Radiohead: No Surprises Meaning

Song Released: 1998

No Surprises Lyrics

A heart that's full up like a landfill
A job that slowly kills you
Bruises that won't heal

You look so tired-unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't, they don't speak for us
I'll take a quiet life
A handshake of carbon...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 9th 2020 !⃝

   This song is about suicide. A heart full up like a landfill. A job that slowly kills you. Bruises that won’t heal, captures perfectly how you feel when you’ve finally had enough. A quiet life, a handshake of Carbon Monoxide is not an allegory about pollution or climate change, it’s simply the method in which to make it all stop. I’ve always believed the chorus is essentially a lyrical DNR order. If you find me in time, don’t try and save me, don’t hook me up to machines. No alarms, no surprises. Just let me go. “This is my final fit. My final bellyache” speaks for itself. “Such a pretty house. Such a pretty garden” I’ve always thought as the final hallucination before the brain dies. The hope of an afterlife. A pretty house with a pretty garden. Somewhere peaceful where I can finally rest, free from the pain of the world I’ve left behind.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Feb 3rd 2012 !⃝

   Hardly surprising that song doesn't truly speak to you until you are in that situation.
   The words are sparklingly clear to me now.
   He's reached the end of his tether , the reason doesn't matter. He's off to fill his car with carbon monoxide and close the windows hence the peacefulness of the tune. He's finally realised what he has to do . No surprises , the answer is blindingly obvious.
   Reference to the pretty house and garden is a banal observation of the ordinaryness of life compared to what he is about to do. People always ask you what have you got to be depressed about , you've got a nice house , why are you depressed ? Pretty houses don't fix anything when your mind, heart and soul are broken.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Dec 17th 2011 !⃝

   This song is about suicide. In the beginning there are mentioned some reasons for the suicide 1-A heart that's full up like a landfill 2- A job that slowly kills you 3-Bruises that won't heal.
   The suicide way mentioned is using smoke - "A A handshake of carbon".
   Then you´ll die quietly (Silent, silent, This is my final fit) with a monoxide poising (my final bellyache). If there's no alarms (Monoxide alarm) and no surprises soon you will be dead. AMEN
4. anonymous

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   Apr 27th 2022 !⃝

   I think the song “no surprises” is an embodiment of feeling dissatisfied with life itself. This sense of discontent is seen throughout the song in lines such as “A job that slowly kills you” which somewhat depicts being a slave to the workforce and giving up your life to be content with material possessions. However, having a “pretty house” and a “pretty garden” never bring true happiness to its beholder because there will always be an internal sense of imprisonment within our complex lives. The writer tries to composite for this by saying that we will “take a quiet life” as a way to escape its harsh realities. Although, this overall dissatisfaction leads to acceptance as the writer realizes that there is no escape. He writes, “A handshake of carbon monoxide” as a way of saying that he has made a metaphorical deal with death, reinforcing the idea of suicide as “handshake” shapes it to be voluntary. He elaborates on this with the phrases “My final fit my final belly ache” which obviously indicate his last moments before the anticipated death. The ends the song with the known phrase “No alarms and no surprises” indicates silence as he finally is at peace.
5. anonymous

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   Dec 26th 2020 !⃝

   I'm surprised no one has caught on to the real meaning of "no alarms and no surprises". It's given away by the verses in the beginning about bringing down the government. Many men at the end of their rope make desperate attempts against those who they feel wronged them. They lash out (bring down the government). But the singer would rather have the "quiet life" and go out NOT in a blaze of glory, but peacefully and predictably via carbon monoxide poisoning.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 5th 2018 !⃝

   Perhaps the song is about a cancer patient considering assisted suicide.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Dec 29th 2017 !⃝

   To be true the whole song seems like a heroin trip, The feeling of nothing with no worries.
8. alsphaltclorophile

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   Apr 10th 2012 !⃝

   Yes, it can be about plants...and citizenship. About how modern common people are tired because of their jobs and lives and quit fighting against political decisions that don't suit them, such as wild construction of highways over and nature. "Bring down the government/ (...)they don't speak for us"
   We make a pact (handshake) with these actions when we remain passive and do nothing against it. We just don't want to bother about it. "I'll take a quiet life/ A handshake of carbon monoxide". When people quit, nothing else surprises them or alarms them anymore.
   I just used this allegory as opening words of my master thesis in sociology - a study case of a civic movement defending a park/wood from the construction of a motorway. It was very appreciated as that.
   Nevertheless, the great thing about art is the multiple possibilities of interpretations of a piece. And artists don't have to explain anything. Just let it be there.
9. anonymous

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   Feb 21st 2012 !⃝

   I'm gonna throw this idea out there.. Could it be about plants? Just think about it.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. mcfinster

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    Jun 20th 2011 !⃝

    there are general meanings which can be inferred from lyrics, but the reason why they stay and resonate with you is the personal interpretation. No alarms, no surprises, to me this carries the meaning of being at a stage of life, when there are no more surprises, disillusionment, the failure of all your dreams, the disappointment of being lied to or deceived yet again, by people, politics,the final realisation of what the world is really like and how poorly it compares to all the possiblity and hope you may felt in yr innocent youth. Its the end of the line type of feeling, the loss of innocence, the despair of maturity, no alarms no surprises could be the plea of a man so hurt and despairing, he can't stand anymore...noise. its profoundly sad, but infused with truth.
11. anonymous

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    May 22nd 2009 !⃝

    Or it may just be a song about a man who is unhappy and wants to end it all. Had enough of his life his job ect.
12. anonymous

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    May 22nd 2009 !⃝

    This might be a song about how our modern day lives our 9 till 5 jobs that we dont even enjoy have left us too tired and worn out to really care about anything, so the goverment are free to do what they want as most people cant really be bothered to oppose them.
13. DeeEgo

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    Jan 11th 2009 !⃝

    I think "No Surprises" is about a man who needs to change his way of living, which is mainly based on working as hard as you can in order to get material things ("prety house", "prety garden")...that man could be a metaphor of the present time society, which is submited to superficiality, consumism and a life that gets more and more complicated, and decides to abandon that way of living ("I'll take a quiet life") although he knows it's almost a suicide ("A handshake of carbon monoxide"). It's like he's asking for a life without the kind of troubles caused by the life we all live nowadays ("no alarms, and no surprises").
14. anonymous

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    Jan 14th 2008 !⃝

    Isn't this one about the new labour government of 1997? how disappointing it is and how nothing's going to change from the conservatives rule?
15. anonymous

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    Jun 8th 2007 !⃝

    I can agree to disagree. The song is about a man who has chosen the safe way of life (thus no alarms and no surprises) instead of the one with unlimited possibilities and lack of guarantee. To take this life is essentially like committing suicide, when he "shake hands with carbon dioxide", he accepts his fate in return for material needs that society feels he needs, his "pretty house" and "pretty garden". Secretly, he earns for the other life, the "tired and unhappy" life full of eventful and passionate possibilities, as opposed to the pointless life he chose to live. The song shows his pain and suffering in realization of his wrong choice.
16. anonymous

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    Mar 24th 2007 !⃝

    I believe the first poster could be correct, it could be about someone who is frustrated with all that modern life has to offer, so they just wish to get away. But I think they might wish to take it a step further and commit suicide by carbon monoxide to get away.
17. anonymous

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    Aug 31st 2006 !⃝

    This song is simple: a man who has worked all his way through life, and now he just wants to get away. He just wants to put the past behind him.
    
    Thank you.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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