I think the title "Videotape" whether as a record, or as a message, shows that even as death looms over the song, the subject is life. "You are my center when I spin away": The good, the bad, everything together. That person becomes the center. That person becomes pain, and life, and terror. Some call it love. I don't know if I do. But that sentence is one of the most beautiful renderings of graceful frustration. I would listen to this song and feel lifted from my predicaments and worries, and just care.
I don't know, but whenever i listen to Radiohead it feels like the world is all depressed. Yhere's no life for me in the music. Maybe it's because i tried listening them today. I heard you need to listen to them more so you would get used to it.
This song is so haunting that instantly brings me down and "knowing that I should just not listen to it... It somehow calls me back. I'll listen to it... I'll let the words sync into my head... I lose my self and wait to be found again only to come to face the fact that I'm no longer me and I'm just a mere of who I once. I'm a slave to this song. The only way to be free is not to fear what happens next but instead let it end me..."
A friend played this song on acoustic guitar at another friend's funeral.. Still, to this day, the most I have ever cried to a song.. But at the same time, the most beautiful song I've ever heard.
One of the most fascinating things about this song to me is... That curious percussion pattern that starts at 1:20... it's the heart beat of the man in his last moments. and little by little it flutters more and more erratically until it finally stops towards the end of the song... When he dies. Radiohead... that was incredible.
Im 14 now. When my parents were fighting and screeming till 3am when i was little. I remember my dad listened to this song before he died. This song brings memories
I also feel like there's a suggestion of an ambulance siren in the "On videotape, On videotape, On videotape" too. It's really haunting. It actually just inspired me to write down a movie idea that I've been trying to tease out of my head for a year now.
yes the song lyrically presents an opportunity to see yourself from the future and to allow that to change your current present to more presence :) That's what those emotions do to me
+It's Nobody :D Yes, the song is about a life lost..but the title alludes to a little more. The narrator/singer knows he is going to be viewed, or remembered, on the "videotape"...this vessel allows him to be more honest and tell the person how he really feels. I see it as a small commentary on how society has always tried to capture important moments and share (photo albums, portraits, Facebook, selfies, etc.)...so I see what Meganne is saying, too. Being able to see yourself on camera/reflect allows for growth. It's Radiohead, so you know there are probably tons of layers hahah such a good song
No matter what happens now, you shouldn't be afraid, because now I know that today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen. Incredibly profound lyric.
What i love about this song is how hypnotic it is. The beat actually changes a lot throughout but it's quite subtle and just lulls you into it even further... if that makes sense. Fantastic song.
Best Ending Tracks of the Albums 1 - Motion Picture Soundtrack 2 - A Wolf at the Door 3 - Street Spirit 4 - Videotape 5 - Separator 6 - Blowout 7 - Life in a Glass House 8 - The Tourist
Even during the most joyfullest moments this song has had the power to make me weep. yesterday i lost the most important person in the world to me. I feel like the general tone of the song perfectly fits how i feel right now. it burns my insides to do anything right now but do get a little comfort from hearing songs like this and knowing im not alone in the way i feel
I play this song whenever I read or watch something sad and it makes the experience so much more intense... Thank you Radiohead, for making wonderful music.
Love the last verse. It during the last day of his life when he starts to appreciate life and its beauty, dubbing it as the most perfect day. Never take anything for granted.
This song was sang and played on acoustic guitar so beautifully at a good friend's funeral... It is so amazingly touching, and I can't hear it without my eyes tearing up...
absolutely the most important song for me. it destroys me, makes me feel the saddest ever, but also recalls beautiful moments, which have gone. i really can't listen to that song, just because of my sanity. but i love it, my favourite one.
i've been listening to radiohead for years, but it's really starting to hit me how amazing they really are. i recently took the time to listen to all their sounds and wow, just wow
This song helps me clear my mind when the world becomes to stressful or too much to hold. The piano is hypnotizing and the voice is soothing; it's the perfect song.
today is my birthday and its just been horrible. but this song makes me happy every single time. thank you radiohead, for all that you've done. you made my birthday better and that's all i could ask for.
