I’ve been in a Radiohead mood for the last couple of days, Kid A has pretty much been stuck on repeat. Maybe it’s the time of year that draws me back to this record, I’m not really sure.
One of my favorite songs from Kid A is the closing track, “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” apparently written in the late 1980s or early 1990s, before “Creep,” and was supposed to appear on OK Computer. Thom’s voice and the hum of the vintage harmonium are what really draw me to this track.
Generally, “Motion Picture Soundtrack” seems like a departure from something at some level, whether it’s physical, emotional, or even spiritual. Depending on the listener’s take, the piece could be about the departure from or even death of a relationship. The first four lines, “Red wine and sleeping pills / Help me get back to your arms / Cheap sex and sad films / Help me get where I belong,” represent the range of emotions and actions a person can go through following a breakup. Wine (or associated alcohol) to numb the pain, sleeping pills to put your questioning mind at ease so the rest of your body can do the same. Cheap sex and sad films can never replace that void left by someone departing from your life.
The song speaks about someone who was hurt so badly that he (or she) wants nothing to do with the other person, “Stop sending letters / Letters always get burned.” Questions of sanity then come into play (this is where the sleeping pills are most effective at putting the mind at ease), as you begin to question yourself, “I think you’re crazy, maybe.” You’re crazy for leaving me…wait, no, maybe I was the crazy one and that’s why you left in the first place…I need a bottle of wine.
Life can be incredibly ugly at times and there’s not always a happy ending, it’s definitely not like the movies, “they fed us on little white lies.”
This may be a simplistic and less obtuse way of looking at a Radiohead song, but may very well relate to people in this way. It’s open for interpretation; allowing the piece to become the “Motion Picture Soundtrack” of the listener’s life.