Paranoid Android

"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their third studio album "OK Computer" (1997) on 26 May 1997. The lyrics were written by singer Thom Yorke following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. The song is over six minutes long and contains four sections. The name is taken from Marvin the Paranoid Android from the science fiction series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
"Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, their highest-charting position in the UK to date, and was well received by music critics. The track has appeared regularly on lists of the best songs of all time, including "NME"s and "Rolling Stone"s respective 500 Greatest Songs of All Time lists. Its animated music video, directed by Magnus Carlsson, was placed on heavy rotation on MTV, although the network censored portions containing nudity in the US. At the 1998 Brit Awards, the song was nominated for Best British Single. The track has been covered by artists in a variety of genres. It was included in the 2008 "."
Writing and recording.
The first version of "Paranoid Android" was over 14 minutes long and included a long Hammond organ outro performed by Jonny Greenwood. Guitarist Ed O'Brien said: "We'd be pissing ourselves while we played. We'd bring out the glockenspiel and it would be really, really funny." Singer Thom Yorke sarcastically referred to the version as "a Pink Floyd cover". Greenwood said later that the organ solo was "hard to listen to without clutching the sofa for support". Producer Nigel Godrich said: "Nothing really happened with the outro. It just spun and spun and it got very Deep Purple and went off." An early extended version was included on the 2019 compilation "MiniDiscs [Hacked]".
Inspired by the editing of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour", Radiohead shortened the song to six and a half minutes, with the organ solo replaced with a shorter guitar outro. Along with most of the rest of "OK Computer", "Paranoid Android" was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's 15th-century mansion near the village of St Catherine, near Bath, Somerset.
Radiohead fused parts from three different songs, inspired by the through-composed structure of the Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun". Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the work of the Pixies were further reference points. Bassist Colin Greenwood said the band "felt like irresponsible schoolboys ... nobody does a six-and-a-half-minute song with all these changes. It's ridiculous." Godrich edited the parts together with tape. He said: "It’s a very hard thing to explain, but it’s all on 24-track and it runs through ... I was very pleased with myself. I sort of stood there and said, 'You guys have "no idea" what I’ve just done.' It was pretty clever."
Composition and lyrics.
"Paranoid Android" is described as alternative rock, art rock, progressive rock and neo-progressive. It has four distinct sections, each played in standard tuning, and a time signature, although several three-bar segments in the second section are played in timing. Yorke's vocals span from G3 to C5.
The opening is played in the key of G minor with a tempo of 84 beats per minute (BPM), and begins with a mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by shaken percussion before layered with electric guitar and Yorke's vocals. The melody of the opening vocal lines spans an octave and a third.
The second section is written in the key of A minor and begins about two minutes into the song. Although the second section retains the tempo of the first, it differs rhythmically. Ending the second section is a distorted guitar solo played by Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33.
The third section was written by Jonny Greenwood, and reduces the tempo to 63 BPM. The harmonies form a looped chord progression resembling a Baroque passacaglia, with the tonality split between C minor and D minor. This section uses multi-tracked, choral vocal arrangement and according to Dai Griffiths, a "chord sequence [that ordinarily] would sound seedy, rather like something by the band Portishead".
The fourth and final section, which begins at 5:35, is a brief instrumental reprise of the second movement that serves as a coda. After a second solo, a brief guitar riff is introduced, which Jonny Greenwood says "was something I had floating around for a while and the song needed a certain burn. It happened to be the right key and the right speed and it fit right in." The song ends, as does the second section, with a short chromatically descending guitar motif.
"Paranoid Android" is categorised by three distinct moods written in what Yorke referred to as three different states of mind. The lyrics tie in with a number of themes common in "OK Computer", including insanity, violence, slogans, and political objection to capitalism. Yorke's lyrics were based on an unpleasant experience at a Los Angeles bar during which he was surrounded by strangers who were high on cocaine. In particular, Yorke was frightened by a woman who became violent after someone spilled a drink on her. Yorke characterised 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" in the song's second section. Yorke, referring to the line "With your opinions, which are of no consequence at all", said that "Again, that's just a joke. It's actually the other way around – it's actually "my" opinion that is of no consequence at all."
