The following information is excerpted from an email Rhys Davies sent to me in February 2003: “the original author of the ‘Radiohead Dictionary’ was Onn-Jian Lim (he preferred OJ Lim).”
The dictionary was originally created in c. 1997-98 and hosted on OJ Lim’s Another Useless Radiohead Site, which is now defunct. Rhys Davies added: “OJ frequented a number of Radiohead mailing lists and this ‘dictionary’ was compiled with a some help from others on those lists.”
Lines 9-11 of “Electioneering” read:
Riot shields, voodoo economics,
it’s just business, cattle prods and the I.M.F.
I trust I can rely on your vote.
Riot shields are available for purchase here. Notice in the demonstration picture that a minority is being detained by two caucasians with a “detention shield” that curves away from the user. The phrase “voodoo economics” may have been used first in 1984 by Geraldine Ferraro, though it may have been used before. Cattle prods can be bought online here. You can also visit the web site of the IMF.
The collection of essays I’ve edited on Radiohead (formerly titled Strobe-Lights and Blown Speakers) has found a publisher: Ashgate Publishers Ltd. A publication date has not been set, but it will likely not hit shelves until late 2003. This delay allows the collection to include an essay or two or more on the band’s new album due out in mid-2003. More information on the book, now titled The Music and Art of Radiohead, is available here.
In “The Tourist” on OK Computer, the speaker says people ask him where he’s going “At a 1000 feet per second.” To travel at a 1000 feet per second is equivalent to 682 miles per hour. This is roughly the speed of sound in air. Sound speed varies depending on the medium’s density, whether it be gas, liquid, or solid.
A Radiohead Dictionary of phrases used in the band’s music and cover art. As this “dictionary” has been posted on numerous sites around the internet, the original author is unknown.
Radiohead is widely known to have taken their band name from the Talking Heads song “Radio Head” from the 1986 album True Stories. The lyrics to the song are available here.
The eighth song on OK Computer is “Electioneering.” According to the OED, “electioneering” has two meanings. First, it is the art or practice of managing elections; canvassing on behalf of candidates for membership in representative assemblies. Second, it can be used as an adjective to describe a person or group of people that takes an active part in elections.
Jonathan Percy’s notes to the song on Green Plastic Radiohead claim that Thom Yorke was “was thinking of the Poll Tax Riots as he wrote this, the scenes were people … breaking down the gates of Downing Street.” Although England has a long history of protest against poll taxes, the Poll Tax Riots to which Percy refers occured March 31, 1990. Black and white photos of the riots taken by Paul Ross, a London freelance photogapher, are available here. A pamphlet titled Poll Tax Riot: 10 Hours That Shook Trafalgar Square containing first-hand accounts was published in 1990 by Acab Press. Though somewhat biased, this article provides a concise account of the riots.
The eighth song on The Bends is “My Iron Lung.” There is an online Iron Lung Museum that includes an essay on the the history of the British iron lung from 1832 -1995.
The following is excerpted from an email Koyder sent to me in June 2002:
“On the official Radiohead site, in the audio-video section, there’s a scrolling Flash presentation of Amnesiac’s lyrics. In the lyrics of “Pyramid Song” there, instead of ‘A moon full of stars’ there’s ‘A moonful of stars.’ Beautiful to me. I mention it, as these lyrics seem most competent. End of message.”
The flash presentation in question is available here.
These comments are excerpted from an email Daniel Bentley sent to me in August, 2002:
“I recently went back to visit the OKC booklet to have a go at finding something hidden in there. On the second to last page (the one with the figures shaking hands) at the bottom the words ‘faces, hands, arms, necks’ and ‘the corsets of the dial painters’ are readable. This is an extract from a report by Dr Cecil Drinker into women who became affected by Radium which they painted onto watch dials in the 1920s to make them luminous. They were unprotected and were exposed to high levels of dangerous radiation. The full extract reads ‘Dust samples collected in the workroom from various locations and from chairs not used by the workers were all luminous in the dark room. Their hair, faces, hands, arms, necks, the dresses, the underclothes, even the corsets of the dial painters were luminous. One of the girls showed luminous spots on her legs and thighs. The back of another was luminous almost to the waist….'”
You can read a review of the book Radium Girls: Women and Industrial Health Reform, 1910-1935 by Claudia Clark. There is also an essay on “The Radium Girls.”