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Paranoid Android

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"Paranoid Android"
Song

"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the first single from their 1997 album OK Computer. The bleak but intentionally humorous song was primarily written by singer Thom Yorke in response to an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar.

"Paranoid Android" is over six minutes in length and consists of four distinct sections. The song is named after Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and both The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" are significant influences.

"Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song received critical acclaim, with numerous reviews of OK Computer labelling it a highlight. It has appeared regularly on lists of the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song's animated music video received high rotation on MTV, though the network censored portions containing nudity. Cover versions of the song have been recorded by notable artists from a wide range of musical genres, including Brad Mehldau, Easy Star All-Stars and Christopher O'Riley.

Background and recording

The members of Radiohead wrote parts of "Paranoid Android" at separate times. Entering rehearsal one day, the band was inspired by The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" to combine sections of what were originally three separate songs together. Colin Greenwood said they tried it to see if they could make the disparate elements work together; he said, "We felt like irresponsible schoolboys who were doing this . . . naughty thing, 'cause nobody does a six-and-a-half-minute song with all these changes. It's ridiculous".[1] The song was also intended to be humorous, based on its namesake, Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. The band used Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the work of Pixies as reference points while writing, though Ed O'Brien denies they wrote "a 'Bohemian Rhapsody' for the nineties", while Jonny Greenwood considers it too tense and simple to rival Queen's song.[2] The song was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's fifteenth-century mansion, which Yorke was convinced was haunted.[3]

The song was originally over 14 minutes long,[4] and included an extended organ rendition by Jonny Greenwood.[5] Radiohead drew inspiration from The Beatles, and the editing technique used on Magical Mystery Tour which Colin Greenwood described as brutal, to shorten the song to the six and a half minute version that appeared on OK Computer.[6] Jonny Greenwood's organ section was replaced by a guitar fade out.[7]

Radiohead played the extended version while on tour with Alanis Morissette in September 1996. O'Brien said "when we started playing it live, it was completely hilarious. There was a rave down section and a Hammond organ outro, and we'd be pissing ourselves while we played. We'd bring out the glockenspiel and it would be really, really funny."[5] Before the song's first live performance, Yorke informed audiences that "If you can have sex to this one, you’re fucking weird."[8]

Composition and lyrics

"Paranoid Android"
Audio sample from the middle of the second section to the beginning of the first guitar solo
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Paranoid Android" features four sections, all of which are written in a 4/4 time signature (though part of the second section is in 7/8) and played in standard tuning. The first segment, played in the key of G minor[9] and with a tempo of 84 BPM,[10] opens the song with a mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by shaken percussion before being joined by electric guitar and Yorke's vocals.[11] The melody of the opening lines span an octave and a third.[12] The second section is in the key of A minor[9] and begins at around the two minute into the track. Although it maintains the tempo of the first segment, it differs rhythmically.[13] Continuing the second section is a distorted guitar solo from Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33.[11]

The third section, written entirely by Jonny Greenwood,[14] slows down to 63 BPM[10] and is in the key of C minor/D minor.[9] This section features a multi-tracked, choral vocal arrangement,[11] and according to Dai Griffiths, a "chord sequence [that ordinarily] would sound seedy, rather like something by the band Portishead".[15] The fourth and final section, starting at 4:58, is a coda that returns to the tempo and key of the second movement, reusing the same acoustic riff from the earlier segment of the song.[11] After a second solo, a brief riff is introduced, which Jonny Greenwood says "was something I had floating around for awhile and the song needed a certain burn. It happened to be the right key and the right speed and it fit right in."[16] The song ends, as does the second section, with a short chromatically descending guitar motif.[17]

"Paranoid Android" is categorized by three distinct moods, which were written in what Thom Yorke referred to as three different states of mind.[6] The song's lyrics tie in with a number of themes common in OK Computer, including insanity, violence, slogans, and political objection to capitalism.[18] Yorke wrote the lyrics based on an unpleasant experience at a Los Angeles bar during which he was surrounded by strangers taking cocaine. In particular, Yorke became frightened by a woman who became violently angry after someone spilled a drink on her. Yorke characterized the woman as "inhuman", and said "There was a look in this woman's eyes that I'd never seen before anywhere. [...] Couldn't sleep that night because of it." The woman inspired the line "kicking squealing Gucci little piggy" from the song's second section.[19]

Reception

Radiohead premired "Paranoid Android" on the BBC Radio 1 program Evening Session in April 1997, nearly a month prior to its release as a single.[20] Despite a lack of radio play, "Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, giving Radiohead their highest singles chart position.[21] Its next highest position was number 29 on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart on which it spent two weeks.[22]

