Thom Yorke Contemplates Second Chances in “Dawn Chorus”

If you could start your life over again, would you do it differently? That’s the question Thom Yorke ponders in “Dawn Chorus”, which appears on his 2019 solo LP, Anima.

Produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich, “Dawn Chorus” is looking back on one’s life, although not with any sense of nostalgia. Instead, Yorke contemplates rebirth and the ongoing cycle of life.

If You Must, You Must

In Radiohead’s “No Surprises”, Yorke sings, “A heart that’s full up like a landfill / A job that slowly kills you / Bruises that won’t heal.” Here, he continues the theme of navigating life’s bruising banalities.

He wonders if you’ve had enough of waking up to singing birds each morning, the dawn chorus. When did you stop having your mind blown by nature? There’s no awe left for birds, the continuing dinosaurs. It’s all just repeated ennui from here on out. “Back up the cul-de-sac / Come on, do your worst,” Yorke sings.

If you could do it all again
A little fairy dust
A thousand tiny birds singing
If you must, you must
Please let me know
When you’ve had enough
Of the white light
Of the dawn chorus

Without a Second Thought

Regret often drives the urge for second chances. But in the following verse, Yorke seems to hint at rebirth not as a kind of do-over. It’s another pass through the experience. Understanding what makes life precious, beautiful, rare.

It’s the people we love. “I think I missed something,” he announces. Would love another shot at it. We seek patterns, learn from them, and then repeat them. Would you do it again? This time with style.

I don’t like leaving
The door shut
I think I missed something
But I’m not sure what
In the middle of the vortex
The wind picked up
Shook up the soot
From the chimney pot
Into spiral patterns
Of you, my love

Meanwhile, the throbbing synth that cycles behind Yorke’s voice feels like a dream. That’s how life can feel, especially when we look back at previous chapters. Some of them are so distant, they seem like a dream, a movie, or someone else’s life.

But choruses repeat at intervals. The dawn is the start of the next measure. We are lucky to experience its repetition.

Photo by Naomi Rahim/WireImage