Amazing! What a great song. I don't know how radio head keep on doing this? making amazing music. I love this as much as i love the rest of Thom's work.
I heard this song for the first time a week after my grandma died, perfect timing. This song actually made me feel better in a time where life seemed completely pointless
This song always reminds me of the Winter... this entire album does. Whenever I listen to it, I vividly remember the day I walked through the ice and snow to the corner store to get coffee.. then to the cinemas to watch Twilight (crappy movie). Then I hear 15th Step in the credits for that movie... and, since then, that's all I can think of when I listen to this album. I love it.
I was reading a sad novel years ago while listening to this song constanstly. Every time I hear this song since that, I recall those feelings about that story.
This song was created from a very comlex set of emotions when it was written. It is very easy to feel a connection with the song and its strong power, which is what any fan of the song will tell you. But I feel that, on some level, Thom wrote the song, to and from, a personal space inside himself. He is the artist, and the listener. He makes music that he likes. That is what a true artist does.
I've probably listened to this song over fifty times by now, not including listening to the album as a whole. And I JUST NOW noticed the out of time hi hat at 3:06 that sounds so awesome. I feel stupid and amazed.
Videotape really shocked me when i heard it for the first time. It really is one of the most dramatic yet beautiful songs i've ever heard. Only Radiohead can end an album with this, unbelievable.
I think the fact that this song means something so special to every single insightful commenter here shows how inspiring their music is. Play on, Radiohead.
I've listened to In Rainbows on several occasions, and never much cared for this song. Then today, it was playing and... My soul was lifted from the abyss.
Although there is a rather depressing theme to the lyrics. There is some kind of deep spark of hope when you combine the sound of the instrumental and Thom York's voice. The feeling this song gives you once you realize it is a glimpse of what your being will feel like in heaven. If you really lose yourself into this song - you can almost see the inner peace and overwhelming sense of pure love approaching us in the afterlife. God has used Thom Yorke in this masterpiece no matter what his true intentions of his lyrics were. You could easily confuse some of the feelings this song gives you with being suicidal. I think we long for the feeling of hope and love in the world of sadness we live in, and that's why this song gives one almost a longing for death. I also think Thom is a person who probably struggles with depression and has feelings related to longing for death. You can kind of see it in his eyes almost like you could see it in Robin Williams eyes. I think it shows too in how his music can evoke certain emotions with his fans.
wow i never saw it like that before, i like the idea, though this is not the only song in the album that got to me in such a big way, i still think the idea of it being like the hangover is very accurate, it's definitely the most saddening, and deep song by Radiohead, and it's probably my favorite, amazing what three piano notes and a voice plus beautiful lyrics can do to a man.
I was listening to this for the first time in a public computer lab and I had already decided it was one of the most beautiful songs I'd ever heard. But it wasn't until I heard the line "the most perfect day I've ever seen" that I had to walk out of the room cause I was tearing up uncontrollably. My whole life revolves around music, since I suck at everything else, but I know I'll never in my life create something this beautiful. Why the fuck do I even exist
I listen to this song on repeat and one time I'll find myself listening to just the snare, another just the lyrics, another just the piano... it's unreal
@liligman True that. Their music is like condensed emotion or something, but instead of being toned down it's just as intense as ever. Radiohead will always be legendary.
Have to say, this is an amazing song. First time I heard it I literally went into a sort-of trance. If the whole album's like this, then I'm getting it as soon as possible
This song is haunting yet beautiful at the same time. There is something so disturbing and unsettling about it that makes me feel sad and weird but in a non depressing kind of way.
