optimistic

By papermagician

i think this song is saying that radiohead's music isn't all sad and lugubrious like everyone likes to think. the line "this one's optimistic" seems to be saying "here's one you can't possibly say is depressing, the song itself says it's optimistic." and of course, what refrain can be much more optimistic than "if you try the best you can, the best you can is good enough?"
By Clo

"Flies are buzzing round my head
Vultures circling the dead
Picking up every last crumb
The big fish eat the little ones
The big fish eat the little ones
Not my problem, give me some... "

Surrounded by those who just want to feed off their success. Or to of a more broad aspect, the typical greed aspect that every human being posses. "Human Nature" right? Also on another note, when I heard/read "The big fish eat the little ones" I instantly thought of a movement Thom had been very vocal in "Drop the Debt"... which in that predicament, the bigger G7 governments take and take and take from the smaller poverty stricken, corrupted countries... And how instead of stopping the apparent wrongs, others just want a piece of what the "big fish" is getting...

"You can try the best you can
If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough"

"The best you can is good enough." I can't figure out if he is being sarcastic... because I suppose the best thing is to keep on trying, in whatever you are doing... Or maybe this is something someone would say to themselves when they are discouraged, put down... or shoved down. Who knows? "Try the best you can, if you do, then that is good enough. Good for you."

"This one's optimistic
This one went to market
This one just came out of the swamp
This one dropped a payload "

I thought of the thing my mother did to me when I was younger "This little piggy went to the market..." etc. I suppose this is an attempt of showing a less sugar-coated world... in a subtle way in which many of us are familiar.

"I'd really like to help you, man"

Lies, lies, lies and more lies. I'd really like to help, but.... there is always a 'but'... self explanatory I would think.

When he starts repeating:

"If you try the best you can
The best you can is good enough"

It becomes a little more clear what he means by it... if you try... can you try? Why won't you let yourself try? Try to be a better person, try to be less greedy... try to give more... try not to take more than you need. Try.

Well this is my opinion. It isn't much.
By intact

i was really pleased when i heard this one, not just because it resembles led zeppelin at their best(and i love led zeppelin), but also because of its lyrics, that are very radiohead but they differ from all the other because they actually represent something i was hoping to find on this album: from pablo honey on, rh lyrics have contained some specific sarcasm that sounded really optimistic in a bitter and poisonous way, but it was just in traces, and here it is finally complete...this is the song about a person that has developed the ability to be cool and strong, not depressed about Big Fish Eating The Little Ones...the person who even can remain cool when his fellow man is crying for help from him...in short, a human being that doesnt give a f%&k . not because he wanted to, but because he concluded that its the only way to stay in 1 piece and has it figured out ok...(mr Yorke isnt saying that this is a good thing and neither am i, but do we really have a choice?)
By Forkoid

I think this one is about the failings of capitalism. "The big fish eat the little ones" this is about the way capitalism works. The big corprate companies get richer, the normal people get poorer. Big countries cripple smaller countries for thier own gain. The lyrics also warn anti-capitalist protesters that the protest is not about saving the animals and trees, it's about HUMAN rights. "We're fighting for the animals, living on an animal farm"
By KenP

haunting yet uplifting, frightening yet reassuring, a song about to succumbing to external pressure while knowing inside that you have truly given everything you possibly could. Is Thom railing here against the pressures created by fans, media and record co.? possibly, but We have all seen our own vultures circling, and the words speak volumes, at least to me. Dinosaurs ruling the earth? You can bet they already do.....