Radiohead - Videotape
Day 24 – A song that you want to play at your funeral
This is the video that, when I first saw it three years ago, grabbed my interest and made me want to listen to Thom Yorke and Radiohead, made me go and download In Rainbows as soon as it was released.
It all grabbed me; the chords, the vocals, but most importantly the words.
This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can’t do it face to face
So I’m talking to you after it’s too late
From my videotape
No matter what happens now
I won’t be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I’ve ever seen
On the album version of this track, the song starts in a relatively similar fashion; Thom Yorke and a piano, with little other instrumentation. Yet, a third of the way through the song, in comes a drumbeat; steady and jarring. The slow repetition and the long rattle of each immediately brought the image of a departing train into my mind; clattering noisily but rhythmically on the tracks. It’s late at night and most passengers, who have been on the train a while already, are asleep; even those who aren’t are silent, lost in thought. I get on the train and am still standing as it departs. No lights are on in the car; the only light to be had is the dim light coming through the windows; constantly moving from one end to another as the train begins to race past the lights outside and accelerate. And clearly, I have no fear of what’s ahead of me.
Seriously, though, this is no idle remark or answer for the sake of an answer. I want this song played at my funeral.
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