Everything in its Right Place

Album: Kid A (2000)
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Songfacts®:

  • Lead singer Thom Yorke wrote this about how he felt after a show on their 1997 OK Computer tour. The show was in Birmingham, England, and when Yorke got off stage he went to the dressing room and felt completely burned out. The band was becoming famous, but Yorke was feeling helpless and victimized.
  • Yorke wrote this at home on a piano. The song features a Fender Rhodes electric model.
  • This is the first song on Kid A. The band thought it was a great song to open the album, which contained songs with lots of synthesizers and very little guitar.
  • The line, "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon," refers to the face you make because of a lemon's taste. During the OK Computer tour, Yorke walked around with a sour face a lot.
  • Appeared near the very beginning of the film Vanilla Sky, directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz. The movie, which was a remake of a Spanish-language film named "Open Your Eyes" (in Spanish) starring Penelope Cruz in the same role, has a lot of themes in common with Radiohead's music and lyrics, especially with regard to technology and its influence on human perception, communication, and relationships. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Stefano - Old Bridge, NJ
  • Penelope Cruz told Q magazine December 2009 she loves this song. She said: "I like that line, 'Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon.' That song scared me so much, I became obsessed with it."
  • American alternative rock band Anberlin took their name from a misheard lyric from this song. Their lead singer Stephen Christian thought that about 2 minutes 31 seconds into the song, Thom Yorke was singing the word 'Anberlin.' Though Christian later realized he was wrong, he liked the sound of 'Anberlin' and thought it would be a good name for a band.
  • British band Everything Everything named themselves after the first two words Thom Yorke can be heard to sing on this song.

Comments: 18

  • A Person from A PlaceWhy is everyone trying to make sense of this song? IT ISN’T SUPPOSED TO MEAN ANYTHING. Just like the rest of Kid A, he just mixed up some random phrases and put them as song lyrics. Kid A has no meaning underneath it.
  • Peter M from SydneyI think this song represents the irony of life. We have this plan that we peruse from birth, school, work, marriage, kids, golden years… But, that’s not how life works… for anyone. Something always derails this plan… e.g. you get bullied at school, do something stupid and get a criminal record, marry the wrong person and get divorced, don’t get access to your kids, develop health issues… maybe you die all alone. Make no mistake, the plan always gets derailed… and in the end the irony of everything being in its right place (your plan) is revealed…
  • Mimi from Brooklyn This song is about an Acid trip - as simple as that. From the highs and lows of the trip, the euphoric aspect being that everything is in its right place, as it should be. To being stuck in a loop which a bad trip may cause. The sucking on lemon part is the character trying to get out of the bad trip as the acidity of the lemon is supposed to wake the senses. That’s been my take on this song and I think they did a brilliant job demonstrating how an acid trip feels and translating it into music.
  • Matthew Asbury from Lawrence KsIn my opinion the song is about mental disorder. And the way interactions with other people can control your psychological. (Everything is in its right place) repeated over and over uncontrollably. Making you develop a bad taste in your mouth. (Sucking on lemon) and how you feel split between (between two color in my head) driving you insane as the music notes get more and more intense before you just the end of the song the music notes start to lose luster. And drown out into a slow structure. Symbolizing the lose of control. Then the following songs tell you of the struggles going threw this development. Kid A being the outcome.
  • Jaws from Leesburg VaControl is what the narcissist feeds on. They either get it or they get angry. Critical of everyone but themselves, this is the two colors reference.
    *Everything has its place
    *sucking on lemons
    *seeing two colors referring to(black and white)

    If you have ever been married/relationship to a narcissist type A this song and lyrics will talk to you.
  • Bob from Quincy, MaWas reading some dreamers dictionary recently and under 'sucking' it claimed 'Sucking on a lemon reflects persistent arguements with your partner' which could possibly make sense of the lyric 'Yesterday I woke up sucking on a lemon'.
    -i never tohught of that, wow that sheds new light on the meaning for me, since i always felt that this song was about kid a's artificial birth, and how he is literally being split in two, the two colors, the two distinct time signatures (5/4 on the rhodes, the 4/4 beat) etc.. and with the garbled vocals saying kid a is another clue, and now this part shows that he couldve been trying to say he was having disagreements with his partner, or just himself, but it shows there is a significant disconnect between, two ... somethings, but otherwise this is an incredible song and perhaps the most powerful statement out of any song ive heardin the past ten years, it pretty much opened the door for all idm artists, experimental musicians and aphex twin wannabes to get great reviews on pitchfork haha, and then obviously release an album that no one listens to for more than a month cuz it stinks, jk, but it was and still is a very important song
  • Sax from Sydney, Australiathis song is about how perfect the universe is and how everything literally is in its right place... eg. if the earth was one degree shifted off its axis none of us would be here or if we were a few kilometers closer to the sun the ice caps would melt a lot quicker. the line yesterday i woke up sucking on a lemon is just a random line that fits because nothing else can explain how perfect everything in a simple line except for everything in its right place
  • Dylan from New Britain, CtHaha, James, I made that same connection. I read the songacts first, but I still think of the Lemon Song. This song is pure awesomeness. Favorite part is probobly the last time when Thom says "tried to say" and all of his some quadruple tracked voices are all in sync. Im putting this on my sports warmup tape.
  • Greg from Hartford, Ctwhat he is saying is simply we are not in control of any aspect of our reality/existence and we are merely going along for the ride. basically we are watching a movie from the first person pov.
  • Robby from New York, NyThis song has clear allusions towards comformist groups or a comformist person in which everyone has to have a monotonous agenda which fits perfectly with each and every one of their goals that they wish to achieve. Basically a person who is afraid of change ends up sucking on a lemon, because he/she sucks on the sourness of a familiar and common place to live and grow shielded from certain setbacks which might hinder an individuals will to strive for security and happiness.
  • Derek from Raleigh, NcI saw them at Bonnaroo this year (greatest momement of the greatest three days of my life), and they ended with this song and I've looked at other setlists, and it seems they've ended every single live show with this song for about 6 years. Just think that's interesting, especially after reading some of these songfacts.
  • Max from Sydney, AustraliaMy Favourite song on the album..and this album has alot of synthisizers on it
  • James from Jackson, MiHonestly, for the longest time I thought the line "Yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon" was a sexual reference, as in orally pleasuring a man. I think my cousin might have suggested this meaning to me at one time, but I think I was also mixing these lyrics with the words from Led Zeppelin's "The Lemon Song", which is absolutely filled with sexual references in relation to lemons and lemon juice. I guess it's a logical connection, but I'm sort of relieved that my viewpoint is false. Heh.
  • C from Vic, AustraliaSaw them in concert last year and they played this song. Two of the band members recorded Thom singing this song and playing the piano live on stage and then played it back while he was still singing all mixed up, exactly how it sounds on the album. Really great!
  • Craig from Edinburgh, United StatesWas reading some dreamers dictionary recently and under 'sucking' it claimed 'Sucking on a lemon reflects persistent arguements with your partner' which could possibly make sense of the lyric 'Yesterday I woke up sucking on a lemon'.
  • Leon from Glens Falls, NyI thought it was about how conservatism, how everything was in its right place and nothing needed to be changed
  • Adeeb from Dhaka, OtherHmm... a friend and I thought this was about some maniac depressive bigot who needs everything to be in the right place so he could be happy. The "sucking a lemon" part, we thought, might refer to sour outlook a bigot as on life.
  • Stefano from Old Bridge, NjThe band unanimously voted that this should be the opening track of their 2000 album, Kid A.
    ~Stefano - NJ, USA
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