We can wipe you out anytime.
We can wipe you out
anytime.
ANYTIME.
Sit down. Stand up. (Snakes & Ladders.)
Artist: Radiohead
Album: Hail To The Thief
Length: 4 minutes 20 seconds
Lyric removed for copyright reasons
What the song sounds like
"Sit down. Stand up." (subtitle: "Snakes & Ladders.") begins softly with a faint melodic background tinkling and a strangely muffled beat. In comes a relatively strong and serious piano melody and Radiohead singer Thom Yorke begins to sing. His voice is double-tracked throughout, often singing two different things at once. Throughout the song up until "the raindrops", the piano in the background is becoming more powerful and the drums are beginning to fade in, obviously building to something. Thom holds his notes for longer and hums hauntingly until the last eighty seconds of the track, when the song kicks off. He rapidly recites forty-eight repetitions of "the raindrops" while the drums play frantically in the background, adding a great deal of energy and speed to the track. The song quickly brakes to a halt and ceases after the last line is finished.
"Sit down. Stand up." is an enjoyable, fast-paced track, though a little uncomplicated, and rapidly becoming familiar after only a small number of listens. It shares a great deal with the previous track from HTTT, "2 + 2 = 5". It's probably my third favourite track on the album, after "There there." and "2 + 2 = 5". Worth a listen, as is the whole album.
Lyrical interpretation
I honestly can't tell what this track is about. The album Hail to the Thief is largely, but not entirely, politically motivated, which led me to believe that this might be something to do with nuclear war (hence "We can wipe you out anytime" and the "raindrops" metaphor). I'm open to suggestions.
The video
AFAIK there is no video yet, but if this track were to be released separately, doubtless one would appear. I think of this as one of the album's better tracks and would love to see it released as a single, so if the band has the same idea as me, watch this space.
This was track 2 from Hail To The Thief.
Previous: 2 + 2 = 5.
Next: Sail to the Moon.
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