ZvB January 16th, 2006 10:48PM  
Phew, it's hard to give a straight interpretation on this. It seems clear that the lyrics were written while reading the mentioned Douglas Adams Book. (The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy Part I-V, the BOOK, not the movie) Maybe it is about what is going on in Marvins' head. He is a really depressed robot, his emotion chips are malfunctioning and he seems to bear the tragic of the whole universe. The "rain down" sequence is a dream of being released from existence. The backing vocals in this sequence remind me of a stewardess talking to flight passenger, a theme that also occurs in the mentioned book. Like if somebody leaves life and everything that torured the person is mentioned again. Or like you die and your life which consisted of nothing but depression passes you by in a short sequence, in this case not as a movie but satirically being spoken by a stewardess. "God loves his children" to somebody like "Marvin" must mean that life is not eternal is a proof for the love of god (who in the book is the cat of the universe's regent). In the book you also find god's last message to his creation. It's like a message to those who only suffer from life. "We apologize for the inconvenience". The first part gives a few examples on how "Marvin" gets treated and what he thinks of the world and the beings around him. Actually this is really great stuff, lots of double and triple satire. If you know the books of Adams you will understand what I mean...

anonymous August 17th, 2008 01:05AM  
I think this song is about the strange things you see in the world around you that are so hard to understand and so hard to deal with, that they make you feel like you are not a part of the human race. Every line in this song (except for the rain part, I have no explanation for that, except that Thom Yorke really has a thing for rain, it is in a lot of his songs) reads like a glimpse of the world through someones eyes who is, indeed, paranoid, and has trouble relating to the world around them. Have you ever seen a Thom Yorke interview? It fits him perfectly.

jtg08 October 12th, 2008 10:39PM  
Yes the first thing I thought about was Douglas Adams marvin android. So it sounds right. If you don't understand the song read the books hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.