musical vocabulary based largely in guitars, bass and drums, with choruses (chori?) and verses, while Kid A seems like the same guy after he’s been totally assimilated. Synths, processed vox, torn up, meandering songs. I like both, but generally listen to OK a lot more. IMHO Kid A is sort of like Cage’s 4:33, more of a conceptual coup than a really fun thing to listen to. I know I am blaspheming here, but a lot of the electronic stuff in there is pretty sub Eno and Aphex Twin. It only really succeeds (again IMHO) in relation to OK and to the remnants of traditional structure that they uneasily co exist with on Kid A. I’m looking forward to Amnesiacs, even if most of the tracks have been available online since last fall, I’ve delieberalty avoided them in the interest of getting the whole thing in a temporal context.
CJ
I might just be a wimp, but Kid A is unlistenable for me sometimes.
I don’t mean unlistenable because the music is poor, I mean that it affects me so deeply that my stomach tightens and I feel like I’m going to throw up or pass out or burst into tears.
Anxiety
I think that’s the central theme in Kid A.
When you feel so anxious that you can’t sit still, can’t go out, can’t stay home, can’t do anything and can’t do NOTHING - if you listen to the thoughts running through your head, they tend to be nonsensical.
Or sometimes they are nonsensical if you write them down and look at them later, but at the time they were floating in your head the made perfect sense.
The lyrics sound like the things that run through my head when I’m alone and feel like I want to die.
In “Idioteque”, I love the way all his words roll over and over, wrap around eachother as if he is free-speaking, speaking to hear a voice, any voice so that he doesn’t feel alone, a desperate attempt to keep his mind in some sort of order.
“This is really happening, happening, happening…”
Nicko said that this album is for relaxation, but I think the songs and lyrics, the theme- is all exactly the opposite of relaxing.
I almost panic when I listen to track II.
ANXIETY
So yes, the album is brilliant for being able to evoke such strong feelings in me, but I can’t really say I enjoy listening to it. I can only listen to it if I’m not alone and I’m in a fairly good mood.
Please, please try this:
Strap on a discman or walkman, pop in Kid A, and walk through the center of a busy city (I do this in Chicago all the time). The music and the hustle and bustle and jarring traffic noises go perfectly together - I come in from my walk, back to my desk job, feeling high on the city.
I got no clue about theme for ya.
magdalene, that sounds like a great idea. I can’t wait to try it.
As for the album having a theme, Thom Yorke stated in at least one interview that the intention of Kid A is to be “aural furniture”, in that it’s meant to blend into the environment in which it’s played instead of being the focal point or a distraction within the environment.
I thought OK Computer was brilliant, but Kid A just continues to grow on me, and I think it’s the best work Radiohead has done to date.