Creep is arguably the most well known and popular Radiohead song ever made. It is so popular that Radiohead even refuses to play it at some shows due to its success. The band is all about shunning pop culture and turning away from commercialism. A recent Wikipedia article on the Pablo Honey album said “The band are not unanimously pleased with “Creep” and believe that its meaning had been misinterpreted and given too much weight by fans.” To the band this song has come to represent some of what they hate about the world, but at the same time it does has some value because it explores the fear and self doubt that plague us all from time to time.
The first couple of lines set the stage for the rest of the song, “When you were here before, couldn’t look you in the eye. Your just like an angel, your skin makes me cry.” There is a girl and she is so perfect and unattainable that you can’t even look her in the eye. This emotion of inadequacy is so easy to relate to. Whether it be because of social status, economic status, or a lack of self confidence, the author feels that she is way above him and that he is not worthy of her attention or affection. He is stuck just watching from afar and she doesn’t even notice him. I think that it is this emotion that makes this song the hit it is.
The next few lines point to how the author views life. He says to the girl “You float like a feather, in a beautiful world. I wish I was special, you’re so very special.” He can see in her the perfection that he doesn’t see in himself. She seems to be able to float around in this beautiful world with none of the troubles that the rest of us have. To the singer, he doesn’t see anything of value in himself and he greatly wants to have this girl and to be worthy of what he sees as special and perfect in her.
Next comes the hook, “But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” These few lines reflect the return to the self doubt and frustration of not be able to connect with that other person. They are played over and over throughout the song and become the anthem by the end. The realization that she will never be his is starting to dawn and the weight of that thought is beginning to change the way he sees his life. After the hook the second verse starts to show how his perception of the situation is beginning to change. He is beginning to get desperate for her attention and his methods have changed. He says, “I don’t care if it hurts, I want to have control. I want a perfect body, I want a perfect soul.”
In the next half of verse two the words “I want you to notice, when I’m not around. You’re so very special, I wish I was special” can have multiple meanings. It could mean that he just wants her to see him and know that he exists or it could mean that he is going to do something that she can’t help but notice. We hear the hook again where he says he doesn’t belong and that he’s a creep and a weirdo and then we’re into the next verse where he says “She’s running out the door, she’s running, she run, run, run, run, run.” Why is she running? He probably confronted her and told her how he felt in terms that she didn’t find altogether appealing. Maybe she didn’t want to give him control. Maybe she didn’t want to notice him because he is a creep and a weirdo.
At this point melancholy and fatalism have set in. The singer shows us he has given up at least for the present when he says “Whatever makes you happy, whatever you want. You’re so very special, I wish I was special.” It is the final blow, he gave it a shot. It may have been poorly executed but it was what he had at the time. Now there’s a good chance that he’s blown it forever but that is the way it goes sometimes. The song ends with another repetition of the hook with an added and extended “I don’t belong here” to haunt the listener as they go on to whatever is next.
This song is about self-doubt and failure and the inability to connect with the one person we think we want more than anything. I have not tried to argue that this song has value as a teaching tool or that its message is a good one. The band has pretty much disowned the song simply due to too much weight being given to the meaning of the song. I chose to do an analysis of “Creep” because I believe that it hits a chord in most people because they can relate to loss and their own inadequacy in human relationships. It is the human experience to suffer loss and rejection but it is how we deal with them that will determine what we become.
Works Cited
Radiohead. “Creep.” Pablo Honey. Parlophone/EMI, 1993.
Wikipedia. “Pablo Honey.” Pablo Honey from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. March 2006. April 11, 2006. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Honey>