"Paranoid Android" was well received. Several critics compared its epic nature to Queen; Rolling Stone's Mark Kemp wrote that "Yorke sounds as though he's conjuring the spirit of Queen's Freddie Mercury",[23] and David Browne of Entertainment Weekly said the song aimed to be the "Bohemian Rhapsody" of the 1990s.[24] Jon Lusk of the BBC agreed, writing that "'Paranoid Android' does have more than a whiff of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' about it".[25] Kemp praised the song's mix of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, which helped produce "complex tempo changes, touches of dissonance, ancient choral music and a King Crimson-like melodic structure".[23] Meanwhile Browne wrote of "celestial call-and-response vocal passages, dynamically varied sections, and Thom Yorke's high-voiced bleat".[24]

The A.V. Club called the song unforgettable and an "amazing epic single".[26] Several reviewers noted its ambitiousness; Slant Magazine made reference to the song's lyrics in calling it a "multipart anti-yuppie anthem whose ambition is anything but ugly",[27] and Andy Gill wrote in The Independent that "Paranoid Android" could be the most ambitious single since Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park".[28] Craig McLean of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that "Paranoid Android" was "a titanic guitar opera in three movements and 6 [and a half] minutes".[29] PopMatters' Evan Sawdey called the song OK Computer's "sweeping, multi-tiered centerpiece",[30] Peter and Jonathan Buckley wrote in The Rough Guide to Rock that it was "the breathtaking high point".[31] Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called "Paranoid Android" "complex, multi-segmented ... tight, melodic, and muscular", and said it displayed Radiohead at their most adventurous.[32] Browne wrote that, partially because of "Paranoid Android", OK Computer was significantly more expansive than The Bends.[24] Rolling Stone place the song at number 256 on its 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.[33]

Music video

The members of Radiohead, as depicted in the "Paranoid Android" video. The video's protagonist, Robin, is shown at far right.

Magnus Carlsson, Swedish creator of the animated series Robin of which the band are fans, was commissioned to make a music video. At first Carlsson wanted to shoot a video for "No Surprises", and was uncertain as to how to approach "Paranoid Android". Eventually he devised a scenario that was to the band's liking after locking himself in his office and staring out the window at a distant bridge, while listening to the song over and over.[34] As Carlsson did not have access to the lyrics, the concept for the video was completely unrelated to the content of the song.[35]

This animated video features mild-mannered Robin and his friend Benjamin venturing out into the world, running into miserable EU representatives, bullying pub patrons, two kissing leathermen, a junkie, deranged businessmen, mermaids, and an angel who plays ping pong with Robin after the protagonist rescues him. The band has a cameo appearance in the video at a bar, where they are sitting at a table drinking and watching a man with a head coming out of his belly dancing on top of their table.[36] However, in this cameo only the versions of Yorke and Jonny Greenwood resemble themselves;[35] O'Brien said "If you freeze-frame it on the video, the guy with the five strands of hair slicked back, that's Colin. It looks nothing like him."[37]

While the single did not receive significant radio play, MTV immediately placed its video on high rotation. The version most often shown on television was edited and images of naked mermaids' breasts were censored. According to Greenwood, "we would've understood if they had a problem with some guy chopping his arms and legs off, but I mean, a woman's breasts! And mermaids as well! It's fucked up."[34] A later US version of the video saw the mermaids wear bathing suits,[34] while the uncut version was later compiled along with other Radiohead videos on the DVD and home video release 7 Television Commercials and The Best Of DVD.

Cover versions

Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau recorded a nine minute cover of "Paranoid Android" on his album Largo (2002), featuring percussionists Jim Keltner and Matt Chamberlain, as well as a horn section. Additionally, Mehldau performed a 19-minute version of the song on Live in Tokyo (2004).[38] Phantom Planet covered the song on Connect Sets (2004), and El Ten Eleven covered it on These Promises Are Being Videotaped (2008). Numerous Radiohead tribute albums include a version of "Paranoid Android". Sia Furler covered the song for the neo soul tribute Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads (2006).[39] The reggae group Easy Star All-Stars covered OK Computer in its entirety for Radiodread (2006), including a version of "Paranoid Android" which substitutes horns for many of the original's guitar riffs.[40] Rockabye Baby! reworked the song into an instrumental lullaby featuring glockenspiel and vibraphone for Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead (2006).[41] "Paranoid Android" was reinterpreted as a crunk instrumental, "Flamboastin' Android", by DJ Gyngyvytus on his Skeet Spirit: a Crunk Tribute to Radiohead (2006).[42]

"Paranoid Android" has also been covered by classical musicians on tribute albums. Christopher O'Riley arranged "Paranoid Android" for a single piano and performed the song on Hold Me to This (2005). Los Angeles string quartet The Section recorded the song for Strung Out on OK Computer: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead (2001);[43] half of this quartet went on to form the Section Quartet, who performed "Paranoid Android" and the rest of OK Computer during two concerts in October 2006.[44]

Track listings

All songs written by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, and Phil Selway.

