True Love Waits

Google has this thing that alerts you to blogs and websites with keywords that you are interested in- It's kind of cool and kind of annoying at the same time.

Every day I get about ten emails from Google on Radiohead subjects- Most are garbage, sites for freedown loads that are niether free or easily downloadable, and a lot of blogs- One blog caught my eye because it mentioned lyrics from one of the truly saddest songs that the "R" band ever produced. Its from a post grad called Wind-Up-Bird in NY. I guess she has been offically "tagged" by me:

http://metwee.blogspot.com/

It's a song called True Love Waits- and unlike a lot of Radiohead songs, with the exception of "Spinning Plates" (the Rwandan Genocide)- the lyrics are from a news story that Thom Yorke read in the paper. Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, The Clash (Charlie Don't Surf), Pearl Jam (Jeremy), just to name a few examples have all made songs from news stories (or movies), but Radiohead has always been more internal than external in their observations. They look at how they feel about something and then make the observation through that filter.

Not to say that True Love Waits doesn't share that same obscure point of view- The beginning of the song mentions "dressing like your niece" and "washing swollen feet" which make little or no sense to anyone but Thom Yorke, the singer and songwriter.

But like most "R" songs it circles the campfire like a wolf, then goes in for the kill towards the end.

It starts out with a common turn or phrase, turned on it's end: I'm not living, I'm just killing time. Which is how we all feel some days. We are slogging from one place to the next- not really living our lives- and with a unspoken hopelessness that all we are doing is killing time, waiting for it all to end.

Then a refrain of the chorus, Just don't leave, Don't leave which isn't really a chorus- in Thom Yorkes voice, it's a wail of longing and desperation. Then the kicker-

And true love waits,

In haunted attics,

And true love lives,

On lollipops and crisps,

Which at first glimpse you read as, big deal? Haunted attic's- what is he on about? Lollipops and Crisps? Is this a snack food jingle???

But like most of the "R" songs, they have a much deeper meaning. You have to work a little to get it, they are always like a small puzzle- which is the "fun" part of their music.

From GreenPlastic.com- The best Radiohead site on the planet:

According to Thom, the line "On lollipops and crisps" is from an article he read: "I read an article about a child who was between 5-8 yrs old who was left on his/her own for a week in a house when his parents left on hoilday and he lived on lollipops on crisps. True"

Then it hits you like a ton of bricks- He is singing from the perspective of a young child- That no matter how abandoned you feel as an adult, there is still a part of you that loves so much, the child inside of you- you will go through anything, even starvation- waiting for that love to be reciprocated.

When he sings the chorus again, you understand that feeling so much more. The wail becomes a lament. Is it for lost love, abandonment? You never really know-

You may know what true love is- After listening to this song, you know where true love comes from and how delicate it is-