Faith, you're driving me away
You do it everyday
You don't mean it
But it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen
From my life support
My iron lung
We're too young to fall asleep
To cynical to speak
We are losing it
Can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
A twentieth century bitch
And we are grateful for
Our iron lung
The headshrinkers, they want everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
The headshrinkers, they want everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/radiohead/my_iron_lung.html ]
Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out
We'll just hum
This, this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung
The headshrinkers, they want everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
The headshrinkers, they want everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
And if you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's OK
And if you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's OK
The headshrinkers, they want everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
I feel like the iron long is simply an extended metaphor for a 20th century sell out song. The way thom speaks it's as if he's stuck; writers clot. He needed to produce a track that would keep the band on the radio and their popularity up to par. The iron lung keeps the band breathing but the metal is cold and shallow. He writes "this, this is our new song just like the last one, a total waste of time. My iron lung". He compares this track to possibly the song creep from pablo honey that brought the group their original media attention. Lucky for them the song was a hit and thom began writing amazing music again.