Lets jump right back in. Just a reminder; most of this stuff is from what I've picked up listening to the album. Wikipedia's page on OK Computer has a lot of additional background for each track if you're interested!
Let Down
"Let Down" is appropriately titled both lyrically and sonically; we've moved on from excitement about technological advancement, burgeoning industry, and massive consumption; now we're starting to feel the hollowness - the loss of humanity - that attends such things. This song is utterly melancholy. The first stanza returns to the subject matter of "Airbag" - transportation - but treats it very differently:
"Transport/
Motorways and tramlines
/Starting and then stopping
/Taking off and landing"
Instead of gratitude to the convenience or safety of vehicular travel, "Let Down" calls attention to the mundanity of it; the faceless masses moving from place to place, each with a story that is drowned out by the noise of commuting. This is the second song in the "Vehicular Trilogy" (I should copyright that...) of OK Computer. "Airbag" is part one and speaks in the language of awe and gratitude ("I'm amazed that I survived/an airbag saved my life"). "Let Down" is part two; the vehicle, to our imaginary protagonist(s), has shifted from a benevolent machine to a bland, utilitarian device. Part three is yet to come, but you might be able to guess the next point on the spectrum.
Fitter Happier
This interlude is not necessarily a song, but it provides a roadmap for the rest of the album. Pull up the lyrics and listen to it. There's not really anything else that I can say about "Fitter Happier" that I haven't said about OK Computer as a whole; it describes the initial enthusiasm of progress and innovation (or, in this song, the things that are marketed as leading to a "better life"), followed by the dawning realization that consumerism is a deadly trap in which the things that you own are the only things people see ("weird creatures who lock up there spirits/ and live for their secrets").
The initial trinity of "Fitter, happier, more productive" is replaced by the eerie mockery "A pig, in a cage, on antibiotics." Or at least we think it's replaced. The genius of "Fitter Happier" is that, as you listen through, you realize that the opening lines and the closing ones mean the exact same thing.
Electioneering
This song is almost clunkily straightforward, and, like "Let Down," form follows function; it's a raucous, in-your-face guitar fest with no particular subtlety. But that's the genius. Thom Yorke is speaking from the point of view of a raucous, in-you-face politician with an absolute lack of subtlety. The song is rather unpleasant to listen to, BUT THAT'S THE POINT; political posturing is often equally unpleasant. Nice going, guys.
The other interesting feature of this song is the point-of-view shift; it's the only song on the album where the narrative voice changes from the man oppressed by modern life to a man contributing to the oppression. This marks a sharp contrast to the rest of the album and especially the next two songs.
Climbing Up the Walls/No Surprises
These two songs mark the most interesting point in the album for me. In our very loose underlying theme progression (excitement - detachment/disillusionment - consequences - reform), we've finally reached the consequence stage. "Climbing Up The Walls" and "No Surprises" both feature characters at the end of their ropes. In "Climbing" he's described as "a local man who's got the loneliest feeling" - local potentially describing a suburbanite, your average Joe that has lived his life trying to find security and normalcy, a family man with kids and a wife and a cookie-cutter house in a little neighborhood outside of London, a pig in a cage on antibiotics. In "No Surprises," he is likely a very similar character, with a "pretty house" and a "pretty garden." In fact, just for fun, let's pretend that both songs are about the same character under slightly different circumstances. We'll call him Max.
In "Climbing," Max's response to the stress of keeping up appearances manifests itself in the form of a voice in his head. This voice is not a pleasant one. I think the go-to interpretation for this song is that it's a murderer talking to it's target - probably a woman - and saying things like "lock the kids up safe tonight" because he plans to attack. A closer look at the lyrics gives us a much more chilling alternative:
"I am the key to the lock in your house/That keeps your toys in the basement/And if you get too far inside/You'll only see my reflection."
This verse and the chorus seem to suggest that the narrator of this song is the voice itself, telling Max to lock up his own kids. Ugh. Max is either suffering from a mental disorder such as schizophrenia or dissociative identity, or he is simply snapping under the pressure of his existence in what is called brief reactive psychosis. Either way, the voice is getting stronger, literally climbing up the walls in Max's head, trying to get out. There are sounds of bugs buzzing in the background, a classic symbol of infestation and even Satan himself (some Lord of the Flies parallels here), and the whole song kind of claws at you until Thom suddenly erupts into a metallic, distorted scream surrounded by wailing guitars- the breaking point. (warning: violence)
In "No Surprises," Max, now a tragic character, comes to a different sort of breaking point. His suburban life has driven him to suicide, quietly and unassumingly. The sound of the song contributes a lot to the lyrics; the quiet, whimsical music box guitar mirrors Max's bland, unsurprising life, while the dreamlike lullaby atmosphere mirrors the method by which Max kills himself:
"a handshake of carbon monoxide/with no alarms and no surprises."
What seems like musical juxtaposition (opposites: pairing dark, heavy content like death with happy music ) turns out to be quite an appropriate pairing. "No Surprises" is a soul crushing, nearly-perfect song that succinctly embodies middle-class discontent and hopelessness, especially when paired with the video. Fun fact: the song was recorded in one take, while the video was notoriously tricky to shoot and caused a lot of frustration for the band. Fun fact 2: Listen to the chorus of Paramore's "Only Exception." Or the verse of Damien Rice's "The Blowers Daughter.
Here's my somewhat conspiratorial thought. The timeline of Max's character is "Climbing Up The Walls," followed by "Exit Music (for a Film)" and, finally, "No Surprises." Max goes insane and goes after his family. They run. Max is left alone in the situation that drove him to the edge of the cliff in the first place. Silence.
My other way of viewing these two songs as alternate possible endings to Max's story. On the one hand, he violently snaps and unleashes his repressed aggression. On the other hand, the stress and pain of his life drives him further and further into the ground until it is finally buried with him.
These aren't real theories...I don't want to pigeonhole the artists by saying that they had a specific set of intentions when writing each song. However, so much of the significance of art is what the consumer brings to the table, and this is the baggage that I've brought.
Tune in next time for the end of the album!
Austin
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