2 + 2 = 5 lyrics

The song tells me that you cant fit anything in the world and you will be useless if you dont pay attention when learning and keep dreaming without determination to achieve your dreams

It's orwellian. Comes from the idea that if the all-controlling state decrees something that's logically untrue, then it must be true anyway.

Well the title itself gives a pretty obvious description of the overall meaning. In 1984, 2 2=5 was the quintessential aspect of doublethink or the stream of lies fed to us (for all of those illiterates out there). Now when rh talks about "sandbag and hide" and "you can scream and you can shout, it's too late now", they're essentially expressing how the institutions and governments have implanted this doublethink so far into people's minds that it's useless to try to correct things. Ultimately, rh is describing the state of decadence that has enveloped our world and now the norm seems to be "the devil's way. "

So i basically registered soley to clear this little blunder up ha. It has absolutely nothing to do with george bush, in fact radiohead became quite annoyed with everyone suggesting that thats what it was about. The song is about politics, but not recent or even real ones. All your answers to what these lyrics mean can be found in the fantastic novel: 1984. Please read this magnificent work

Gosh this could mean a whole lot of things. Thom's put a lot into it. Its a very frenetic song. Of course, obviously, 2=2=5 means sometimes things don't add up. His line "january has april showers" is telling for a direct effect of things not adding up. But it’s a weather reference. Might just be that. Or, "i try to sing along, but the music’s all wrong". What might he be referring to? Could be a metaphor for just about in attempt at doing something and realizing something isn't right. Or, "are you such a dreamer, to put the world to rights. " dreaming may be the start of making something from nothing, but dreaming alone doesn't get it done. Especially if we are talking about something near and dear to rh's hearts, the environment. But, then again, when this album came out we had the start of the iraq war. We've got the reference in the album title and in this song to the thief. I've always believed this reference is to president bush (i have never read that, so if its been said or is well known in rh circles that this is true, then forgive me). Anyhoo, we've got that reference to not adding up as well as bush's policing the world and putting it to rights... And of course the frenetic ending with not questioning authority (bush again), being put in a box (civil rights out the window with his administration), going up to the king (bush again) and the bush administration’s view on terrorism and 9/11 (the sky is falling in).