My Iron Lung Lyrics
Faith, you're driving me away
You do it every day
You don't mean it, but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen
From my life support, my iron lung
[Verse 2]
We're too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are losing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
Our twentieth century bitch
We are grateful for our iron lung
[Chorus]
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
[Verse 3]
Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out, we'll just hum
This, this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time, my iron lung
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
[Bridge]
And if you're frightened, you can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
And if you're frightened, you can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
[Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
The headshrinkers, they want my everything
My uncle Bill, my Belisha beacon
About
The entire song is about Radiohead’s “Creep” from their first album Pablo Honey. An iron lung is a mechanical respirator that worked using negative pressure to assist breathing, most commonly in polio, where patients had paralysed lungs. It effectively breathed for someone who was unable to do so.
“My Iron Lung” tells of how “Creep” is the only thing keeping Radiohead successful or alive. The iron lung metaphor is apt because while “Creep” was keeping the band alive (financially), it was also very constraining and they perceived it as forcing them to play a certain style of music. Similarly, an iron lung does not allow the patient inside it any freedom of movement.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.My Iron Lung