By Violet

I think it¥s a song about modern artificial world. It begins with sad emotions,someones leaving him,maybe for the career. The realationship is "disjointed" and they¥re scared of the future. Then there it gets more powerful and there¥s a list of diseases:leukemia etc. And the modern artificial material polyetheline. The lines "plastic bags,middle class" refers to average people nowadays walking around with their plastic bags filled with unimportant new stuff. There¥s a concern of the state of the world:pollution etc.Lines in the end tells us to act: "if you don¥t believe me sell your soul. if you don¥t get into it no-one will".

I think the narrator of the song has lost somebody. Not in life or love, but in essence. Someone he respected. Maybe it wasn't someone he knew personally, but nonetheless, it is someone who is gone to him now. Polyethelene is a plastic widely used in small sealable plastic bags. It is a metaphor, I believe, for being fake. I think this person(or group of people) has, in his eyes, become plastic. Fake. A counterfeit of their former selves. A person who went from idealism to pragmatism. From a dreamer to a materialist. This person has, for lack of better words, sold out. He is concerned with the things he owns and the money he makes. He has forgotten what it is like to be unique and has instead chosen to conform to the machine. He has lost his identity, and the narrator is sad and bitter about it. But the narrator is not going to give up on him. He will try to convince him to live again, to be the free, open person he once was(it's this underlying optimism that draws me to Thom's lyrics so much). Part one represents the narrators sadness and feeling of loss(demonstrated by the sorrowful almost whimpering vocals and tranquil accoustic guitar). Part two represents his anger and resentment(loud guitars, big drums, fierce(if desperate) vocals).

"Tears of joy now scare ourselves of all that you want to be"

His change is beginning. He's less of an emotional person(part of his new identity). He's afraid that to cry is a form of weakness, whether in laughter or in sadness.
He is afraid that when he shows emotion, he is being weak.

"Just got paid and now you're going, how inside you please"

This is the point where he changes. He "just got paid"(raise, promotion, relocation, big record contract) and the greed has taken over. He may not be going physically. "and now your going" could be referring to his departure from his former self to his new one.(really don't know what "how inside you please" means....maybe the narrator is asking him how this is pleasing him on the inside...how it could possibly be satisfying.)

"If I get scared, I'll just call you"

I don't get this one. Maybe the narrator sees him as a stronger person now and can talk to him for support because he no longer gets scared(or shows it).

"and I'll miss your glow as I unsettle"

The narrator is starting to notice a bigger difference and is beginning to miss him. The old him. It is unsettling him more and more(he will be totally unsettled in part 2)

"oh, and I'll always feel, I'll always be"

The narrator will never be like that. He will always feel. He'll always be (human).

Now part two....The narrator is unnerved. Frustration sets in and he's losing hope for salvaging this entity. He is not giving up without a fight though as demonstrated by his fierce determination and resolve.

"so sell your suit and tie and come and live with me"

Basically telling the person to give up the conformity and return to the world. Come live with me in an ideal world and dream again.

"leukemia schizophrenia polyethylene
there is no significant risk to your health"

Polyethelene, I believe, is his metaphor for being fake. Leukemia and Schizophrenia are diseases. I believe by placing them all together he is comparing 'selling out' to contracting a disease. Perhaps one that eats away at your idealism as opposed to the other two which are physical and mental. While there is "no significant risk to your health", Polyethelene-emia(?) is considered a disease to the narrator, and a dangerous one at that.

"she used to be beautiful once as well"

No real idea on this one. Perhaps this isn't the first person he's seen succumb to this 'disease'? Perhaps 'she' has also fallen as well, and where she used to be beautiful as well, now she's diseased and ugly?
Somehow, I'm thinking of the song from Pablo Honey "Thinking About You" which I think is about basically the same subject. In that song Thom is pleading to an apparently female character(refers to 'her' as 'honey') about the same 'sell out' theme(albiet in that song it is more of a memory of her after she's already been gone a while, Polyethelene is occuring while he is in the process of leaving) Maybe this is a reference to that earlier Radiohead song.

"plastic bag, middle class, polyethylene"

Again, he compares the selling out to other things(much in the vain of Kurt Cobain's "A mullato, an albino, a mosquitoe, my labido") I think Middle class and plastic bags are seen by the narrator as ordinary, mudane things in life, just as someone who comprimises himself is. The loss of childhood dreams and the transition into an ultimately common being. A working, active part of the machine. The death of individuaism.

"decaffeinate, unleaded, keep all surfaces clean"

Being "decaffeinate, unleaded" could mean being half of what you could be. Decaffeinated is less than caffeinated.....unleaded is less than leaded.......and the pragmatist is less than himself. Less than he could be. Driven by the expectations of all he's conformed to, he's not flourishing in other areas of his life, just in those that would help him advance in his mediocre goals. Sacrificing his 'self' in the process. And to this end, he "keeps all surfaces clean" (i.e. behaves at work, follows his record labels instructions to the 't', kisses the bosses ass, etc.) all in hopes of looking better to his superiors as to advance, all the while lessening himself. Becoming a diet, sugarless, filtered, fat free version of himself.

"if you don't believe this, sell your soul
if you don't get into it, no one will "

The narrators parting words to the lost. He's saying that if you don't believe the words he has been saying about staying true and not conforming, than all is lost for you and you might as well just sell your soul. It is a bitter goodbye, after all the narrator is fighting for a soul. "if you don't get into it, no one will" leads me to believe that the sellout in question is a musician. How if he writes what 'they' want him to write, then he is not into it because it's not his. And if he can't get into it and identify with it, who can? In essence, he becomes a flavor of the month with no true fans. However that last line could also be referring to life. "If you don't get into it, no one will" could mean if he doesn't get into his own life by experiencing all of the beautiful things that are a part of being alive(love, art, sadness, happiness), then no one will be interested in the real him because there is no real him. He will have acquaintences, but never friends. Bedfellows, but never lovers. He will die alone, in a sense, without ever having anyone touch his soul which he had sold to the highest bidder.

Well there it is. That's what the song means to me. If I were half as 'caffeinated' as Thom, I'd write some songs of my own, but I'll leave that to the gifted. Thanks for reading my ramble!!(assuming it is even read!)