7. Fitter Happier

[purplemarmot]

Stephen Hawking's debut single

[jordysaurus]

This song is genius...

[RMcWhanAccount]

This is my second favourite track on the album. It's different, it's thought provoking, it's genius. I don't get the hate.

[alternateGRAMMAR]

... The hell.

[NeoArc]

A pig in a cage, on antibiotics

[WatsDaWurd]

this is one song on this album i can't stand. but the rest of the album, being genius, makes up for that :D

[metoksipirazin]

so this was a first Anonymous Message ever... :D

[babymagggiee]

the ending wraps up my life. word for word.

[liligman]

So if this outlines surface happiness, how does society break free of this routine and truly live Fitter and Happier, and still function?

[GeoMcEvan]

@peterhitchcock123 Radiohead > Poo > You

[WatsDaWurd]

@peterhitchcock123 please dont judge them by this song. you will SERIOUSLY be missing out.

[Johnnys1700]

A pig.. in a cage.. on antibiotics. that is so powerful

[loljustice31]

@Johnnys1700 oh I know, everything out of thom's mouth is just pure uninterrupted perfection, they should let him be the president of the United States (even though he's British).

[ZyxkViruxToxik]

@loljustice31 pues si ahi un presidente negro porque no un britanico?

[MiladyToxic]

@ZyxkViruxToxik you have to be American-born, genius.

[AirWaterLandBuffalo]

@MiladyToxic *is so tempted to write joke about Dragonborn*

[MissUranija]

this is a song? where did the world come to?

I think I'll return to Alice Cooper, Steel Panther, White Lion, Bon Jovi...

[masteretl]

@MissUranija No, it's not a song, it's a track from OK Computer

[MissUranija]

@masteretl so why does everyone refer to it as one? :troll:

[masteretl]

@MissUranija oooh, that was actually a pretty decent troll attempt, seriously, nice job

[DrParanoidAndroid]

Can't have the whole album without this song XD Have to take the bad with the good :) Though this is a fucking great song in contrast to some of the shit out there!

[latertodeath]

I wake up to this song ^^

EVERYDAY :0

[rockomundo]

I love this album but jesus i cannot stand this song...

[Abadoeba15]

jezus those lyrics are deep... wow

[Seraphimal]

Fond but not in love. . .

. . .

No longer afraid of the darker or midday shadows, nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate. Nothing so childish.

One of the most frightening songs I've ever heard...

[bobstar76]

three days of the condor...

[mmtna]

the truth

[MrSantiagoandDunbar]

song is about a man whos living the "perfect" life. he wants to get out desperately

[0000AllFitness0000]

like a cat, tied to a stick, that's driven into frozen winter shit...a pig...in a cage...on antibiotics.......

[squeezeslemons]

What the fuck.

[accioboooks]

This is my favourite radiohead song.

[Zender1]

*Comment about Stephen Hawking*

[xRyan5]

One of the most alarming things I've ever heard.

[pablobenitez1]

Aguante Cabeza de Radio

[gramhyro14]

the creepiness and monotone voice reminds of revolution 9 by the Beatles

[AirWaterLandBuffalo]

This song is... so fucking creepy. It puts me on edge every time I hear it. Brr.

[liligman]

@AirWaterLandBuffalo lol yeah, I literally kept looking behind me when I heard it for some reason

[StudioScarecrow]

to me this song is basically about a madman who's doing what's right and resisting his sadistic urge to kill but not because he wants to, it's because he has to

[salihadjic]

@StudioScarecrow

It;s about regular people in big cities 

[StudioScarecrow]

@salihadjic that is your interpretation

it's not like radiohead has come out and said explicitly what it's about

[platinumdynamite]

@StudioScarecrow I think it's more of a kind of dystopian perspective on modern life, with a robotic voice to represent the advancing technology and kind of unnamed fear. The kind of idea of being trapped in a corporate lifestyle ruled by rigid ideals.

[partyman147]

Holy fuck Stephen Hawking is in the band?

[Unnamed0909]

@partyman147 Yeah, didn't you hear his backing vocals in Paranoid Android?

[TheCagedTiger]

This makes me sad.

[Sn1bb]

excellent summary for the album.. general feeling of alienation, malaise, millenialism.. the ability to have all the information in the world at your fingertips, all the problems going on in the world today, and feeling powerless. it's about doing everything right and still feeling overwhelmingly wrong.

