Cinema & TV

Let Down, The Bear ending song: lyrics and meaning

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The Bear is one of the most appreciated TV shows of the season. It premiered on Hulu on June 23, 2022, and it took a few days to involve many people, who watched all episodes one after the other until the end. The show is also successful because of the musical selection: every episode has a few tracks selected personally by the show’s creator, Christopher Storer, involving artists like Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Wilco, Genesis, and Sufjan Stevens. One of the best choices, though, is the song featured in the ending of the last episode: Let Down, from Radiohead’s most popular album, OK Computer. In this article, we will discover more about this song, the lyrics, and their meaning.

You can find the official streaming of the song below.

Let Down (Remastered)
Watch this video on YouTube.

Let Down, the song at the ending of The Bear TV show: the lyrics and their meaning

Let Down is an attack on modern society, which is empty and superficial. Modern life took out the real meaning of the feelings we have. We crave feelings, but we can no longer truly experience them. In this chaotic world, emotions come in, one after the other, but they all feel empty, useless.

The song begins with a sad description of the superficiality of our world:

Transport, motorways and tramlines
Starting and then stopping
Taking off and landing
The emptiest of feelings
Disappointed people
Clinging on to bottles
And when it comes it’s so, so disappointing

Life seems a never-ending loop where we travel, move from one point to another, chat, drink, and enjoy our empty social life. Nothing of this is really relevant. We think we are living, but we are actually dead. We move, we talk, but no energy flows in our veins. That’s the image of the bug in the ground: when bugs get crushed, they stay alive while their body falls apart. Like humans, they still feel alive while their existence is fading away.

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

There is no hope in Radiohead’s Let Down lyrics: the only possible positive note comes with the perspective of growing wings and flying away from this world. But it’s just an illusion. “Hysterical and useless.”

One day I am gonna grow wings
A chemical reaction
Hysterical and useless

Both Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood commented on the meaning of Let Down lyrics. Both comments have been reported on Genius by the fans. You can find them below.

Sentimentality is being emotional for the sake of it. We’re bombarded with sentiment, people emoting. That’s the Let Down. Feeling every emotion is fake. Or rather every emotion is on the same plane whether it’s a car advert or a pop song.

Thom Yorke

Andy Warhol once said that he could enjoy his own boredom. ‘Let Down’ is about that. It’s the transit-zone feeling. You’re in a space, you are collecting all these impressions, but it all seems so vacant. You don’t have control over the earth anymore. You feel very distant from all these thousands of people that are also walking there.

Jonny Greenwood

Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave

The complete lyrics

Transport, motorways and tramlines
Starting and then stopping
Taking off and landing
The emptiest of feelings
Disappointed people
Clinging on to bottles
And when it comes it’s so, so disappointing

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

Shell smashed, juices flowing
Wings twitch, legs are going
Don’t get sentimental
It always ends up drivel

One day I am gonna grow wings
A chemical reaction
Hysterical and useless
Hysterical and

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

Let down again
Let down again
Let down again

You know, you know where you are with
You know where you are with
Floor collapsing
Floating, bouncing back

And one day
I am gonna grow wings
A chemical reaction
(You know where you are)
Hysterical and useless
(You know where you are)
Hysterical and
(You know where you are)

Let down and hanging around
Crushed like a bug in the ground
Let down and hanging around

Published by Carlo Affatigato

Carlo has been a web content creator for over 10 years. He founded Auralcrave in 2015, envisioning it as a new space capable of offering different perspectives on topics that passionate all of us. With a scientific background, Carlo developed an interest in music, cinema, literature, and art at a young age, transforming it into a complementary dimension to his professional growth. For years, he was a music journalist specializing in electronic and dance music, writing for the most important Italian magazines (both online and print). Movies and TV series have been a true obsession in many phases of his life: during university, it was not uncommon for him to set the alarm in the middle of the night to watch classic films airing on TV. With the advent of the Internet, Carlo became a keen observer of web and social phenomena, addressing light topics such as advertising, trends, fashion, and general themes. He is the main author of Auralcrave and personally manages its social media, editorial line, book publication, resource management, and business expansion. A former engineer, life coach, husband, and father, he believes that every area of knowledge has interesting stories that deserve to be told and is convinced that doing so makes the world a better place.