high and dry

By Karl Stringer

To most people, the song is literally about daredevils and pointless stunts. More deeply, to me it shows of the ways that people put up these barriers or fake personalities that are used to try and make them more popular or more self-satisfied.

This all goes well, showing off and bragging etc, pretending you are someone you are not.

It is when you are finally found out doing these seemingly pointless things that you were getting credit and popularity for, that you are actually stopped. ie, the figure of paralysis, not physically, but more mentally. More of a feeling that you have been found out and that you are now nothing. And that the person you have made yourself into has been destroyed.

>From this, comes the sense of lonliness and neglect, and people finally see you for who you really are. I think all Radiohead songs have a surface meaning, and then a deeper hidden or even an almost unintentional meaning which seems to reflect the depressing and cruel state of society and the way it has moulded people. I feel that the lesson being from this song is tht you should always be your true self. If you can be honest about yourself to not pull off these "stunts", there is no hope for the rest of us.

By Rob

I believe this song is about a relationship with either a friend or a girlfriend where Thom is getting screwed over. The lines about the motorcycle and such may be some personal experience Thom threw into the song or it may a metaphor for something else. The song is easily related to something that would happen in high school, a friend or girlfriend ignoring you to run with the popular crowd. ( You'ld kill yourself for recognition, kill your self to never ever stop) Thom knows his friend is doing the wrong thing but popular is so appealing he cant reach his friend. (You're turning into something you are not). Dont leave me high is obviously Thom telling his friend he is turning his back on Thom who is his real friend (The best thing you have ever had) for some fake popularity, obviously his friend wouldn't be happy with them. (Drying up in conversation, you will be the one who cannot talk). The line about making love leads you to believe the song is actually about a girl running out on Thom, and thats what I believe the song is about.

By Jordan Michelman

I think that High and Dry is about a bank robbery gone wrong. The narrator is one of the crooks, and he is signing about the mastermind of the job. Once inside the bank, everything goes to hell, and the head thief is left to make some important decisions. That is what the narrator is signing about.

"Two jumps in a week, I bet you think that's pretty clever don't you boy"- the narrator is talking about the previous robberies, or "jumps", that the songs main character has pulled recently.

"Flyin' along on your motorcycle, watching all the ground beneath you drop"- this is a metaphor for the main characters lifestyle. The motorcycle of which the narrator speaks in symbolic of the main characters out of control lifestyle.

"Watchin' all the ground beneath you drop" refers to the family and friends that pull away from the mastermind as his life becomes more and more dangerous.

"You'd kill yourself for recongition, you'd kill yourself to never ever stop"- this is the narrators belief about his friend, the mastermind. it means that the main character would kill himself if he was ever caught in a robbery, and he would never go to jail, because he would take his own life before the system could lock him up.

"you broke another mirror, you're turning into something you are not"- the robbery has gone to hell, and the main character is turning violent, which is not in his nature.

"don't leave me high, don't leave me dry" - the narrator is begging the main character to maintain sanity durning the robbery, and to not lose his cool, which would effectivly leave the narrator 'high and dry'.

"drying up in conversation, you will be the one who cannot talk"- the ability to not talk is very unusual for the main character, and this line symbolizes him losing his grip on sanity during the robbery. it may also refer to the police trying to contact him inside the bank to find out what his demands are, and the main character realizing that he has no demands, no need to talk.

"all your insides fall to pieces, you just sit there wishing you could still make love"- the police, left no choice after the main character refuses to speak to them in the previous line, storm the bank. in the gunfire that ensues, the main character is injured, i.e. "all your insides fall to pieces". "you just sit there wishing you could still make love" may refer to the main characters realization that he will never lead a normal, healthy life again, or it may also give grisly indication as to where he was shot!

"they're the ones who'll hate you when you think you've got the world all sussed out"- this line seems to refer to the jury at the main characters trial.

"they're the ones who'll spit at you, you will be the one screaming out"- once again, reference to the jury, who has little tolerance for the masterminds plea. It's ironic that now the main character finally has something to say, so important as to scream it, and yet no one is willing to listen, whereas only a few bars ago he was in total control of his audience.

"don't leave me high, don't leave me dry"- in this refrain of the chorus, the narrator is asking the main character to make good on the narrator's observation "you'd kill yourself for recongition, you'd kill yourself to never ever stop". the narrator is telling the main character to end his life, before he is locked up, thus caging his wild spirit, killing him in a spiritual way.

it's the best thing that you ever had, it's the best thing that you ever ever had"- the narrator is speaking of the main characters spirit, and his freedom of choice.