[RDE45]

This always gives me a crazy uneasy feeling. Really freaks people out when youre in traffic. It is a great break in the album. crazy writing. bone chilling ambience.

[aspacelot]

probably not the best track to listen to to help depression

[blackhorse099]

@aspacelot i don't think any radiohead song is the best to listen to to help depression

[JonnyCashmore]

@blackhorse099 If you think Radiohead are depressing, you have the problem, not Radiohead.

[IMZA1793]

I actually laughed at the beginning but as the voice goes on i got sadder and sadder. Halfway through this "song" i actually felt emotion from the cold robot voice.

[MrBrillare]

Stephen Hawking better have gotten royalties for this sample

[SakuraElyse]

Excuse me while I spiral into despair.

[swearinz]

"still kisses with saliva..."

just... no words.

[Museile]

I'd seen a lot of people saying that muse were a lot like radiohead, so I went through this album. Nothing stood out, apart from this, which was pretty moving.

[OneIsAllAndAllIsOne]

@Museile If you say that nothing stood up in one of the best radiohead albums, apart from melodeclamation you sure must be deaf. No surprises? Electioneering? Everything in its right plce?

[Ajapam34]

@Museile Muse used to be my favorite band, and I felt the same as you when I first listened to Radiohead. Then I really got into their music, and they're my favorite band. Muse seems rather shallow and boring in comparison now, although they are still good (and AMAZING live)

[MEYERS3000]

Reminds me of Providence by Sonic Youth

[ItsSkaTV]

Does anyone else feel like this song would have been perfect for 2001: A Space Odessy?

[ONLYMINEmeGOLD]

LIKE A CAT

TIED TO A STICK

[NamelessATM]

Godspeed you! Radiohead

[MrT0xicfly]

this is what plays in a mentally unstable man/woman's head to keep him/herself from out bursting out in public and made a fool of him/herself......

[FreedomPeace1]

Somehow reminds me of A Brave New World

[Nomad1718]

@FreedomPeace1 Me too. It scares me. The worst part is, we're not only living in Brave New World, we never had a choice in its making. Either us, or our grandparents.

[AprilMaybeMay]

Why no acoustic cover versions of this clogging up youtoob? Hehe. 

[djfeas001]

Sooo annoying

[The1Liner]

Scary thruths

[terios01234]

So this proves sir stephen hawking is not a bad singer after all

[rydeeh11]

go to supermarket, listen to this on your mp3 and look around...sad

[mrjimmatube]

mac voice....superlative!!!

[rhett1583]

"A pig in a cage on antibiotics"

so true!

[TilveranNavarre]

Maybe we only truly feel alive when our world is fucked, and we're fighting for our lives just to see the next dawn.

Or maybe it's going to bed, full of peace, not knowing what the next day will bring... only that it will be something wonderful.

But when you can see your whole life laid out in black and white, and you've been ticking the boxes of all the things expected of you as you go along, your life is the product of a system... are you really alive?

[uvebeentagged]

@TilveranNavarre Did you write that? Or is that from somethin

[TilveranNavarre]

@uvebeentagged Nah, I wrote that after listening to the song for too long. Silly me.

[uvebeentagged]

@TilveranNavarre oh. its cool though

[YurzAndMyne]

Reminds me of totalitarianism...of suppression...of extremist cover-ups. I'm scared. Thanks Thom.

[0x0snowflake0x0]

it's very simple, when u listen to it, but listen to it again, listen carefully. such a powerful lyrics

Radiohead = reality

[sbentjies]

like a cat tied to a stick that's driven into frozen winter shit

[BeastOfTheEast07]

Wow. I've never read the lyrics to this, how incredible.

"Still kisses with saliva." That's astounding! This song has a somber beauty, yet is woefully horrific.

[AdrianvsJak]

My favorite so far on the 01 and 10 playlist. I say so far cause I'm listening to all those Radiohead songs for the first time today.

[cuvtixo]

This piece is not about "normalcy" or about just having a boring life. It is also about seeking self-involved, self-centered goals to the exclusion of connecting with other people. The list is missing important priorities like relationships, and interacting with new people. That's how feelings of isolation and oppression are expressed. At least that's what I got after listening a few hundred times. ;)

[Amnsiac999]

You can detect emotion in the electronic voice.