CD1 (CDODATAS01)
  1. "Paranoid Android" – 6:27
  2. "Polyethylene Parts 1 & 2" – 4:23
  3. "Pearly*" – 3:34
CD2 (CDNODATA01)
  1. "Paranoid Android" – 6:27
  2. "A Reminder" – 3:52
  3. "Melatonin" – 2:08

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[21] 3
Swedish Singles Chart[45] 53
Dutch Singles Chart[46] 61
ARIA Charts[22] 29

References

  • Buckley, Peter (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 1843531054. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Doheny, James (2002). Radiohead: Back to Save the Universe: The Stories Behind Every Song. Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560253983.
  • Footman, Tim (2007). Welcome to the Machine: OK Computer and the Death of the Classic Album. Chrome Dreams. ISBN 0634046195.
  • Griffiths, Dai (2004). OK Computer. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826416632.
  • Kitts, Jeff (2002). Guitar World Presents the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0634046195. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Randall, Mac (2004). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1844491838.
  • Tate, Joseph (2005). The Music and Art of Radiohead. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0754639800. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • OK Computer: Radiohead: Guitar, Tablature, Vocal. Alfred Publishing Company. 2001. ISBN 0757991661.

Notes

  1. ^ Randall, 2002. pp. 214-215.
  2. ^ Sutherland, Mark (31 May 1997). "Return of the Mac!". Melody Maker.
  3. ^ Paranoid Android (9 December 2004). Rolling Stone. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  4. ^ "Thom Yorke loves to skank". Q. 12 August 2002.
  5. ^ a b Doheny, 2002. p. 62.
  6. ^ a b Randall, 2004. pp. 150–151.
  7. ^ Kitts, 2002. p. 151.
  8. ^ Haynes, Gavin (26 September 2008). TV On The Radio - Live Reviews. NME. Accessed 9 October 2008.
  9. ^ a b c Griffiths, 2004. p. 92.
  10. ^ a b Griffiths, 2004. p. 33.
  11. ^ a b c d Footman, 2007. p. 51.
  12. ^ Tate, 2005. p. 175
  13. ^ Griffiths, 2004. p. 52.
  14. ^ Randall, Mac (April 1998). Radiohead: The Golden Age of Radiohead. Guitar World. Accessed 5 October 2008.
  15. ^ Griffiths, 2004. p. 53.
  16. ^ Gulla, Bob (October 1997). "Radiohead - At Long Last, A Future For Rock Guitar". Guitar World.
  17. ^ Tate, 2005. p. 144
  18. ^ Footman, 2007. pp. 144–150.
  19. ^ "Death Is All Around...". Q. October 1997.
  20. ^ Randall, 2000. p. 201.
  21. ^ a b Randall, 2000. pp. 242-43.
  22. ^ a b Radiohead - Paranoid Android. australian-charts.com. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  23. ^ a b Kemp, Mark (10 July 1997). OK Computer. Rolling Stone. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  24. ^ a b c Browne, David (23 May 2008). OK Computer. Entertainment Weekly. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  25. ^ Lusk, Jon (25 April 2007). Radiohead, Paranoid Android. BBC. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  26. ^ Thompson, Stephen (29 March 2002). OK Computer. The A.V. Club. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  27. ^ Cinquemani, Sal (27 May 2007). Radiohead: OK Computer. Slant Magazine. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  28. ^ Gill, Andy (29 April 2005). First Impression: 'OK Computer' by Radiohead, 13 June 1997. The Independent. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  29. ^ McLean, Craig (14 June 2003). Don't worry, be happy. The Sydney Morning Herald. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  30. ^ Sawdey, Evan (2 June 2008). Radiohead: The Best Of [DVD]. PopMatters. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  31. ^ Buckley, 2003. p. 83.
  32. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. OK Computer > Review. Allmusic. Accessed 4 October 2008.
  33. ^ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (201-300). Rolling Stone. Accessed 5 October 2008.
  34. ^ a b c Randall, 2004. pp. 166–167.
  35. ^ a b Footman, 2007. p. 160.
  36. ^ Tate, 2005. pp. 58–59, p. 68.
  37. ^ Randall, 2000. p. 168.
  38. ^ Footman, 2007. p. 193
  39. ^ Solarski, Matthew (23 February 2006). Herbert, Rjd2, ?uestlove Cover Radiohead. Pitchfork Media. Accessed on 8 October 2008.
  40. ^ Footman, 2007. p. 196
  41. ^ Phillips, Amy (11 August 2006). Radiohead Become Lullabies". Pitchfork Media. Accessed 8 October 2008.
  42. ^ Maher, Dave (15 August 2006). Radiohead Get Crunk on Skeet Spirit". Pitchfork Media. Accessed 8 October 2008.
  43. ^ Footman, 2007. p. 194
  44. ^ Solarski, Matthew (11 October 2006). String Quartet Tackles Radiohead's OK Computer". Pitchfork Media. Accessed 8 October 2008.
  45. ^ Radiohead - Paranoid Android. swedishcharts.com. Accessed 8 October 2008.
  46. ^ Radiohead - Paranoid Android. dutchcharts.nl. Accessed 8 October 2008.
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