When I'm at the pearly gates This will be on my videotape, my videotape Mephistopheles is just beneath And he's reaching up to grab me This is one for the good days And I have it all here In red, blue, green Red, blue, green You are my center When I spin away Out of control on videotape On videotape On videotape On videotape On videotape On videotape This is my way of saying goodbye Because I can't do it face to face I'm talking to you after it's too late No matter what happens now You shouldn't be afraid Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen
One of the best songs I've ever heard. This band never cease to blow me away after all these years. I love Thom Yorke so much. If you like this song, you should check out Sober Moon by Ali Murray. Very beautiful and sad and haunting atmospheres.
this song is just beautiful... I don't know what else to say, and I 'm only typing this to say to every one who is sad, angry or unhappy in some other way to know you're not alone and you don't have to feel ashamed or anything. and if you think you need to, you can write me and I will try to sooth you.
the memories of my mind. the puzzle crumbles. the glass pieces shatter, never to be put back together again. the only thing i have left is the memories of my mind. the videotape that i can play back...remembering the happiest days of my life. but so frail...never thought the end of a smile would come so soon. but as the pieces fall, new ones remain in the mess....hopefully these pieces will begin to draw out the picture that i need in my life. hopefully this new picture wont crumble....hopefully
This song makes me cry, without fail, every time.
I think the title "Videotape" whether as a record, or as a message, shows that even as death looms over the song, the subject is life.
"You are my center when I spin away": The good, the bad, everything together. That person becomes the center. That person becomes pain, and life, and terror. Some call it love. I don't know if I do. But that sentence is one of the most beautiful renderings of graceful frustration. I would listen to this song and feel lifted from my predicaments and worries, and just care.
Then this song is just as beautiful as your comment over here.
I don't know, but whenever i listen to Radiohead it feels like the world is all depressed. Yhere's no life for me in the music. Maybe it's because i tried listening them today. I heard you need to listen to them more so you would get used to it.
Yeah. When I got OK Computer, I wasn't feeling it at first, but I ended up getting really into the songs.
Stribog It does the complete opposite for me. Although it can be sad, it somehow enlightens me.
wildmoon feels exactly the same for me when the shivers go down my spine
This song is so haunting that instantly brings me down and "knowing that I should just not listen to it... It somehow calls me back. I'll listen to it... I'll let the words sync into my head... I lose my self and wait to be found again only to come to face the fact that I'm no longer me and I'm just a mere of who I once. I'm a slave to this song. The only way to be free is not to fear what happens next but instead let it end me..."
A friend played this song on acoustic guitar at another friend's funeral..
Still, to this day, the most I have ever cried to a song..
But at the same time, the most beautiful song I've ever heard.
'today has been the most perfect day i've ever seen'...thats truly haunting
One of the most fascinating things about this song to me is...
That curious percussion pattern that starts at 1:20... it's the heart beat of the man in his last moments.
and little by little it flutters more and more erratically until it finally stops towards the end of the song... When he dies.
Radiohead... that was incredible.
I never thought of it that way 😑. I love it even more!
i think it's supposed to mimic the sound of a tape being played
Im 14 now. When my parents were fighting and screeming till 3am when i was little. I remember my dad listened to this song before he died. This song brings memories
InTheNameOfFate pc4pc?
+coney island lurker chill out
+InTheNameOfFate you are strong.
He passed from a car accident
Let the people you love know that you love them and live right... whatever that may mean to you...Life isn't short we're just dead forever
The drums, in my opinion, represent the erratic heartbeat of an individual struggling in the final moments of his or her life
They sound like the train - my Piccadilly Line from LHR x
+Rasual Butler the drumming actually makes a skipping sound to emulate a videotape getting caught on a loop
I also feel like there's a suggestion of an ambulance siren in the "On videotape, On videotape, On videotape" too. It's really haunting. It actually just inspired me to write down a movie idea that I've been trying to tease out of my head for a year now.
There's no word to describe how you feel when you're faced to this song. You just can't. Your heart feels empty, that's all I can state.
lmao
Dude, there's something wrong?
My best friend played and sang this for me on our last night together.
