Hail to the Thief

Hail to the Thief by Radiohead

Hail to the Thief
  • Release
  • 9 June 2003
  • Genre
  • Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Experimental Rock, Electronic Rock
  • Studio
  • Ocean Way Recording, Canned Applause
  • Label
  • Parlophone, Capitol

Hail to the Thief was influenced by the unfolding war on terror and the surrounding political discourse, incorporating influences from fairy tales and children's literature. The cover artwork, created by longtime Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood, is a roadmap of Hollywood with words taken from roadside advertising in Los Angeles and from Yorke's lyrics. The album received positive reviews and was the fifth consecutive Radiohead album nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.

2 + 2 = 5

Are you such a dreamer
To put the world to rights?
I'll stay home forever
Where two and two always makes up five

I'll lay down the tracks
Sandbag and hide
January has April's showers
And two and two always makes up five

It's the devil's way now
There is no way out
You can scream and you can shout
It is too late now

Because you have not been
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
You have not been
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
You have not been
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
You have not been
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention
Payin' attention

Oh

I try to sing along
I get it all wrong
'Cause I'm not
'Cause I'm not
I swat em like flies
But like flies the buggers keep coming back
But I'm not
Oh hail to the thief
Oh hail to the thief
But I'm not
But I'm not
But I'm not
But I'm not

Don't question my authority or put me in the dock
'Cause I'm not
'Cause I'm not
Oh, go and tell the king that the sky is falling in
When it's not
When it's not
When it's not
Maybe not
Maybe not

Sit Down, Stand Up

Sit down, stand up
Sit down, stand up
Walk into the jaws of hell (sit down, stand up)
Walk into the jaws of hell (sit down, stand up)
Anytime (sit down)
Anytime (stand up)
Sit down, stand up
Sit down, stand up
We can wipe you out anytime (sit down, stand up)
We can wipe you out (sit down, stand up)
Anytime (sit down)
Anytime
Stand up (the rain drops the rain drops)
Sit down (the rain drops the rain drops)
Oh
The rain drops [x46]

Sail To The Moon

I sail to the moon
I spoke too soon
And how much did it cost
I was dropped from
The moonbeam
And sailed on shooting stars

Maybe you'll
Be president
But know right from wrong
Or in the flood
You'll build an Ark

And sail us to the moon
Sail us to the moon
Sail us to the moon
Sail us to the moon

Backdrifts

We're rotten fruit
We're damaged goods
What the hell we've got nothing more to lose
One burst and we will probably crumble
We're backdrifting
This far but no further
I'm hanging off a branch
I'm teetering on a breaker
Honey sweets so fall asleep
I'm backsliding
You fell into our arms
You fell into our arms
We tried but there was nothing we could do
Nothing we could do
All evidence has been buried
All tapes have been erased
But your footsteps give you away
So you're backtracking
Oh oh oh
You fell into our arms
You fell into our arms
We tried but there was nothing we could do
Nothing we could do
You fell into our
You fell into a
We're rotten fruit
We're damaged goods
What the hell we've got nothing more to lose
One burst and we will probably crumble
We're backdrifters

Go To Sleep

Something for the rag and bone man
Over my dead body
Something big is gonna happen
Over my dead body
Someone saw someone's daughter
Over my dead body
This is how I ended up sucked in
Over my dead body
I'm gonna go to sleep
And let this wash all over me
We don't really want a monster taking over
Tip toeing, tying down
We don't want the loonies takin' over
Tip toeing, tying down our arms
May pretty horses
Come to you as you sleep
I'm gonna go to sleep
And let this wash over me

Where I End and You Begin

There's a gap in between
There's a gap where we meet
Where I end and you begin
And I'm sorry for us
The dinosaurs roam the earth
The sky turns green
Where I end and you begin
I am up in the clouds
I am up in the clouds
And I can't and I can't come down
I can watch and cant take part
Where I end and where you start
Where you, you left me alone
You left me alone
X'll mark the place
Like the parting of the waves
Like a house falling in the sea
In the sea
I will eat you alive [x4]
There'll be no more lies [x4]
I will eat you alive [x4]
There'll be no more lies [x4]
I will eat you alive [x4]
There are no more lies [x4]
I will eat you alive [x3]

We Suck Young Blood

Are you hungry?
Are you sick?
Are you begging for a break?
Are you sweet?
Are you fresh?
Are you strung up by the wrists?
We want the young blood (la [x8])
Are you fracturing?
Are you torn at the seams?
Would you do anything?
Fleabitten motheaten?
We suck young blood (la [x8])
We suck young blood (la [x8])
Woah woah
Won't let the creeping ivy
Won't let the nervous bury me
Our veins are thin
Our rivers poisoned
We want the sweet meat (la [x8])
We want the young blood
La [x8]

