Given that Thom has spoken about his own experiences with depression (especially around the time of OK Computer), I would imagine these ideas come from deep within his own thoughts and feelings. I think these are meant to express the bizarre hypocrisies, contradictions and double-standards in what our culture considers normal, acceptable behavior. An empowered and informed member of society." On top of this general analysis there are the interesting contradictions, repetitions and juxtapositions: But instead this person is medicated and conforms to the prescribed path, driving a safer better car, raising a child in some traditional manner, with only the memory of an "empty and frantic" past.Īs other people have mentioned, there is really way too much to say about this song. I suppose for the person, true freedom would mean a release from the bleak and suppressive expectations of our culture, like settling down, becoming a parent, being responsible and following a routine (all things the song alludes to). To raise a truly healthy pig, you don't just shoot it up with antibiotics, you give it freedom to graze. The pig in a cage is a metaphor for a trapped person, who is only surviving through medication, not true freedom. The idea that this is about being medicated is epitomized in the final line. And while the medication may have brought them into some state of idealized normalcy, it also took a depressing tax on the person's soul: I imagine a character who was once unfit, unhappy, drinking too much, not sleeping well, paranoid, etc. So from this angle, every positive statement in the poem is really drawing attention to its opposite. This individual has been medicated somehow, through antidepressants or something, and we are expected to look at their new "calm" lifestyle through the lens of a dark and chaotic past.
I think it's these lines that deal with the PAST of this individual that tell the true story. "No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows"Īnd of course.
"No killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants" Although most of the song describes the blandly idealized lifestyle of the fitter and happier individual, there are lines strewn about that hint at a very dark past for this person. General CommentI definitely hear this as a commentary on our society's tendency toward medicating people into normalcy. Tires that grip in the wet, shot of baby strapped in backseatįrozen winter shit, the ability to laugh at weaknessĬalm, fitter, healthier and more productive No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows, nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperateĪt a better pace, slower and more calculatedĪn empowered and informed member of society, pragmatism not idealism No killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants Will frequently check credit at moral bank, hole in wallįavours for favours, fond but not in loveĬharity standing orders on sundays, ring-road supermarket Keep in contact with old friends, enjoy a drink now and then Getting on better with your associate employee contemporariesĮating well, no more microwave dinners and saturated fatsĬareful to all animals, never washing spiders down the plughole Regular exercise at the gym, three days a week