Radiohead: Just

Now if ever I found a music video intriguing – its gotta be Radiohead’s Just Lyrics.

My quick rundown: In the video, this dude, for some reason, just decides to go and lie down on the pavement in the middle of the day. Everyone passing either steps over or around him. Some stranger nearly trips over him and immediately tries to assist, thinking he is perhaps ill and in need of medical attention. The hopeless guy refuses all help and instead requests that the stranger just leave him alone. The stranger, feeling obliged to help or know the reason for the dude just lying there, insists the man tell him what’s wrong. The hopeless man in turn insists that he cannot tell. This continues for some time till eventually a crowd is gathered. Finally, the man on the ground gives in and tells everyone why he is lying on the ground… and the next thing you know, everyone who heard his words has followed suit.

Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufT3v1roaU&feature=related

So, question is… what could he possibly have said that’s powerful enough to cause this reaction?

I think its got something to do with guilt and the power it has to strip you of your passion for life. Guilt can play on your conscience and hold you hostage to society’s standards of right and wrong. You either deal with it or start living some double life. Here I recall too Bob Marley’s lyrics of Guiltiness when he says “guiltiness … rest on their conscience… and they live their lives… of false pretence everyday…”.

So- I think- the dude on the pavement, gripped by his guilt, is simply sick of this “false pretence everyday”. And Radiohead reminds us… “you do it to yourself”.

(Pic: http://www.lunaea.com/gallery/guilt.jpg)