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Urban dictionary definition of a groupie, for ya mind.

Now that we got that outta the way, let’s get back to the program:

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He gives up trying to reveal his feelings and convinces himself that the only way to keep her happy is to simply stay away from her.

Yorke’s wailing makes it sound as if he’s about to pass out and not only gives up on chasing her…but also on himself. Sad face

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According to Thom Yorke, “Creep” tells the tale of an inebriated man who tries to get the attention of a woman to whom he is attracted by following her around. In the end, he lacks the self-confidence to face her and feels he subconsciously is her.

When asked about “Creep” in 1993, Yorke said:

I have a real problem being a man in the ‘90s… Any man with any sensitivity or conscience toward the opposite sex would have a problem. To actually assert yourself in a masculine way without looking like you’re in a hard-rock band is a very difficult thing to do… It comes back to the music we write, which is not effeminate, but it’s not brutal in its arrogance. It is one of the things I’m always trying: To assert a sexual persona and on the other hand trying desperately to negate it.

Jonny Greenwood said the song was in fact a happy song about “recognizing what you are”.

Notable covers include those by The Pretenders, Carrie Manolakos, Macy Gray, Lea Michele and Dean Geyer, as part of Glee, Vega Choir, Prince, The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, and most recently, Kimberly Nichole, who performed a very strong cover of this song on the 2015 season of The Voice.

Despite, or perhaps because of, the popularity of the song, Radiohead grew to hate “Creep” and have rarely played it live since the OK Computer tour. “My Iron Lung”, written in 1994 and later released on The Bends, is about the song.

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Now she hits us with double meanings:

  • hold her own hand refers to taking care of herself, although the imagery is of clasping her hands together.

  • Kissing my own neck is impossible for her to do and this speaks to her desire to have someone there for her…a lover.

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Another friend would mean him moving her over to the “friend zone”:

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Nothing without pretend means that she wouldn’t be able to carry on if she dwelled on her faults all day. She pretends to not have any and this allows her to be.

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She describes things that aren’t easily moved:

  • “The tilt of this strange nation” – Can we ever agree on anything?
  • “the will to remain, for the duration” – She’s clearly having feelings of coming and going. Deciding whether to stick this love out or run from it.

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It’s unclear whether Newsom sings this song (or this whole album, really) about her longtime ex-lover, musician Bill Callahan…Whom she could fathomably be driving her to a gig, since he’s a musician himself:

Or more than likely, if it’s about comedian and lead singer of The Lonely Island, Andy Samberg, with who she became engaged on 2/25/13 after a 5 year relationship:

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She’s in a car on the way to a gig, noticing the nightfall and realizes that she’s “never been here before.” Thus is introduced the duality of this song…that perhaps she’s not singing about never being in this city, but rather about the state of love she’s in with her companion in the car.

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No matter how many stupid things we might do (like in the above verse), we’re gonna keep on living and things will be just fine.

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