Friendzoned.
there's nothing wrong with a best friend dedicating a song to another.
Friendzoned
***** Friendzoned for life
This song makes me cry.
+Trav Mamone me too ...because I suddenly feel more alive when I hear it :) love it !
+Meganne Stepka Feeling more alive to song about dying? ok :D
yes the song lyrically presents an opportunity to see yourself from the future and to allow that to change your current present to more presence :) That's what those emotions do to me
+Meganne Stepka Hate to be a downer, but the lyrics suggest this song is about suicide.
+It's Nobody :D Yes, the song is about a life lost..but the title alludes to a little more. The narrator/singer knows he is going to be viewed, or remembered, on the "videotape"...this vessel allows him to be more honest and tell the person how he really feels. I see it as a small commentary on how society has always tried to capture important moments and share (photo albums, portraits, Facebook, selfies, etc.)...so I see what Meganne is saying, too. Being able to see yourself on camera/reflect allows for growth. It's Radiohead, so you know there are probably tons of layers hahah such a good song
Could listen to this song on repeat forever. So beautiful.
No matter what happens now, you shouldn't be afraid, because now I know that today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen.
Incredibly profound lyric.
Everyone criticized this album so heavily when it first came out... but I've always loved it, and this song. It just strikes a chord with me.
+razecah cucu every Radiohead fan that I know colossal even this album is a mess, and said they didn't know what the critics liked it so much
play this at my funeral - mourn for me, goddamnit!
What i love about this song is how hypnotic it is. The beat actually changes a lot throughout but it's quite subtle and just lulls you into it even further... if that makes sense. Fantastic song.
The events I've encountered that correspond with this song are undoubtedly the best memories of my entire life. Thank you Thom and crew
Thom Yorke's brilliant vocals, those haunting back vocals, an incredible piano sample and an insane drum loop sent me here.
i will forever love this song because everytime i hear it, i am reminded of good memories that have made my life worth living.
Best Ending Tracks of the Albums
1 - Motion Picture Soundtrack
2 - A Wolf at the Door
3 - Street Spirit
4 - Videotape
5 - Separator
6 - Blowout
7 - Life in a Glass House
8 - The Tourist
A wonderful Song this is the best song of this album
Such a powerful song.
This could make me feel sad or extremely happy. Right now its numbing everything. I love it. So passionate.
Radiohead is one of the only bands who truly makes me feel something that is unexplainable in words.
Even during the most joyfullest moments this song has had the power to make me weep. yesterday i lost the most important person in the world to me. I feel like the general tone of the song perfectly fits how i feel right now. it burns my insides to do anything right now but do get a little comfort from hearing songs like this and knowing im not alone in the way i feel
I play this song whenever I read or watch something sad and it makes the experience so much more intense... Thank you Radiohead, for making wonderful music.
Love the last verse. It during the last day of his life when he starts to appreciate life and its beauty, dubbing it as the most perfect day. Never take anything for granted.
one of the best albums ive ever heard
This song was sang and played on acoustic guitar so beautifully at a good friend's funeral...
It is so amazingly touching, and I can't hear it without my eyes tearing up...
absolutely the most important song for me. it destroys me, makes me feel the saddest ever, but also recalls beautiful moments, which have gone. i really can't listen to that song, just because of my sanity. but i love it, my favourite one.
i've been listening to radiohead for years, but it's really starting to hit me how amazing they really are. i recently took the time to listen to all their sounds and wow, just wow
This song helps me clear my mind when the world becomes to stressful or too much to hold. The piano is hypnotizing and the voice is soothing; it's the perfect song.
I love playing this piece on my piano, its so delicate and moving. Beautiful lyrics. I expect no less from Thom.
today is my birthday and its just been horrible. but this song makes me happy every single time. thank you radiohead, for all that you've done. you made my birthday better and that's all i could ask for.
love this song
Amazing! What a great song. I don't know how radio head keep on doing this? making amazing music. I love this as much as i love the rest of Thom's work.