[BottledWaterr]

was this in silent hill?

[DerCruiseShip]

Still kisses with saliva.

[hellocreationmusic]

This is there best song.

[OokwantsREVENGE]

I don't really get this (or No Surprises). What's so bad about living a happy, boring life?

[sglol5]

@OokwantsREVENGE whats right about living a boring life?

[OokwantsREVENGE]

@sglol5 Nothing, it's pretty subjective really

I just disagree with the demonising of normalcy.

[AdrianvsJak]

@OokwantsREVENGE Read Brave New World. Boring life destroys art and beauty

[Paycheck125]

Evil.

[talkingbeatlehead]

kinda like a better verision of the beatles awful song "revolution 9"

[talkingbeatlehead]

I usually hate songs that swear but if Radiohead swears in a song idc i love it

[TheRaz0rEdge]

Stephen Hawking on acid

[thedoctor2199]

Like a pig.

In a cage.

On antibiotics.

[LfunkeyA]

@thedoctor2199

yeah it's just a regular pig. the cage is on antibiotics.

[RazorsharpLT]

will frequently check account at (moral) bank (tons of money) favours for favours fond but not in love charity for the cameras on fridays recording session (starting to compose with piano instead of guitar) get drunk (also on fridays) still afraid of cars and airplanes writing so ridiculously teenage and desperate writing so childish at a faster pace quicker and more complicated no chance of escape now self-employed concerned (but self-absorbed) an empowered & informed member of Oxfam

[RazorsharpLT]

fitter wealthier more productive comfortable not sucking so much regular play on the radio (3 times a day) getting on better with your hypocrite college contemporary audience at ease playing well (no more local bar concerts and no more name-calling) a better songwriter a nicer car (groupie smiling in back seat) touring lots (with REM) still paranoia careful to all producers (always following orders) keep in contact with old favourites (playing creep on command)

[KAMMM3]

communism in a nutshell, apparently Thom read 1984 and fears that kind of society 

[Xenogalaxy79]

reminds me of portal

[rockwellumrocks2]

@invisibilitycloak12 Damn! I was just about to write that exact thing! XD

[Fhawerkk]

This reminds me of Mark Renton in the beginning of his movie.

[mortred009]

Okay this is soooo... O_O

No singing? speaking only? Too ridic man.

[noiluigi64]

This song is actually "Fitter Happier" Radiohead featuring Microsoft Sam

[Rnami9]

@noiluigi64

I think it's Mac Fred :)

[InsertUniqueUsername]

"Fitter Happier", which begins the second half of the album, consists of sampled musical and background sound and lyrics recited by a synthesized voice from the Macintosh SimpleText application.[49] Written after a period of writer's block, "Fitter Happier" was described by Yorke as a checklist of slogans for the 1990s, which he considered "the most upsetting thing I've ever written".[40

--from Wikipedia

[motrinman18]

this song scares the living shit out of me

they took the simple robotic voice

of the voice reader of microsoft or some word proseccer

and each lines into stabs at your soul

it truely is so sinister

[motrinman18]

a swear to god there on a diffrent wave length than any body else

[Cataclysmacist]

It'd be a different frequency. Wave length doesn't affect the signal. :)

[rinnix1]

That feeling of paranoia that creeps up your spine. That chill you get when you relax to examine your reality.

I'm fairly inclined to believe this is a commentary on todays society.

[Boxrag]

"all the wrong people"?

Just because certain people like Radiohead, doesn't mean you should stop listening to them. To think that people stop listening to music they like because someone else listens to them is quite confusing.

[pingui0987]

@Boxrag dude its like you like heavy metal all your life but then a good pop song comes out and you likeit alot but you do not listen to it becuz it aint heavy metal that bullshit

[Cunobelinus54]

There's just something so eerie and freaky about this song, it's like Kid A.

You may or may not understand what the lyrics are trying to say, but for me, no matter what, there will always be something hidden and sinister in this song.

[Dommc92]

Only Radiohead cud pull this off

[dethklok1817]

im pretty sure the song is about a socialistic idea called pragmatism (which is actually said). its about a perfect utopia in which everyone is perfect to the point of going a little crazy and having everything done by computer. pragmatism is actually the idea for a society to think realistically and not have aspirations or goals.