"it's the best thing that you ever had, the best thing that you had has gone away" - now all these wonderful things are gone, and there is nothing left for the main character.

"don't leave me high, don't leave me dry"- the final refrain of the chorus is a reiteration of the previous chorus. the narrator is beggint the main character to somehow escape the bondage of prison, because it would crush the very thing that made the main character so unique in the first place- his spirit. whether or not the escape is suicide, or a jail break, or anything is else is up to the listener to decide.

i'm not saying that this is actually what the song is about. i don't think thom had any of this in mind when he wrote " high and dry". but it's the first thing that came into my head when i read the lyrics, and i think it fits quite nicely.
By panola@home.com

i read that thom didn't remember where they came up with this idea . but i think that they were watching "return to oz" you know the sequel to wizard of oz that they did about ten years ago. It really coincides, when dorothy is transported to oz, and is in the middle of a dried out pond with her talking chicken, who happens to mutter something about being left "high and dry". very fitting indeed
By QUAKIE55@aol.com

I know that nobody really ever reads what other people think, but I am kind of an exception to that rule. I read all of the interpretations, and from a stand point of actually knowing and caring about what motivates the band, these are totally off.

The point of the bends I feel was for tom to somewhat set up scenarios of how fame could affect him or any other person. It seems like the whole Bends is based off of situations that could happen to him, given the circumstances at that time. I am still convinced that he had one woman in mind while writing all of the songs dealing with relationships, but I tend to think that they were not merely about her, but focused on the possibility of it being somebody else as well.

High and Dry is not about a dare devil at all, and neither a person looking to advance themselves in the social world. It's about someone who has finally experienced fame, and has gained a whole new attitude out of the adoration and freedom of it. But is that really it? Is the main character really free? Or is he fighting against the expectations that all of these people have for him.

The woman who narrates must be either a lover or a friend who has known the "dare devil" since the beginning of his career. She makes note of how he was in the past, and talks with a tone of knowledge.

It's all about watching a person rise into fame, and then self-destruct from it. It's frustrating to her, she's been there so long, yet she can't do anything about it because he's pushing everyone away. She doesn't want to be left because she loves him, but she doesn't want to have to live with this mutated form of the person he used to be, and deal with the pressures of fame. Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry.

I really like this song because Thom really put himself out there I think. Fro his writing he seems to be a person who looks for things in life that are genuine, hence the critiques from critics on his disillusion of the world. This song is about not only the fear of hurting people through success, but losing himself in it as well.
By Chris

i think high and dry is a disturbing yet observational look at a person going through a trying period of their life and the author's (thom's) impression of it. verse one portrays a desperate, seemingly invincible man and his trans-formation into a deeply troubled shred of his former self. verse two implies the irreversible effects of his terminally damaged psyche used in context with the dire state of his deteriorating exis- tence and social alter ego. and the outro line explains the experience as the "best thing you ever had." genius.
By Scott

This song works on many levels, and I think that if I were to write a detailed analysis on this song that it lose its power and beauty. I think the song can be summed up with "die with your feet on your ground".
By Critic#1

I find this song particularly moving. I'm going to make the assumption that this song is about abandonment. Plain and simple, in any situation, it is what one would feel. When we are left to ourselves without making that decision on our own, we feel that we have been left "high and dry." The "think you're pretty clever boy..." makes me tend to lean towards the idea that this song was about a relationship of some sort. Maybe between a man and a woman... or dare I even say, a man and a man. Which doesn't necessarily make it a homosexual relationship. One could say that it was a father-son relationship. One of them could have walked out on the other etc. Anyway you look at it, abandonment anyone?
By Scrubb

This song continues to be one of my favorite songs ever, and I recommend listening to it whenever you're upset. Naturally, my interpretations will be influenced by my own experiences, but here goes...

"High & Dry" is about how a person can be shaped by what other people want them to be. With the best intentions, you "turn into something you are not". For a while, if you're good, you can appear to be everything expected.
Then everything begins to crumble because, of course, you aren't really like that. When they realize that it's been a facade the whole time, all you want is for them to still need you, or still care about you, or still love you, and not leave you "high & dry".