Myxomatosis. (Judge, Jury & Executioner.)

the mongrel cat came home
holding half a head
proceeded to show it off
to all his new found friends

he said I been where I liked
I slept with who I liked
she ate me up for breakfast
she screwed me in a vice

but now I don't know why I feel so tongue-tied

I sat in the cupboard
and wrote it down in neat
they were cheering and waving, cheering and waving
twitching and salivating like with myxomatosis

but it got edited, fucked up
strangled, beaten up
used as a photo in Time magazine
buried in a burning black hole in Devon

I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied
don’t know why I feel so skinned alive

my thoughts are misguided and a little naive
I twitch and I salivate like with myxomatosis
you should put me in a home or you should put me down
I got myxomatosis, I got myxomatosis

yeah no one likes a smart ass, but we all like stars
that wasn't my intention, I did it for a reason
it must have got mixed up, strangled, beaten up
I got myxomatosis, I got myxomatosis

I don’t know why I feel so tongue-tied

...that's part of what 'myxomatosis' is about - it's about wishing that all the people who tell you that you're crazy were actually right. that would make life somuch easier.

--Thom

I loved the word," said Yorke, who could remember his parents discussing the episode at home. But, he added, his song was actually about mind control.
... It's one of the wordiest songs on the album, too, evolving from a short story Yorke had written then cut up, in the style of another mind control freak, William Burroughs.

--Radiohead: The Complete Guide to their Music by Mark Paytress

It’s actually a short story that I wrote and then cut up. And I never write short stories. I used to write them at University. In fact, I managed to blag my way on a course for creative writing just because I didn’t want to do Spencer. Something like that anyway, very old, very thick, big book. I was not having any of that. Anyway, where was I? Erm…oh yeah. Myxomotosis is a man-made disease, you see, and I think I may have it. I think it’s got a lot of that absurdist thing in it. There’s obviously something wrong with me. I mean I’m obviously missing something here. I must be ill, ‘cos when I listen to the radio I just go ‘Uurghhh!’ and it makes me very angry. I am one of those people. I shout at the TV.

--XFM interview with thom