The Gloaming

Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Genie let out of the bottle
It is now the witching hour
Murderers, you're murderers
We are not the same as you
Genie let out of the bottle
Funny how, funny how
When the walls bend, when the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing
When the walls bend, when the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing
With your breathing
They will suck you down to the other side [x4]
To the shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells
Shadows blue and red, shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells, your alarm bells
They should be ringing [x12]
This is the gloaming
Shadows blue and red
Shadows blue and red
Your alarm bells
Your alarm bells
Shadows blue and red
Shadows blue and red
We're alarming
We're alarming
And the walls bend, and the walls bend
With your breathing, with your breathing
And the walls bend, and the walls bend
What is he doin'? what is he doin'?
This is the gloaming [x4]
This is the

There There

In pitch dark
I go walking in your landscape
Broken branches
Trip me as I speak

Just cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there
Just cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there

There's always a siren
Singing you to shipwreck
(Don't reach out, don't reach out
Don't reach out, don't reach out)
Steer away from these rocks
We'd be a walking disaster
(Don't reach out, don't reach out
Don't reach out, don't reach out)

Just cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there
(Someone on your shoulder, someone on your shoulder)
Just cause you feel it
Doesn't mean it's there
(Someone on your shoulder, someone on your shoulder)
There, there!

Why so green and lonely?
Lonely, lonely?
Heaven sent you to me
To me, to me
We are accidents waiting
Waiting to happen
We are accidents waiting
Waiting to happen

I Will

I will lay me down
In a bunker underground
I won't let this happen to my children
Meet the real world coming out of your shell
With white elephants, sitting ducks
I will rise up
Little baby's eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes
Little baby's eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes
Little baby's eyes, eyes eyes

A Punchup at a Wedding

No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no
No no no no no no

I don't know why you bother
Nothing's ever good enough for you
I was there, it wasn't like that
You've come here just to start a fight

You had to piss on our parade
You had to shred our big day
You had to ruin it for all concerned
In a drunken punch-up at a wedding, yeah

Hypocrite opportunist
Don't infect me with your poison
A bully in a china shop
When I turn 'round, you stay frozen to the spot

The pointless snide remarks
Of hammerheaded sharks
The pot will call the kettle black
It's a drunken punch-up at a wedding, yeah

No no no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no

Myxomatosis

The mongrel cat came home
Holding half a head
Proceeded to show it off
To all his new found friends
He said I been where I liked
I slept with who I like
She ate me up for breakfast
She screwed me in a vice
But now
I don't know why
I feel so tongue-tied
I sat in the cupboard
And wrote it down real neat
They were cheering and waving
Cheering and waving
Twitching and salivating like with myxomatosis
But it got edited fucked up
Strangled beaten up
Used in a photo in time magazine
Buried in a burning black hole in devon
I don't know why I feel so tongue-tied
Don't know why
I feel
So skinned alive.
My thoughts are misguided and a little naive
I twitch and I salivate like with myxomatosis
You should put me in a home or you should put me down
I got myxomatosis
I got myxomatosis
Yeah no one likes a smart ass but we all like stars
But that wasn't my intention, I did it for a reason
It must have got mixed up
Strangled beaten up
I got myxomatosis
I got myxomatosis
I don't know why I
Feel so tongue-tied

Scatterbrain

I'm walking out in a force ten gale
Birds thrown around, bullets for hail
The roof is pulling off by its fingernails
Your voice is rattlin' on my window sill
Yesterday's headlines blown by the wind
Yesterday's people end up scatterbrain
Any fool can easy pick a hole I only wish I could fall in
A moving target in a firing range
Somewhere I'm not
Scatterbrain
Somewhere I'm not
Scatterbrain
Lightning fuse, powercut
Scatterbrain

A Wolf At The Door

Drag him out your window
Dragging out the dead
Singing I miss you
Snakes and ladders
Flip the lid
Out pops the cracker
Smacks you in the head
Knifes you in the neck
Kicks you in the teeth
Steel toe caps
Takes all your credit cards
Get up get the gunge

Get the eggs
Get the flan in the face
The flan in the face
The flan in the face
Dance you fucker dance you fucker
Don't you dare
Don't you dare
Don't you flan in the face

Take it where the love is given
Take it with a pinch of salt
Take it to the taxman

Let me back let me back
I promise to be good
Don't look in the mirror
At the face you don't recognize
Help me call the doctor
Put me inside
Put me inside
Put me inside
Put me inside
Put me inside

I keep the wolf from the door
He calls me up
Calls me on the phone
Tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
Steal all my children
If I don't pay the ransom
And I'll never see them again
If I squeal to the cops

No no no no no no no

Walking like giant cranes ah
With my X-ray eyes I strip you naked
In a tight little world and why are you on the list?
Stepford wives who are we to complain?

Investments and dealers investments and dealers
Cold wives and mistresses
Cold wives and Sunday papers
City boys in first class
Don't know they're born little

Someone else is gonna come and clean it up
Born and raised for the job
Someone always does
I wish you'd get up get over get up get over
Turn your tape off

I keep the wolf from the door
He calls me up
Calls me on the phone
Tells me all the ways that he's gonna mess me up
Steal all my children
If I don't pay the ransom
And I'll never see them again
If I squeal to the cops

So I'm just gonna