Pynchon in Media: Radiohead song "You and Whose Army?"

[Ricky Han]

This is an original interpretation I just wrote. (I'm on adderall.) Please
correct me if I got anything wrong about Pynchon.


"You And Whose Army?"

Come on, come on

You think you drive me crazy

Come on, come on

You and whose army?

You and your cronies

Come on, come on

Holy roman empire

Come on if you think

Come on if you think

You can take us all on

You can take us all on

You and whose army?

You and your cronies

You forget so easily

We ride tonight

We ride tonight

Ghost horses

Ghost horses

Ghost horses

We ride tonight

We ride tonight

Ghost horses

Ghost horses

Ghost horses..


Thom Yorke alludes frequently to Thomas Pynchon, and in particular, Lot 49.
The name of Radiohead’s official online merchandise outlet, W.A.S.T.E.,
alludes to Lot 49's underground postal system.
Meaning of "You and Whose Army?" Lyrics

The line “Holy Roman Empire” in song is an easy giveaway. In Pynchon’s Lot
49, the shortest of Pynchon's novels, the protagonist, Oedipa Maas,
possibly unearthing the centuries-old conflict between two mail
distribution companies, Thurn und Taxis and the Trystero (or Tristero). The
Courier’s Tragedy is a “play within a play” that Pynchon devotes a
significant portion of the book to elucidate the history of the conflict.

In the Roman Empire, mail delivery was mostly horseback, having riders on
horses traversing a large distance. Mailmen under Trystero, the persecuted
underdog, delivered mails during nighttime under black uniforms to avoid
detection. Hence the lines “We ride tonight.”

“There was no moon, smog covered the stars, all black as a Tristero rider.”

Moreover, according to The Courier’s Tragedy, Holy Roman Empire declined as
Trystero gained influence, and the rivalry escalated. Many horses were
slain and riders murdered. Hence the lines “Ghost horses.”

Whatever it is, it has the power to murder their riders, send landslides
thundering across their roads, by extension bring into being new local
competition and presently even state postal monopolies; disintegrate their
Empire. It is their time’s ghost, out to put the Thurn and Taxis ass in a
sling.

These lines are solid evidence of the song is alluding to The Courier’s
Tragedy while the other lines tie into the novel at large.

The central motifs of the novella, paranoia and nostalgia(amnesia) are
present in the lines “You think you drive me crazy” and “You forget so
easily” respectively. The protagonist of the book, Oedipa Maas, is buffeted
back and forth between believing and not believing in it without ever
finding firm proof either way. The Trystero may be a conspiracy, it may be
a practical joke, or it may simply be that Oedipa is hallucinating all the
arcane references to this underground network that she seems to be
discovering on bus windows, toilet walls, and everywhere in the Bay Area.

“Come on if you think/You can take us all on” is about the inclusivity of
the W.A.S.T.E. postal system. Oedipa had a hard time investigating the
underground communication system. Those in the system will never share it
with others.

The lines “You and your cronies” are tricky. This may as well be a
Pynchonesque combination of wordplay and pun. In the book, many acronyms
are open for interpretation. “W.A.S.T.E” itself is an acronym(or is it a
backronym?), possibly standing for We Await Silent Trystero’s Empire.
“Crony” is “acronym” without the first and last letter. “You and your
cronies (acronyms)” not only fits in the context of “army”(Trystero’s
Empire) but also poses as a double entendre in the style of Thomas Pynchon.

Like any postmodernist work of art, the book is seen as both an "exemplary
postmodern text" and an outright parody of postmodernism. The book closes
abruptly. We are unable to see the conclusion which could indicate that the
loose ends will never be tied up and the Tristero mystery will keep
expanding and producing more unsolvable leads.

The interpretation of this song follows the exact same line of the type of
postmodern irony Pynchon created.
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