BY Shareef Elfiki

This song is a portrayal of the pretenses and restrictions of people in the modern world.  We are raised in this world and shown all sorts of precedents for life:  how to act, what to create, what to become.  And these molds that are set for us are not always the ones we would pick, yet we try to fill them anyway.

    The first half of the first verse is an image of a woman growing a plant; essentially, trying to create something.  Yet, it is not a sincere thing she creates, as noted by key words "fake" and "plastic".  This could be a metaphor for many things.  Perhaps she is trying to create an image of herself that she feels is the ideal, but in actuality it is a false representation of her true being.  The second half of the verse shows that all those who surround her are equally superficial, and are systematically destroying their true selves.
 
    The chorus: "It wears her out."  This suggests that the people's attempts at filling this mold is very stressful.  A common theme in Radiohead lyrics, especially those about society's obsession with changing oneself to others' standards, is that people in the modern world should be more efficient.  If someone is "worn out", they are not being very efficient.  The chorus almost dismisses her troubles as an inefficiency in her person.
    
    The second verse introduces another character, the man that the woman lives with.  He is a "broken" man.  Simple enough: broken spirit, broken will, whatever.  Polystyrene is a type of foam that was used at some point to make hamburger boxes at McDonald's.  Similar enough to plastic, at least for the song's purposes.  The man tried to fill the mold, but failed.  Hence, "cracked polystyrene" = "shattered mold".  In the second half, the lyrics show that "he used to do surgery for girls in the eighties".
    
    There can be no denying that the eighties were a very glam-oriented period of music.  Glamour = facade = fake.  But there is also a certain naivete to the period.  In a naive period, the man tried to "do surgery". Surgery may represent trying to change someone for the better, or simply trying to help them.  And since they are "girls", from a heterosexual standpoint, this was probably attempted through a romantic relationship.
    
    However, he is unsuccessful (he used to try to help people, back when he was naive), because fate undermines his efforts.  Hence, he is also inefficient.
   
    In the third verse the speaker uses the first person narrative.  However, that does not mean that he has not spoken of himself before.  If we are to assume that "she" is the same female throughout the song, then "she" is his fake plastic love.  At the same time, "she" also lives with a broken man.  It is not uncommon for partners in a romantic relationship to live together. One interpretation might be that the speaker is also the broken man.
    
    "She looks like the real thing, she tastes like the real thing, my fake plastic love."  The speaker says that she is proficient at filling this artificial mold.  However, he "can't help but feeling".  He realizes that it is just that: fake.  "I could blow through the ceiling, if I just turn and run."  He thinks, "I could break out of this mold, if I just totally spazz out like I'm not supposed to."
    
    But alas, he does not act on this impulse, and resigns himself to his restrictions.  He even apologizes for his falling out of line.  "If I could be who you wanted all the time...", while a fragment, suggests, "I wish I could fill this mold of yours all the time.  Sorry, I fucked up for a second there."

By John

Essentially a piss-take/ lament on the pitfalls of surrendering to the attractions of the superficial values of modern living. The first line sums the theme up beautifully: you've got a green plastic watering can, for a fake chinese rubber plant... Now why do you need the watering can??? Of course you don't. So that thing which for most plants bears the essence of life (ie water) is, in this case, superfluous - a purely cosmetic accessory. The watering can represents a 'false hope' in gaining sustenance, in quenching desire within the environment in which these 'fake plastic trees' exist - represented by the fake plastic earth. Again, an illusion - growth cannot take place in this environment.

The 'rubber plans' for the town 'to get rid of itself': The corrupt/ corruptable schemes of the consumerist perpurtraiters are inevitably self destructive in their nature.

'She lives with a broken man, a cracked polystyrene man, who just crumbles and burns' - quite self explanitory: he's decaying, he once was well moulded but his mould is cracking with the strain. 'Burns' is perhaps a reference to unquenched desire.

'....who used to do surgery for girls in the '80's, but gravity always wins'. He's talking about plastic surgery - gravity always wins - eventually the breast has to do some sagging - and gravity: bringing him back 'down to earth' .

That the song contains a lot of humour is a point that is often overlooked, perhaps because it sounds so full of pain and longing - it is this juxtaposition (or duopoly) of feeling that, for me, gives the song a true edge - he's 'taking the piss' as well as being underlyingly serious. 'She looks like the real thing, tastes like the real thing'...'- sounds remarkably like a soft drink ad - also from the '80's - a play on the fact that she's a walking, talking advertisement for herself. 'I could blow through the cieling if I just turned and run' - the cieling is perhaps the glass cieling so often refered to in feminist writing that keeps women within certain constraints. So if she ran from it all - put it all behind her, then she could achieve anything. 'It wears her out' is the way she feels in her quieter moments - all this pretending is a tiring business. 'If I could be who you wanted all the time' - expresses a longing to truly BECOME what she's pretending to be which would save her the great effort of pretending...

Ultimately I feel that the song representst is the songwriters attempt to find compassion in a place where he is perhaps more used to feeling contempt. It concerns values which he deplores but which seem almost beyond the control of the 'victims'. They are merely products of their environment, rather than actual perpurtrators