The title is taken from Marvin the Paranoid Android from the science fiction series "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." Yorke said the title was a joke: "It was like, 'Oh, I'm so depressed.' And I just thought, that's great. That's how people would "like" me to be ... The rest of the song is not personal at all."
Release and reception.
While Colin Greenwood said the song was "hardly the radio-friendly, breakthrough, buzz bin unit shifter [radio stations] have been expecting," Capitol supported the band's choice for the song as a lead single. Radiohead premiered "Paranoid Android" on the BBC Radio 1 programme "The Evening Session" in April 1997, nearly a month before its release as a single. "Melody Maker" revealed that a Radio 1 producer had to "have a bit of a lie down" after first hearing the song. It was released as a single on 26 May 1997, chosen by the band to prepare listeners for the musical direction of its parent album. Despite an initial lack of radio play, "Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles Chart, giving Radiohead their highest singles chart position. As the song's popularity grew, Radio 1 played it up to 12 times a day. Yorke described the song's appearance on Radio 1 as one of his proudest moments of the "OK Computer" era. The track also spent two weeks on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart, where it charted at number 29.
"Paranoid Android" received acclaim from music critics. "NME" chose it as its "Single of the Week", and journalist Simon Williams described how the song "[s]prawls out like a plump man on a small sofa, featuring all manner of crypto-flamenco shufflings, medieval wailings, furiously wrenched guitars and ravishingly over-ambitious ideas. Possesses one of the most unorthodox 'axe' solos known to mankind." The style of the song was compared to that of Queen by "Rolling Stone"s Mark Kemp, while other critics, including David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly", Jon Lusk of the BBC and Simon Williams of "NME" wrote about its similarity to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Years later, "NME" noted the song made "Bohemian Rhapsody" "look like child’s play." Williams described the song as being "not unlike 'Bohemian Rhapsody' being played backwards by a bunch of Vietnam vets high on Kings Cross-quality crack". Kemp praised the song's mix of acoustic and electronic instrumentation, which he believed were melded to produce "complex tempo changes, touches of dissonance, ancient choral music and a King Crimson-like melodic structure". Meanwhile, Browne wrote of "celestial call-and-response vocal passages, dynamically varied sections, and Thom Yorke's high-voiced bleat". "The A.V. Club" called the song unforgettable and an "amazing epic single".
Several reviewers noted the record's ambition. "Slant Magazine" described the song's lyrics as a "multipart anti-yuppie anthem whose ambition is anything but ugly", and Andy Gill wrote in "The Independent" that "Paranoid Android" could be the most ambitious single since Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park". Craig McLean of "The Sydney Morning Herald" described "Paranoid Android" as "a titanic guitar opera in three movements and 6 [and a half] minutes". PopMatters' Evan Sawdey called the song "OK Computer"s "sweeping, multi-tiered centerpiece", Peter and Jonathan Buckley wrote in "The Rough Guide to Rock" that it was the album's "breathtaking high point". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called "Paranoid Android" "complex, multi-segmented ... tight, melodic, and muscular", and said it displayed Radiohead at their most adventurous. Browne admitted that, partially because of "Paranoid Android", "OK Computer" was significantly more expansive than "The Bends". "Rolling Stone" placed the song at number 257 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and "Pitchfork" included the song at number 4 on their "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s".
Music video.
Remarking on the band's goals for the "Paranoid Android" music video, Yorke said that, "When it came time to make the video for that song, we had lots of people saying, 'Yeah, great, we can have another video like "Street Spirit", all moody and black and dark.' Well, no. We had really good fun doing this song, so the video should make you laugh. I mean, it should be sick, too." Magnus Carlsson, Swedish creator of the animated series "Robin", was commissioned by the band to make the video. Radiohead were fans of the show, and connected with the Robin character; Jonny Greenwood described him as "affectionate" and "vulnerable", while Yorke admitted that he found Robin "quite the vulnerable character, but he's also violently cynical and quite tough and would always get up again." At first Carlsson sought to work on a video for "No Surprises" and was uncertain as to how to approach "Paranoid Android". Eventually he devised a scenario to the band's liking after he locked himself in his office for over 12 hours to stare out of the window, while listening to the song on repeat while jotting down visual ideas. As Carlsson did not have access to the lyrics at the time, the concept for the video was based entirely on the song's sound. According to Yorke, the band "deliberately didn't send Magnus the lyrics" because they "didn't want [the video] to be too literal."
