Paranoid Android

As with many other OK Computer tracks, "Paranoid Android" was recorded in St Catherine's Court, a 15th-century mansion near the village of St Catherine, near Bath, Somerset. It was produced by Nigel Godrich. Other inspirations included Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the work of the Pixies. The first version was over 14 minutes long and included a long Hammond organ outro performed by Jonny Greenwood. The 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." Greenwood said later that the organ solo was "hard to listen to without clutching the sofa for support". Godrich said: "Nothing really happened with the outro. It just spun and spun and it got very Deep Purple and went off." Influenced 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. The 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." For the ending, Yorke recorded himself shouting gibberish into a Dictaphone. 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." 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." ==Composition==

"Paranoid Android" is described as alternative rock, art rock, progressive rock and neo-prog. It has four distinct sections, potentially defining the track as a "rhapsody", each played in standard tuning, and a time signature, although several three-bar segments in the second section are played in timing. The opening is played in the key of G minor with a tempo of 82 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 Ending the second section is a distorted guitar solo by Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33. and reduces the tempo to 62 BPM. This section uses multi-tracked, choral vocal arrangement The fourth and final section, which begins at 5:35, is a brief instrumental reprise of the second section that serves as a coda. Jonny Greenwood's solo tone during the solo is achieved by passing the guitar through a Mutronics Mutator rack unit. The song ends, as does the second section, with a short chromatically descending guitar motif. The style of the song was likened to Queen by Rolling Stones Mark Kemp, while other critics, including David Browne of Entertainment Weekly, Jon Lusk of the BBC and Simon Williams of NME 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. Yorke was frightened by a woman who became violent after someone spilled a drink on her. He 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 opinion, which is 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." ==Music video==

Yorke said that many people suggested Radiohead make another "moody and black and dark" music video for "Paranoid Android", similar to the video for their single "Street Spirit". However, Radiohead wanted an entertaining and "sick" video instead. Yorke said: "We had really good fun doing this song, so the video should make you laugh." According to Yorke, the band did not send Magnus the lyrics as they did not want the video to be too literal. Summary Like Robin, the "Paranoid Android" video is drawn in a simplistic style that emphasises bold colours and clear, strong lines. However, in this cameo only the versions of Yorke and Jonny Greenwood resemble themselves; 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 colourful which is how the song is anyway". Reception Yorke was 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." Adrian Glover of Circus called the animation incredible and the video "really cool". ==Artwork==

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 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: ==Release==

While Colin Greenwood said the song was "hardly the radio-friendly, breakthrough, buzz bin unit shifter [radio stations] have been expecting", Capitol supported Radiohead's choice for "Paranoid Android" as the lead single from OK Computer. Radiohead chose it to prepare listeners for the musical direction of the album. It was released on 26 May 1997. 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 its appearance on Radio 1 as one of his proudest moments of the OK Computer era. It also spent two weeks on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart, where it reached number 29. 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. The 2006 anime Ergo Proxy uses "Paranoid Android" as the main theme. The song is featured in the credits. When Radiohead were asked about it being featured as the theme, they originally declined, but after being shown a preview of the anime they obliged and allowed it to be used. == Reception ==

"Paranoid Android" received acclaim. NME chose it as its "Single of the Week", and the journalist Simon Williams described how the song "sprawls 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." Simon Williams of NME described the song as "not unlike 'Bohemian Rhapsody' being played backwards by a bunch of Vietnam vets high on Kings Cross-quality crack". Several reviewers noted the song'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 6½ minutes". PopMatters Evan Sawdey called the song OK Computers "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 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. and Pitchfork included the song at number 4 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s. In 2019, American Songwriter ranked the song number three on their list of the 20 greatest Radiohead songs, and in 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number one on their list of the 40 greatest Radiohead songs. ==Track listings==

All songs were written by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Colin Greenwood, and Philip Selway. UK CD1 (CDODATAS 01) • "Paranoid Android" – 6:27 • "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)" – 4:23 • "Pearly*" – 3:34 UK CD2 (CDNODATA 01) • "Paranoid Android" – 6:27 • "A Reminder" – 3:52 • "Melatonin" – 2:08 UK 7-inch single (NODATA 01) • "Paranoid Android" • "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)" Japanese CD single (TOCP-40038) • "Paranoid Android" – 6:26 • "Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)" – 4:22 • "Pearly*" – 3:33 • "Let Down" – 4:59 ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

• 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). • The University of Massachusetts Amherst's Minuteman Marching Band covered the song live in a version featuring xylophones, chimes, snare drums, cymbals, bass drum and timpani. • Numerous Radiohead tribute albums include a version of "Paranoid Android", including Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead and Plastic Mutations: The Electronic Tribute to Radiohead. • The reggae group Easy Star All-Stars covered OK Computer in its entirety for Radiodread (2006). Producer Michael G noted that "Paranoid Android" was particularly difficult to arrange for reggae, saying "There are songs like 'Paranoid Android', which flips between 4/4 time and 7/8 time about 13 times, and I also had to think about other ways to reinterpret those parts with horns, melodica, organ ... it was a great challenge." • Sia covered the song for the neo soul tribute Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads (2006), and this version later appeared on The O.C. episode "The Chrismukk-huh?". • Los Angeles string quartet the Section recorded the song for Strung Out on OK Computer: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead (2001); 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. • Weezer covered "Paranoid Android" in both a live studio version released as a YouTube video and in concerts during their 2011 summer tour. Pitchforks Tom Breihan called the Weezer cover "a fucking weird experience", and Jenny Eliscu of Rolling Stone criticised the song as "mainly boring" for not venturing far enough from Weezer's traditional sound. • The Montreal duo Stick&Bow recorded a 6:14 cover of "Paranoid Android" on their 2019 album Resonance, arranged for the cello and marimba. • On 23 October 2020, Australian indie rock band Ball Park Music performed a cover of the song live for Triple J's Like a Version segment, alongside a performance of their track "Cherub". Music Feeds thought the cover "play[ed] it fairly safe", additionally stating the cover had been "execute[d] with such finesse", whilst Junkee felt it was "performed with energy and enthusiasm, by a bunch of committed and attentive musicians". ==Notes==