Paranoid Android

Lore & Background

The song's creation began at St Catherine's Court, a 15th-century mansion near Bath, Somerset, where producer Nigel Godrich and the band fused parts of three different songs. The initial version ran over 14 minutes, featuring a long Hammond organ outro by Jonny Greenwood that guitarist Ed O'Brien described as "really, really funny" while they played, though Yorke sarcastically called it "a Pink Floyd cover." Greenwood later admitted the solo was "hard to listen to without clutching the sofa for support," and Godrich noted it just "spun and spun... went off." Influenced by the editing of the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, the band shortened the track to six and a half minutes. They replaced the organ with a shorter guitar outro, recorded Yorke shouting gibberish into a Dictaphone for the ending, and had Godrich edit the pieces on 24-track tape. Colin Greenwood recalled feeling like "irresponsible schoolboys" creating such a complex song, while Yorke insisted the title was a joke about depression, stating the rest of the lyrics were "not personal at all." The final composition shifts through G minor, A minor, and a C/D minor baroque-style loop before ending with a chromatically descending guitar motif.

In Their Own Story

The narrative is rooted in Yorke's specific memory of being surrounded by strangers high on cocaine in an LA bar. He was terrified by a woman who turned violent after someone spilled a drink on her, describing the look in her eyes as "inhuman" and something that kept him awake all night. This encounter inspired the line "kicking squealing Gucci little piggy." The song's structure mirrors three different states of mind: an opening acoustic section with shaken percussion, a second section retaining tempo but changing rhythm before a distorted guitar solo by Greenwood from 2:43 to 3:33, and a third section written entirely by Greenwood that drops the tempo to 62 BPM. This middle section features multi-tracked choral vocals over a chord sequence Dai Griffiths compared to Portishead, split between C minor and D minor. The fourth section acts as a brief instrumental reprise of the second, introducing a guitar riff Greenwood said "needed a certain burn." The video, directed by Magnus Carlsson, visualizes this chaos through Robin and Benjamin encountering miserable EU representatives, bullying pub patrons, kissing leathermen, and an angel playing table tennis. In a cameo, the band appears at a bar watching a man with a head coming out of his belly dance on their table.

Reader's Guide

To understand "Paranoid Android," one must recognize its four distinct sections played in standard tuning, mostly in 4/4 time but featuring three-bar segments in 7/8 timing within the second section. The opening melody spans an octave and a third, while the third section's harmonies loop in a Baroque passacaglia style. Jonny Greenwood achieved his solo tone by passing his guitar through a Mutronics Mutator rack unit. Critics have consistently hailed it as Radiohead's magnum opus, noting its structural similarity to "Bohemian Rhapsody." The song charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, marking the band's highest-charting position in the UK to date. At the 1998 Brit Awards, it was nominated for Best British Single. Its animated music video was placed on heavy rotation by MTV, though the network censored portions containing nudity, specifically editing out bare breasts from mermaids. MTV Europe aired the uncut version for two weeks because their official censor was ill, after which they switched to the edited version. A later US release showed the mermaids wearing bathing suits. The track remains a staple on best-of lists, including NME's and Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Did You Know?

• The song was originally over 14 minutes long before being cut to six and a half minutes using tape editing by Nigel Godrich.
• Thom Yorke recorded himself shouting gibberish into a Dictaphone for the song's ending, which was then edited into the final track.
• MTV Europe aired the uncut music video for two weeks because the channel's official censor was ill and unable to work.
• Jonny Greenwood wrote the third section of the song alone, creating a 62 BPM loop that resembles a Baroque passacaglia.
• The band did not send the lyrics to animator Magnus Carlsson so the video would be based entirely on the sound rather than literal interpretations.