Radiohead - 2+2=5 [The Lukewarm]

The song's title "2+2=5" recalls the symbol of unreality from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984). In the book, inhabitants of an authoritarian future state are made to engage in doublethink, replacing their own conscience and beliefs with those imposed from above. At the end of the novel, the protagonist's individuality is demolished, as he avows that two and two are, in fact, five.



LYRICS

Are you such a dreamer,
To put the world to rights?
I'll stay home forever,
Where two and two always makes a five

I'll lay down the tracks,
Sandbag and hide,
January has April showers,
And two and two always makes a five

It's the Devil's way now,
There is no way out,
You can scream and you can shout,
It is too late now

Because you have not been
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention

Yeah I feel it, I needed attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention

Yeah I need it, I needed attention,
I needed attention,
I needed attention,
I needed attention

Yeah I love it, the attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention,
Payin' attention

I try to sing along,
I get it all wrong,
'Cause I'm not,
'Cause I'm not
I swat 'em like flies,
But like flies the buggers keep coming back

But I'm not,
Oh hail to the thief,
Oh hail to the thief

But I'm not,
But I'm not,
But I'm not,
But I'm not

Don't question my authority or put me in the dock,
'Cause I'm not,
'Cause I'm not

Oh go up to the king, and the sky is falling in,
But it's not,
But it's not
But it's not

Maybe not,
Maybe not

Songwriters: Colin Charles Greenwood / Edward John O'brien / Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood / Philip James Selway / Thomas Edward Yorke

2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm.) lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc