:: Biography  :: Albums  :: Lyrics  :: Gallery

By Pages:   1    2    3    4    Add Your New Review About The Song The Reviews about 2+2=5 (page 2/ 4) ------ performed by Radiohead Like, duh! | Reviewer: The Professor | 4/18/09 Great song by a great band. All these cheesy reviews, trying to sound intellectual and stuff. Clearly, the song in every way references Orwell's classic 1984. These rockers should provide evidence that there are some who actually pay attention to their English Literature classes, rather than text messaging idiotic messages all day long. Radiohead rules! Katya | Reviewer: Anonymous | 3/20/09 2+2=5 should be a grab at the eye due to the fact that it is referring to the communist "work harder" ideals. If they wanted to set up some other meaning like "Things are just unbalanced" or "misguided ignorance" or what have you. I believe if they really wanted to give that impression then they would have used another set of numbers like 1+1=3. Though I do think they are referring to some Russian literature, they are not boasting about it. Think about what the saying "2+2=5" means. That is what they are getting at, they are just using the meaning of that and not necessarily the communist part of it. reflection | Reviewer: kristian | 2/12/09 i believe radiohead like their lyrics to not have an explicit meaning, and this makes a whole bunch of interpretations more or less plausible. i dont believe any interpretation is "THE correct interpretation", but thinking about this makes us reflect, and that is a good thing. maybe thats what dostoevsky and orwell wanted us to do as well? hmmm | Reviewer: Bart | 1/21/09 mmmm...Orwell...Doystoyevsky...don't really know but I thought this song was about idealogical extremism, vanguardism like dictatorial communism, the extreme neoconservatism such as that of the Bush administration ("the thief" who stole the election?...all the vanguardists are thiefs in that they undermine democracy supposedly for the greater good..."are you such a dreamer, to put the world to rights"). 2+2=5 is the paradoxes created by ideological extremism and vanguardism, for example, using undemocratic action to bring about democracy, peace through war, freeing the working class by silencing working class votes (dicatatorial communism), etc...ideological extremism, vanguardism...the greater good at all costs...even at the cost of democracy itself, the vanguard knows what's best, 2+2=5. "You have not been payin attention", the ideological wars have already began (album produced just after the "liberating" invasion of Iraq..."It's too late now"). "Don't question my authority" said the vanguard, I know what's best for the greater good. 2+2=5 | Reviewer: Max | 11/18/08 Despite the obvious reference to Orwell's "1984", my first reaction was to liken this to the speech given by Ellsworth Toohey to Peter Keating near the end of "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. This song's meaning is obviously derived from many sources of literature with this theme, but I thought I'd add another name into the mix. Wrong. | Reviewer: Illustrious | 11/6/08 Actually, despite the fact that pretty much every interpretation of Doystoyevsky or Orwell provided here seems to be shallow and utterly missing the point, this song is clearly a reference to their works and to the idea of a dystopian society in general. It is most definitely a reference to those authors, and the reference itself has nothing to do with "boasting" about knowledge of Russian literature. (wtf?) The lyrics to this song have everything to do with the concept of complacent, misguided ignorance and the dismal outcome of the sorts of manipulation it facilitates. Like, whoa, man; that's deep. Nonsense? Nonsense. | Reviewer: The Illustrious | 11/6/08 Paul, I'm not sure where you are getting that this has anything to do with "boasting" about knowledge of Russian literature. The usage of "2+2=5" here is clearly a reference to the same phrase whose origins lie in dystopian literature, and it's not even a tiny stretch to be able to extract that same meaning given only the greater context of the song. I believe this is a song about misguided ignorance and the potentially dismal results of the manipulation it facilitates. As with all works, the meaning is open to subjective interpretation; however, I don't feel like we've been left with much wiggle room in this case. I also do think that all this trash about "what is really real" is just plain shallow, and it completely misses the point of the expression. There is no valid reason to question the truth of "2+2=4" or the falsity of "2+2=5" in a sane world, because we have constructed these symbols and their algebra to mean exactly what we say they mean. To accept a contradictory meaning is to senselessly defy a universally accepted, functional set of man-made premises. Radiohead make an essentially equivalent reference to this idea in a more recent song, titled "Down is the new Up." Nonsense | Reviewer: Paul Mertens | 10/30/08 George Orwell or Dostoevsky have nothing to do with this. The phrase 2+2=5 is a common thing which you could read or hear in a lot of places without any references. The reference you describe do not fit into the theme of the song or lyrics in my opinion. You guys need to get over the fact that Radiohead are not trying to boast about their knowledge of Russian literature (really, did you think the band was about that??) and you'll be fine. Yikes | Reviewer: Anonymous | 9/20/08 It is great how a "simple" lyrics makes a lot of ppl THINK, that's what the systems want us not to do, I quite enjoy reading reviews for Radiohead "simple" lyrics. Makes me feel they are doing right. Thanks RH to dare us to think society against individual, does it make radiohead anti-communist? | Reviewer: Anonymous | 2/14/08 I don't understand why people try complicating a pretty simple concept: society works against individual thought and freedom and there is nothing one person can do about it, it's so much easier to get out of the way and accept it, hide and lay down the tracks for the selfperpetrating motion. This is the exact message of 1984 a very influential book to a lot of people, including me, but why are we fretting about where the inspiration came from, the fact of the matter is, this is an amazing song about a very serious issue. Just listen to the song and, i don't know, start a liberal blog, run for office... whatever, just don't talk to me about positivism and the secret code of the third movement at exactly 2:25. Do you really think that's what the band wanted us to be thinking about while writing this song. Come on!! Add Your New Review About The Song By Pages:   1    2    3    4