waking_life_n_y_c January 2nd, 2006 02:29AM  
Thom Yorke has said that this song was inspired by two things; after seeing a Jeff Buckley show and The Canary Wharf in London. Apparently it's his views on globalization, mass marketing etc. Either way this is one of RH's best songs and of my favorites. If you ever get a chance to see their live concert DVD (astoria live), you get to really appreciate this song.

anonymous January 3rd, 2006 12:45AM  
THIS SONG IS LOVE. To me it's about someone observing how superficial we are naturally. He realizes people having materistic identities yet we are drawn to it still and love it. Its like watching tv. were all just actors; marketed and sold products.somehow we find that as desireable. and the result.. we wish we could be who they (you), anyone, wanted...all the time. Thank god for radiohead and this song.

anonymous February 3rd, 2007 04:09AM  
The invention of fake plants is an interesting aspect of consumerism, and this twist to this song is a new one to me... as with many radiohead songs they are uniquely ambiguous. Many people might suggest that capitalists have implanted a collective conscience of thought where this consumerism makes us feel better about capitalist employment. With much more disposable cash, this ideology of needed materialist objects (makes us feel better ie shopping) is essential to stop a civil war or revolution. Comprehending this can be achieved by imagining spending wages solely on subsistence ie food etc. Consumerism now appears to be subsistence.... On the other hand it could be seen as a relationship tug of war where one is losing, is aware of the situation but allowing morals to be manipulated etc etc I prefer the first meaning...

anonymous March 11th, 2007 01:37PM  
There are two ways you could view this song:

1) The song says that with all of our futile efforts to be perfect(references to plastic surgery and having a fake, pretty life with fake plans) and be "who you wanted", it will"wear us out". So, if we could truly be what/who everyone wanted, it wouldn't be worth it because soon you will see yourself turning fake,or having superficial attitudes.

2) The song could also refer to wealthy people who go to major lengths o get peoples' attention, for example plastic surgery and plans that don't always go through or unfinished donations to the community and/or charity

anonymous March 20th, 2007 09:05AM  
This song is about people making themselves be something there are not to attract and please others. It's all fake and it's sad because we're don't express our true selves for fear of rejection. So we are "perfect plastic trees" --we look like the real thing, taste like the real thing, except that we are fake and that makes us so not perfect.

anonymous April 25th, 2009 07:07AM  
The evocation of the Coca-Cola slogan "tastes like the real thing", fashion labels "it wears her out" and the futility of plastic surgery "gravity always wins" are highlights for me in a predictably ahead of the curve attack on the celebrity/image driven obsessions which are undermining our world.

anonymous August 24th, 2009 06:14PM  
How bout this- consumerism has made us superficial (the cracked polystirene man who used to be a plastic surgeon). The best line: in a town full of rubber plants..to get rid of itself. The live version is brilliant.

anonymous October 23rd, 2009 06:24PM  
I think this song is about someone on anti-depressants, about how there is no feeling, no emotion, the world is fake and the lover who has to deal with it is worn down by this. I know it's a different way of thinking of the song, but it personifies the feelings of someone in that state.

anonymous January 4th, 2010 04:02AM  
The first part of the song does not define the woman, but reveals that her actions are frivolous and trite. The narrator's unwillingness to label her while the man is labled "broken" and "cracked" seems to suggest a more personal connection to the woman. "She lives with a broken man" suggests that the woman has a relationship with a man whom she does not love. She goes through the motions of life but all in vain, for the life that she chooses to live with this man is not real. "She looks like the real thing, she tastes like the real thing" suggests that the narrator and woman have shared intimate moments where she has revealed her true self and her love for him, which is in fact, fake and plastic (deceptive) for she returns to a relationship with a man who "just crumbles and burns." Her love is confusing and questionable because she does not leave that broken man. "But I can't help the feeling, I could blow through the celieng." He can't help being in love with her yet he knows that she will never leave the man, so he should "just turn and run." "If I could be who you wanted all the time." He is not content with being her lover and yearns for her committment. Unreciprocated love "wears him out." In all, I think the message imposes that if you do not live life through love, you live for nothing at all. Your world becomes meaningless and fake. Such as a fake plastic tree may appear to be alive is not, and will never grow.