Radiohead - Reckoner Meaning

Song Released: 2008

Reckoner Lyrics

[lyrics from In Rainbows lyric booklet]
Reckoner
You can't take it with yer
Dancing for your pleasure

You are not to blame for
Bittersweet distractor
Dare not speak it's name
Dedicated to all human beings

Because we separate like...

1. anonymous

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   Jun 28th 2018 !⃝

   Pretty much summing up life and death .
2. anonymous

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   Apr 7th 2015 !⃝

   The 'Reckoner' is the one who wakes you up when you wish to remain in your current perceived reality or dream-state. It is the transient way of true nature that we all need to reckon with and accept. It's partly about reckoning with the fact that you are mortal and will die someday, but it's also about reckoning with the fact that things in life are constantly changing.. nothing stays the same, even though we'd prefer that some things never change. It's about realizing that humans aren't meant to fully understand everything about 'God' (or whatever you wanna call the source light which governs our world), and we have to accept that. Instead, we need to live 'in rainbows'.. in the moment, with the enlightenment of God at our backs. "life is not light, but the refracted color", as Faust reminds us. For more, go to diginterpretations.wordpress.com
3. anonymous

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   May 25th 2012 !⃝

   This song is fairly straight forward, although incredibly deep. The song personifies death as a "bittersweet distractor" who is but a facade of what death as a noun actually entails. "Death" is "dedicated to all human beings" because of the fact that none can escape it. I think by the "ripples on a blank shore" part, Thom is portraying life as a wave that eventually hits the shore and vanishes. I believe Thom is just accepting death and welcoming our inevitable fate at the end of the song.