Climbing up the Walls

listening to this song, lights off, middle of the day, always makes me shiver. for the longest time(6 months), i had the lyrics but never looked at them. one day, i actually tore myself apart from the intuition that told me this was amazing and read the words myself.

and if you get too far inside
you'll only see my reflection

when i was younger, i would stay up late at night, turn off the lights and stare into a mirror until i felt my face fall away. it ended up looking like an old woman, lost and too tired even to die.. and i see that in me even now when i stare into my reflection--the years too impatient to wait for their time to ruin.

do not cry out or hit the alarm
we're friends till we die

i've kept silent too many times when i should've spoken. to make things remain unchanged, i've sacrificed truth.

It's always best when the light is off,
it's always better on the outside

to find escape, i go outside, in the dark, and sometimes i pretend there is no me...

that either way you turn I'll be there,
open up your skull, I'll be there
climbing up the walls.

but she's always there, waiting to ruin, disgust, and create fear.

and the screaming at the end.. what i hear inside.

The Radiohead song was also remixed by Fila Brazillia (available on: Lucky (France CD), Karma Police (UK CD2), Climbing Up The Walls 12" promo) and Zero 7 (available on: Karma Police (UK CD2), Karma Police (UK 12"), Climbing Up The Walls 12" promo.). Both remixes feature wicked bass lines.

Said Thom Yorke of the lyrics:

Some people don't dare to sleep with the window open, because they're afraid that the monsters that they see in their imagination will come inside. This song is about the monster in the closet... I found the sentence "the crack of the waning smile / 15 blows to the skull" after I had read in the New York Times that 8 out of 10 mass murderers in American history committed their crimes after 1980 and that they were all males between 30 and 40, who had just lost their job or had just been through a divorce.

Musically, the guitar/bass/noise arrangement should bring to mind the thoughts of the criminally insane. The white noise at the end is the sound of 16 violins playing at quartertone intervals, a technique the band borrowed from Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. For the recording on OK Computer, Thom sang his vocals through a distortion pedal, a technique he would build on for Kid A and Amnesiac. At the end of the song he completely lets go and screams into the microphone. I can only imagine what emotions he called up to produce a sound so haunting and terrible yet beautiful, but the result never fails to send shivers down my spine. In concert, Jonny Greenwood replaces the violins with a radio and/or television tuned to talk/news stations and piped through his guitar pedals.

Here are the actual, complete lyrics:

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

It's always best when the light is off
I am the pick in the ice
Do not cry out or hit the alarm
You know we're friends till we die

And either way you turn
I'll be there
Open up your skull
I'll be there
Climbing up the walls

It's always best when the light is off
It's always better on the outside
Fifteen blows to the back of your head
Fifteen blows to your mind

So lock the kids up safe tonight
Put the eyes in the cupboard
I've got the smell of a local man
Who's got the loneliest feeling

That either way he turns
I'll be there
Open up your skull
I'll be there

Climbing up the walls
Climbing up the walls
Climbing up the walls