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The Bends - Lyrics
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now, when I need you
Alone on an aeroplane
Fall asleep on against the window pane
My blood will thicken
I need to wash myself again to hide all the dirt and pain
'Cause I'd be scared that there's nothing underneath
But who are my real friends?
Have they all got the bends?
Am I really sinking this low?
My baby's got the bends, oh no
We don't have any real friends, no, no, no
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
Where do we go from here?
The planet is a gunboat in a sea of fear
And where are you?
They brought in the CIA, the tanks and the whole marines
To blow me away, to blow me sky high
My baby's got the bends
We don't have any real friends
Just lying in the bar with my drip feed on
Talking to my girlfriend, waiting for something to happen
I wish it was the sixties, I wish I could be happy
I wish, I wish, I wish that something would happen
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race
I wanna live, breathe
I wanna be part of the human race, race, race, race
Where do we go from here?
The words are coming out all weird
Where are you now when I need you?
Further Information about "The Bends"
This track was initially introduced as being about "knowing who your real friends are and when they're going to come to your gigs". Thom soon simplified this to "knowing who your friends are". The song reflects Radiohead's sense of humor.
Of the opening, Thom says, "The sound at the beginning comes from this caterwauling mayhem outside this hotel in the States. There was this guy training these eight-year-old kids, who were parading up and down with all these different instruments. The guy had this little microphone on his sweater and was going: 'Yeah, keep it up, keep it up.' So I ran out and taped it".
So many interviewers asked about the line "I wish it was the sixties" that Thom started to regret having written it: "I really do wish I never wrote that fucking song -- it's become the bane of my life. Hundreds of journalists, asking -- every single fucking interview, asking -- 'Do you wish it was the sixties?' No! I don't wish it was the fucking sixties -- Levi's Jeans wish it was the sixties -- I certainly fucking don't".
The demo version, available on the Long Live Tibet compilation, has loud guitars at the opening, lo-fi production, a slower temp, and lifeless vocals with voices singing slightly different lyrics. This version is interesting simply because it is unusual, but it will just make you love the album version even more. [Radiohead: From a Great Height]
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