Like "Robin", the "Paranoid Android" video is drawn in a simplistic style that emphasises bold colours and clear, strong lines. It features Robin and his friend Benjamin venturing into the world, running into miserable EU representatives, bullying pub patrons, a prostitute, two kissing leathermen, a drug addict, deranged businessmen, mermaids and an angel who plays table tennis with Robin. The band appears in cameo at a bar, where they are shown drinking while watching a man with a head coming out of his belly dancing on their table. However, in this cameo only the versions of Yorke and Jonny Greenwood resemble themselves; 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." Colin Greenwood said "there was no way that we could appear in it to perform in it because that would be so Spinal Tap" and that having animations that did not resemble the band members allowed the video to be "twisted and colorful which is how the song is anyway". Yorke was ultimately pleased with the video, saying that it "is really about the violence around [Robin], which is exactly like the song. Not the same specific violence as in the lyrics, but everything going on around him is deeply troubling and violent, but he's just drinking himself into oblivion. He's there, but he's not there. That's why it works. And that's why it does my head in every time I see it."
While the single did not receive significant radio play in the US, MTV placed its video on high rotation. The version most often shown was edited to remove the mermaids' bare breasts. Greenwood said, "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." MTV Europe played the video uncut for two weeks because the channel's official censor was ill and unable to work; after that time the channel ran the cut version of the video. A later US version of the video saw the mermaids wear bathing suits, while the uncut version was later compiled along with other Radiohead videos on the DVD and home video release "7 Television Commercials" and .
Evan Sawdey of PopMatters described the video as "bizarre-yet-fitting", and "Melody Maker" said it represented a stunning "psycho-cartoon". Adrian Glover of "Circus" called the animation incredible and the video "really cool". MTV vice president of music Lewis Largent told "Spin" "You can watch 'Paranoid Android' a hundred times and not figure it all out."
Packaging.
Stanley Donwood worked with Yorke to design the artwork for most of the "Paranoid Android" releases, although both the images and design were ultimately credited to "dumb computers". The cover illustration accompanying the single depicts a hand-drawn dome that contains the phrase "God loves his children, yeah!", the last line of the song, written above on the uppermost plane. Images from the "OK Computer" artwork reappear, including a pig and two human figures shaking hands. Writer Tim Footman suggested that these images are borrowed from Pink Floyd, respectively corresponding to the Pink Floyd pigs and "Wish You Were Here" cover. The cover of the CD2 single is tinted differently from the CD1 single. The UK vinyl release did not include the dome artwork found on the CD singles, but feature images taken from the "OK Computer" release across the top banner area, along with the phrase "against demons".
The two versions of the single have different messages on the reverse. Both the CD1 and Japanese releases state:
Written on the back of the CD2 single is:
Each release of "Paranoid Android" included one or more B-sides. "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)", included on the CD1, 7-inch vinyl, and Japanese releases of the single, were a multi-section piece formatted much like "Paranoid Android" itself. The first part of the song consists of Yorke's vocals over acoustic guitar; the second part contains distorted guitar and organ and uses complex time signature changes. "Pearly*", featured on the CD1 and Japanese releases of the single, was described by Yorke as a "dirty song for people who use sex for dirty things". "A Reminder", which appears on the CD2 release, features fuzzed guitar, thumping drums, and electric piano. According to Yorke, this song was inspired by "this idea of someone writing a song, sending it to someone, and saying: 'If I ever lose it, you just pick up the phone and play this song back to remind me.'" "Melatonin", also on the CD2 release, is a synthesiser-based song with lyrics similar to that of a lullaby, but with an undercurrent of menace in lines like "Death to all who stand in your way". The "OK Computer" track "Let Down" is also included on the Japanese single.
Track listings.
All songs were written by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, and Phil Selway.
UK CD1 
UK CD2 
UK 7-inch single 
Japanese CD single 