Radiohead lyric debate: Idioteque

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

Here, I'm alive.

[RacersEdge]

[ QUOTE ]
everything all of the time

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait a minute - this part was stolen from the Eagles (LITFL).

[SippinSoma]

I probably suck at Radiohead, but this is my favorite song. I'm listening to it now for the first time in a while, so thanks.

EDIT: I have no [censored] clue which one it is.

[CallMeIshmael]

[ QUOTE ]
I probably suck at Radiohead, but this is my favorite song. I'm listening to it now for the first time in a while, so thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its their best song, but I thought that went without saying [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Quinn Warren]

I thought I was the only one, and now I find out that two other 2+2ers think this is their best song.

Strange.

[Soul Daddy]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought I was the only one, and now I find out that two other 2+2ers think this is their best song.

Strange.

[/ QUOTE ]
Not strange. And the number is definitely higher than two.

[jason_t]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought I was the only one, and now I find out that two other 2+2ers think this is their best song.

Strange.

[/ QUOTE ]

Add me to the list.

[Jack of Arcades]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I probably suck at Radiohead, but this is my favorite song. I'm listening to it now for the first time in a while, so thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its their best song, but I thought that went without saying [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

[jgorham]

Up until my second year of college I did chorus. My freshman year, my instructor, Dr. Nouen had an unbelievably strong emphasis on diction. He made us practice pronouncing the last letter of any word very strongly; for example if we were saying allowed, it would be a lou duh. It always sounds kinda funny to myself when I do it, but if a singer doesn't go out of their way to make their lyrics understandable then stupid debates like this happen.

For anyone who is interested, start the song and skip ahead to the 2:35 mark. Listen to Thom Yorke singing. Although it is subtle, he is clearly saying allowed. You can hear the "o," and you can hear the duh. Not to mention the fact that allowed makes more sense when you think about what the song (and that verse) is about. The phrase "here i'm allowed" is said 6 times. Never once is there a discernable v sound. And while it is faint, the sound duh is noticeable.

Besides that, the word immediately following the word in question is "everything." Because it starts with a vowel, a lot of letters would bleed into that word. A "v" for example, if ending the previous word, would cause everything to come out "veverything." In Idioteque, this is simply not the case. A "d," on the other hand, is a much sharper letter, and by its nature can't bleed into other words. Besides the fact that if you just listen it is clearly "allowed," the fact that you can hear "everything" so clearly as well suggests allowed rather than alive.

To the person who said look at Ed's lips, you are forgetting that Ed is singing back up at this point in the song. While Thom is singing "here I'm allowed," Ed is singing "The first of the children." There are plenty of i sounds in this phrase to account for what you see.

Edit: I haven't actually seen the SNL version, and CMI tells me that Ed isn't saying "the first of the children," as he does on the cd. I don't really have the time or energy to download it and see for myself, so instead I just stand by the rest of what I said.

[Soul Daddy]

This is a very well thought out and reasoned response, but I've listened to it over and over again today and I just don't see (hear) it the same way that you do. It is by no means clear what he says.

[ QUOTE ]
You can hear the "o," and you can hear the duh.

[/ QUOTE ]
I hear the "I" and I hear no duh. It seems to me that he ends on the vowel sound, but there is no interim sound. "Here, we're aliiiiiiiii," is what it seems to me like he's saying. I hear no "duh." I'm not saying it's not there, and perhaps it is incredibly subtle and my ears are just not as blessed as some. But I don't hear it.

As for the bleeding, or why it doesn't exist if he says "alive," it's because there is a clear breath-pause in between the words "alive/allowed" and "everything."

I'm not necessarily arguing for either. What I hear is closer to "alive" than "allowed", but I'm open to the other. It certainly makes more sense, so I think I'd rather it be the latter. I just don't think it's clear by any means.