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Pearly
Radiohead Lyrics


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How'd you
Get your
Teeth so
Pearly?
Dew-drop
Dentures
Whitewashed
Faces
She runs from
The third world, pearly

Vanilla (feel it crawl to me)
Milkshakes (crawl back again)
From Hard Rock (whatever you say)
Cafes (it won't go away)
That's where (I feel it crawl to me)
She got her (crawls back again)
Sweet tooth (it won't go away)
For white boys (whatever you say)

She runs from
The third world, pearly

Hurts me
Darling hurts me
Darling hurts me
Darling hurts me

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Radiohead's song Pearly suggest a commentary on societal and cultural expectations surrounding beauty and race. The song begins with the question "How'd you get your teeth so pearly?" which serves as a metaphor for the privileged whiteness that the subject embodies. The lyrics then suggest that this whiteness is a mask that is whitewashing the faces of those who seek to emulate it. The use of dew-drop dentures and sweet tooth for white boys are direct references to the amoral attempts of non-white individuals to assimilate into a society that privileges whiteness, despite the knowledge that it is enmeshed in structural racism.


The chorus of "She runs from the third world, pearly" captures a sense of both the desire to escape from oppressive conditions while also pointing out the privilege of the white world she is running to. These lyrics suggest a commentary on beauty and race that supports the idea that a person's beauty is determined by Eurocentric standards, and those who do not fit into those standards are subject to constant pressure to conform. The lyrics Hurts me, Darling hurts me, Darling hurts me use repetition to express the pain and harm that societal expectation can inflict on an individual.


Line by Line Meaning

How'd you
How did you


Get your
Obtain your


Teeth so
Your teeth look so


Pearly?
White and shiny?


Dew-drop
Small drops of fresh morning dew


Dentures
The set of teeth that are either natural or artificial


Whitewashed
Whiten with some sort of solution or paint on the surface


Faces
Just faces


She runs from
She escaped from the dire conditions of


The third world, pearly
A developing country where people struggle to make ends meet and live in poverty, but she managed to get out of there


Vanilla (feel it crawl to me)
The feeling of something slowly moving toward me, like vanilla flavor


Milkshakes (crawl back again)
And then retreat slowly like milkshakes


From Hard Rock (whatever you say)
Even from a place like Hard Rock Café and


Cafes (it won't go away)
in any cafes, The feeling of something crawling towards her won't go away


That's where (I feel it crawl to me)
That's where she experiences this sensation of crawling towards her like an unpleasant force


She got her (crawls back again)
She keeps experiencing this, and then it goes away only to return again


Sweet tooth (it won't go away)
She has an insatiable craving that won't stop


For white boys (whatever you say)
She has this craving to be loved by white men (despite whatever others may say)


She runs from
She escapes from the dire conditions of


The third world, pearly
The same developing country where white men are more likely to be found


Hurts me
It causes me pain


Darling hurts me
Even though she calls ('Darling'), it still hurts her


Darling hurts me
It's extremely painful when he isn't there anymore


Darling hurts me
Even though I call out ('darling'), it still hurts me deeply




Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLIN CHARLES GREENWOOD, EDWARD JOHN O'BRIEN, JONATHAN RICHARD GUY GREENWOOD, PHILIP JAMES SELWAY, THOMAS EDWARD YORKE

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