So sad, so beautiful... His voice moves me. This song makes me cry... Its takes me away. LOVE ITTTTTT
I heard this song for the first time a week after my grandma died, perfect timing. This song actually made me feel better in a time where life seemed completely pointless
This song always reminds me of the Winter... this entire album does. Whenever I listen to it, I vividly remember the day I walked through the ice and snow to the corner store to get coffee.. then to the cinemas to watch Twilight (crappy movie). Then I hear 15th Step in the credits for that movie... and, since then, that's all I can think of when I listen to this album.
I love it.
Wow, this song pokes at so many emotions, feelings, memories in your head.
give it a chance, it really grows on you, every time i've heard it it gets better, every version, every time.
I was reading a sad novel years ago while listening to this song constanstly. Every time I hear this song since that, I recall those feelings about that story.
this song is just beautiful!! Radiohead is great
This song never fails to bring a tear to my eye. LOVE it LOVE it LOVE it, and LOVE RADIOHEAD FOREVER
this song gives me the chills, every freaking time. the perfect ending to a perfect album. well, at least ONE of radiohead's perfect albums.
This song is so deep, i am actually a long time fan of radiohead but never heard of this song.
This song's been my favorite for 4 years now, still as amazing as the first time I heard it.
This song was created from a very comlex set of emotions when it was written. It is very easy to feel a connection with the song and its strong power, which is what any fan of the song will tell you. But I feel that, on some level, Thom wrote the song, to and from, a personal space inside himself. He is the artist, and the listener. He makes music that he likes. That is what a true artist does.
this song always brings a tear to my eye i love radiohead
I saw it in Dublin too!! So well done!! I fell in love with this song!
I've probably listened to this song over fifty times by now, not including listening to the album as a whole. And I JUST NOW noticed the out of time hi hat at 3:06 that sounds so awesome. I feel stupid and amazed.
Videotape really shocked me when i heard it for the first time. It really is one of the most dramatic yet beautiful songs i've ever heard. Only Radiohead can end an album with this, unbelievable.
I think the fact that this song means something so special to every single insightful commenter here shows how inspiring their music is.
Play on, Radiohead.
Seeing them play this live... It blew me away how they flip one of their most somber tunes into a full on jam at the end.
Really beautiful.
so minimal, so enormous
Es uno de los mejores temas de radiohead y uno de los menos valorados:( es hermoso en todo momento
this holds so many memories for me-such a beautiful song
I've listened to In Rainbows on several occasions, and never much cared for this song. Then today, it was playing and...
My soul was lifted from the abyss.
One of the very few times i've almost been brought to tears by a song.
GET THE ALBUM!!!!! it is one of the greatest albums I've ever listened to. All the songs are great!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although there is a rather depressing theme to the lyrics. There is some kind of deep spark of hope when you combine the sound of the instrumental and Thom York's voice. The feeling this song gives you once you realize it is a glimpse of what your being will feel like in heaven. If you really lose yourself into this song - you can almost see the inner peace and overwhelming sense of pure love approaching us in the afterlife. God has used Thom Yorke in this masterpiece no matter what his true intentions of his lyrics were. You could easily confuse some of the feelings this song gives you with being suicidal. I think we long for the feeling of hope and love in the world of sadness we live in, and that's why this song gives one almost a longing for death. I also think Thom is a person who probably struggles with depression and has feelings related to longing for death. You can kind of see it in his eyes almost like you could see it in Robin Williams eyes. I think it shows too in how his music can evoke certain emotions with his fans.
The whole song is like those spinning parts (don't know what they are called) of a videotape.
Puncho Samurai Spools? Coils?
+Emmanuel Goldstein Reels.
Emmanuel Goldstein I guess, didn't know the word.
