Radiohead – 2 + 2 = 5 lyrics

Radiohead – 2 + 2 = 5 lyrics

Are you such a dreamer
To put the world to rights
I'll stay home forever
Where two and two always makes a five
I'll lay down the tracks
Sandbag and hide
January has April showers
And two and two always makes a five
It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now
Because you're not there
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Yeah I feel it, I needed attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Yeah I need it, I needed attention
I needed attention
I needed attention
I needed attention
Yeah I love it, the attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Soon oh
I try to sing along
But the music's all wrong
Cos I'm not
Cos I'm not
I'll swallow up flies?
Back and hide
But I'm not
Oh hail to the thief
Oh hail to the thief
But I'm not
But I'm not
But I'm not
But I'm not
Don't question my authority or put me in the box
Cos I'm not
Cos I'm not
Oh go up to the king, and the sky is falling in
But it's not
But it's not
Maybe not
Maybe not

Lyrics taken from /lyrics/r/radiohead/2_2_5.html

Songwriters: Colin Charles Greenwood, Edward John O'Brien, Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood, Philip James Selway, Thomas Edward Yorke

2 + 2 = 5 lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Corrected by zacharysm

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2 + 2 = 5 meanings

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+ 4
radoncphys2 2008-09-02 00:31:55

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).

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hablahabla 2011-04-20 19:57:32

Well the title itself gives a pretty obvious description of the overall meaning. In 1984, 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."

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