[CloudStrifeOfficial]

the whole album is a concept album about thom's fear of the speed of the modern world and his apprehension at being thrown into it at the age of maturity. this track always struck me as being to do with the social conditioning people go threw in the formative years of their life which continues to be reinforced until they die

[pointyears777]

@CloudStrifeOfficial I like your interpretation. I always felt like this song was about the "perfect" life everyone wants to live and how, behind all the masks, there's something missing. It's so hard to put a finger on it but I think we all know what it is. Its the kind of thing thats at the periphery of you thoughts when your trying to sleep at night. I remember Thom said something about In Rainbows being like sitting in traffic and knowing you should be doing something else. It fits this to

[HebaHC]

Fitter happier? More like SHITTER CRAPPIER!

Nah, just kidding. This song is awesome. Radiohead FTW

[Altrockguitarist]

Its not a song....... Its more like a slogan speech

[evanraufbold]

Radiohead might consider "Street Spirit" the most disturbing, bleak thing they've ever recorded, but i consider this infinitely more horrifying.

[purpleuiop]

just so you guys understand its about doing the right thing but without a choice about it, its about the world being a boring place and despite everything being good there is a deep feeling of unrest and oppression. you are the pig in the cage on antibiotics

[thekkl]

@purpleuiop I think it's supposed to be a Huxley utopia.

[broo234]

@purpleuiop Doesn't change the fact that it's kind of stupid.

[degree7]

Normally I'd think this was shit, but I know there's a deeper meaning to it.... something about technology.

[devilshaircut2]

sweet

[iluvpi314]

it's almost hypnotic like it's brainwashing you.....kind of creepy. i hav a friend who can recite the whole thing. in monotone

[NGS712]

Yeah it's really hypnotic. I could be wrong, but it's like technology tells us what our lives are or something like that. :)

[iFamot222]

I'd love to see that on Youtube!

[wafflestuffer2]

this song alone sold me to buy this ablum

[nihaopaty]

fantastic.

[koregano]

Up until this point in the album, I was lukewarm, and probably wouldn't have ever listened to Radiohead again. Then I heard the plaintive, creepy piano behind the ridiculous robot voice and(God forgive me) I thought it was POIGNANT. Instantly I kind of got it, and I've been (mostly) enjoying Radiohead ever since.

[soundofserenity]

Hearing this with the youtube audio preview (it only does chunks at a time) is hilarious.

[xxdude8236xx]

are you an idiot? those last lines are probablt the most important of the whole speech. it literally DEFINES most americans - pigs=take whats give nto us and not care about others, cage=america and how it traps everyone here, and antiobiotcs=most ppl take them for headaches and when there like upset to feel better, well thats most ppl in our normal society. ppl just sit here on their lazy bums and expect a higher power (govt) to take care of them and hand feed and baby them.

[neuropharma]

Are you aking me if I'm an idiot, or are you asking soundofserenity?

[dethklok1817]

..... its a metaphor

[CloudStrifeOfficial]

it's not a metaphor, it's pretty literal actually

[CloudStrifeOfficial]

with a name like Neuropharma mate, I'm not gonna fuckin argue with you on that lol, and the pig/cage/antibiotics is an existentialist 'pull back and reveal' line at the end of the song that is a deliberatly juxtapositioned to the running theme of the track in order to emphasis their point about the alienating effect modern society has upon it's more sensative citizens. It is not a dig at americans! (my keyboard is broke hence the shoddy spelling)

[GrungexXxManiac]

Right, you're a genius! (No sarcasm)

[wimdejonge]

it's not limited to Americans. If you think so, you really need to look into the mirror.

[neuropharma]

@wimdejonge

1. I'm an american. 2. I am plagued by people misreading my sarcastic response to someone who was making fun of americans because youtube can't post responses correctly. Therefore, I'm deleting all my posts but this one. I'm out. Peace be with you all.

[blueknuckless]

Who came up with that idea?

LOL ;)

[soundofserenity]

When I first clicked on this, I was expecting Thom Yorke's beautiful, flowing (singing) voice, so when the words here hit me, I burst out laughing.

Now I find this strangely soothing. >_>'

[pierodarkshadows9]

this sucks

[Waushara]

WOW

[NakedfreakLove]

Revolution no.9 The Beatles