@SlymeGreen Holy shit...you really just made me realize the kind of emotion Radiohead can convey into its listeners
wow i never saw it like that before, i like the idea, though this is not the only song in the album that got to me in such a big way, i still think the idea of it being like the hangover is very accurate, it's definitely the most saddening, and deep song by Radiohead, and it's probably my favorite, amazing what three piano notes and a voice plus beautiful lyrics can do to a man.
this song makes me cry all the time....its so deep.
My school went to see Macbeth, and the fighting scenes were dances in slow motion to this perfect perfect song!! It was so beautifully done!!!
This is an amazing song and never really leaves my mind, I'd like to hear this before I die. it's making me shake.
ahhhh my fav. song to listen to when i'm smoking. i hear every instrument so distinctively
Never forget
I was listening to this for the first time in a public computer lab and I had already decided it was one of the most beautiful songs I'd ever heard. But it wasn't until I heard the line "the most perfect day I've ever seen" that I had to walk out of the room cause I was tearing up uncontrollably. My whole life revolves around music, since I suck at everything else, but I know I'll never in my life create something this beautiful. Why the fuck do I even exist
I listen to this song on repeat and one time I'll find myself listening to just the snare, another just the lyrics, another just the piano... it's unreal
@liligman True that. Their music is like condensed emotion or something, but instead of being toned down it's just as intense as ever. Radiohead will always be legendary.
Have to say, this is an amazing song. First time I heard it I literally went into a sort-of trance. If the whole album's like this, then I'm getting it as soon as possible
This song is haunting yet beautiful at the same time. There is something so disturbing and unsettling about it that makes me feel sad and weird but in a non depressing kind of way.
I get the chills just thinking about this song...
this song makes me think, and the melody brings back uncontrolable memories that haunt my past with avengence.
i've also only lived for 14 years...
When I'm at the pearly gates
This will be on my videotape, my videotape
Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days
And I have it all here
In red, blue, green
Red, blue, green
You are my center
When I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face
I'm talking to you after it's too late
No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen
Awesome look on the album. Makes perfect sense in my eyes!
One of the best songs I've ever heard. This band never cease to blow me away after all these years. I love Thom Yorke so much. If you like this song, you should check out Sober Moon by Ali Murray. Very beautiful and sad and haunting atmospheres.
this song always hypnotizes me
Never forget/regret these feelings
this song is just beautiful... I don't know what else to say, and I 'm only typing this to say to every one who is sad, angry or unhappy in some other way to know you're not alone and you don't have to feel ashamed or anything. and if you think you need to, you can write me and I will try to sooth you.
Beautiful song
Moved 3000 miles away from home to a whole other continent, this song reminds me that this is one, for the good days.
Real beauty can never depress me even if it is in a sad form like a sad song.
This song is beautiful
You can't truly appreciate their songs until you've heard them multiple times..
there's too much to consider...
2:15 that's what my mind sounds like when I think of her too much. Beautiful... but also having the feeling of disdain. Congested; discombobulated.
Man, they just don't stop with the emotional heart felt knockers!!
This song is just amazing, Damn Radiohead is truly the best band ever
The battle scenes in Macbeth with this song were pure gold, incredible!
This song almost made me cry...
Goosebumps...
The idea of perfection holds me, and this is as close as it gets
love this song, one the only things I loved about seeing MacBeth on Tuesday night was this, "Fly Fleance, Fly!" fitted so perfectly with the scene :D
This is beautiful and my favorite song...
jigsaw then videotape is one of the best song combos of any album! top 3 easily!
the memories of my mind. the puzzle crumbles. the glass pieces shatter, never to be put back together again. the only thing i have left is the memories of my mind. the videotape that i can play back...remembering the happiest days of my life. but so frail...never thought the end of a smile would come so soon. but as the pieces fall, new ones remain in the mess....hopefully these pieces will begin to draw out the picture that i need in my life. hopefully this new picture wont crumble....hopefully
uff me encanta esta song. grande radiohead. en vivo son geniales.
i love radiohead ....