Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out) live at the BBC studios

"Street Spirit is our purest song, but I didnt write it. It wrote itself. We were just its messengers Its biological catylysts. Its core is a complete mystery to me and (pause) you know, I wouldnt ever try to write something that hopeless All of our saddest songs have somewhere in them at least a glimmer of resolve Street Spirit has no resolve It is the dark tunnel without the light at the end. It represents all tragic emotion that is so hurtful that the sound of that melody is its only definition. We all have a way of dealing with that song Its called detachment Especially me.. I detach my emotional radar from that song, or I couldnt play it Id crack. Id break down on stage.. thats why its lyrics are just a bunch of mini-stories or visual images as opposed to a cohesive explanation of its meaning I used images set to the music that I thought would convey the emotional entirety of the lyric and music working together Thats whats meant by all these things are one to swallow whole.. I meant the emotional entirety, because I didnt have it in me to articulate the emotion (pause) Id crack. Our fans are braver than I to let that song penetrate them, or maybe they dont realize what theyre listening to.. They dont realize that Street Spirit is about staring the fucking devil right in the eyes and knowing, no matter what the hell you do, hell get the last laughand its realand true. The devil really will get the last laugh in all cases without exception, and if I let myself think about that to long, Id crack. I cant believe we have fans that can deal emotionally with that song Thats why Im convinced that they dont know what its about. Its why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell everytime I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning, like when youre going to have your dog put down and its wagging its tail on the way there. Thats what they all look like, and it breaks my heart."
Thom.