Then into your life, there comes a darkness
There's a spacecraft blocking out the sky
And there's nowhere to hide
You run to the back and you cover your ears
But it's the loudest sound you've ever heard
And all we trapped rag doll cloth people
We are helpless to resist
Into our darkest hour
[Verse]
But it was just a laugh, just a laugh, just a laugh, just a laugh
Even at this angle, and so we crumble
A ten ton head made of wet sand, oh, this dread circumference
You've gotta be kidding me, the grass grows over me
Your face in the glass, in the glass, it was just a laugh, just a laugh
It's whatever you say it is, in split infinity
[Chorus]
Then into your life, there comes a darkness
And a spacecraft blocking out the sky
And there's nowhere to hide
You run to the back and you cover your ears
But it's the loudest sound you've ever heard
Into your darkest hour
About
This song continues the space narrative on A Moon Shaped Pool. Thom uses metaphors of a UFO and extraterrestrial matter in order to portray the questions and darkness of humanity.
The title “Decks Dark” would seem to allude to spaceship “decks” – the deck of a ship. In this case these decks being perhaps unmanned – dark, and lifeless.
This is the second Radiohead album to feature a song about the arrival of extraterrestrial spacecraft as the third track. The other is OK Computer with “Subterranean Homesick Alien”.
The song is also personal for Thom. In parts, it seems as if he’s speaking directly to a woman in his past. The woman could be Rachel Owen, Thom’s former partner of 23 years. As theorized in “Daydreaming”, 23 years marks “half” of Thom’s life.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 2.Daydreaming
- 3.Decks Dark
- 5.Ful Stop
- 6.Glass Eyes
- 7.Identikit
- 8.The Numbers
- 11.True Love Waits
