Paranoid Android

"Paranoid Android"
Single by Radiohead from the album OK Computer
Released	26 May 1997
Format	7" vinyl, CD
Genre	Alternative rock Art rock
Length	6:23
Label	Parlophone
Producer	Nigel Godrich
Radiohead singles chronology
"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (1996) "Paranoid Android" (1997) "Karma Police" (1997)
OK Computer track listing
"Airbag" "Paranoid Android" "Subterranean Homesick Alien" "Exit Music (For a Film)" "Let Down" "Karma Police" "Fitter Happier" "Electioneering" "Climbing Up the Walls" "No Surprises" "Lucky" "The Tourist"

"Paranoid Android" is a song by Radiohead, from their third album, OK Computer. Despite its length of over six minutes, making it the longest released Radiohead song (including b-sides, excluding both remixes and the whole track 10 of the band's 2000 album Kid A), it was the first single from that album in 1997. The song's release marked the start of Radiohead's reputation as art rock innovators, and the album subsequently received huge acclaim. Rolling Stone notes that the song "was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's fifteenth-century mansion, a house that Yorke was convinced was haunted".^[1] Bassist Colin Greenwood said "On 'Paranoid Android' what we were into was the idea of a DJ Shadow meets The Beatles thing."^[2] Thom Yorke also compared the song to The Beatles' work, saying "it really started out as three separate songs and we didn't know what to do with them. Then we thought of 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun' — which was obviously three different bits that John Lennon put together — and said 'Why don't we try that?'"^[2] The structure of "Paranoid Android," though unique among Radiohead material, was also responsible for most of the comparisons with 1970s progressive rock that the band subsequently earned, to their annoyance. Thom often refers to it as a "joke" song, though not derisively; the band continues to play it live at nearly every concert, usually toward the end of the set, and many consider it among the band's best songs. It appeared at #256 on a Rolling Stone list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time," slightly higher than "Fake Plastic Trees," another Radiohead entry which ranked #376. In August 2006 Q Magazine readers voted it the 10th greatest song of all-time. Its solo was ranked 34th by Guitar World readers in the list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos"^[3] The song remains popular among fans of the band. In public polls to determine the favorite Radiohead song, "Paranoid Android" has won the top position several times, beating second place contenders such as "Idioteque," "Street Spirit" and "Pyramid Song" by landslides. In listings of the most downloaded and most played Radiohead songs on Internet-based services, "Paranoid Android" typically follows just behind "Creep", though unlike that song it receives virtually no mainstream radio exposure.

The Song

Early versions

Early versions of the song performed in 1996 had a different structure and varying lyrics. According to members of the band, "Paranoid Android" originally exceeded 10 minutes. It is unknown whether this long version, also fabled to include organ solos (an audio version below verifies this), was ever played live. However, it was possibly played by Radiohead at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium in July 1996, apparently the song's first live performance. One month later, Radiohead began a brief tour as opening band for Alanis Morissette, in which they premiered many new songs that would go on to make up OK Computer, and played "Paranoid Android" regularly. By this point, the song was six to eight minutes long, without extended organ solos. However, the ending differed markedly from the final version of "Paranoid Android." The third section originally had the lyrics "Hallelujah", where the final version has "Rain down...", and instead of the lyrics "God loves his children /God loves his children, yeah," the final line of the song was reportedly, "God loves his children / That's why he kills 'em, yeah," which was part of a different third section which also included other different lyrics and was extended longer, eventually returning to the opening theme and guitar riff of the song's first section, while the released version ultimately went straight into the final guitar solo. When played live since 1997, the song is performed as on the album, lacking these elements.

Music video

The members of Radiohead portrayed as cartoons in the Paranoid Android music video.

Magnus Carlsson, Swedish creator of the animated series Robin of which the band were fans, was commissioned to make a music video. Having first wanted to do a video for "No Surprises" instead, Carlsson was uncertain how to approach "Paranoid Android". He came up with a scenario that was to the band's liking after locking himself in his office, staring out the window at a distant bridge while listening to nothing but the song over and over again. This animated video features mild-mannered Robin and a friend 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 rescuing 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 navel dancing on top of their table. Although the single did not receive much radio play due to its length, MTV immediately put the video in high rotation. However, the version most often shown on television was edited. Thom Yorke was not happy about this: "The video of 'Paranoid Android' has been censored by MTV. They took all nipples out of the cartoon, but they had no problem with the scene in which Boris Yeltsin cuts off his own arms and legs." The uncut version was later compiled along with other Radiohead videos on the DVD and home video release 7 Television Commercials.

Cover versions

"Paranoid Android" has been covered by;

• Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau - it is available on his album "Largo" and as live performance on his 2004 "Live in Tokyo" disc.
• Christopher O'Riley on his instrumental tribute album, Hold Me to This.
• Tripod (live). It featured as the encore of their performance on the DVD Pod August Night.
• Sia Furler on the tribute album Exit Music: Songs with Radio Heads.
• Reggae group Easy Star All-Stars on their cover album Radiodread.
• The Arrogant Sons of Bitches as part of the live album This Is What You Get, consisting of all Radiohead covers.
• Los Angeles rock band Phantom Planet has covered the song on their album Connect Sets and have recently begun to play the song live.
• The Tufts Beelzebubs, an all-male college a cappella group, recorded a cover of the song on their 2004/2005 album "Shedding"
• The Benevento/Russo Duo has been known to cover this tune at many concerts.
• The Vitamin String Orchestra on their cover album Strung Out on OK Computer
• Slaraffenland on the Stereogum tribute album OKX.

Track listing

• CD1 CDNODATAS01

1. "Paranoid Android"
2. "Polyethylene Parts 1 & 2"
3. "Pearly*"

• CD2 CDNODATA01

1. "Paranoid Android"
2. "A Reminder"
3. "Melatonin"

In pop culture

• "Paranoid Android" is featured as the ending theme in the sci-fi anime series Ergo Proxy.
• The song is featured in an Australian disability association's television commercial.
• The song's name refers to the depressed robot Marvin the Paranoid Android from Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• An episode of BBC1's Holby City is entitled "Paranoid Android".
• "Paranoid Android" was used as a name for a very popular StarCraft map.It was an official map for several World Cyber Games events.
• The line "The blood and the screaming" might be taken from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which the album was heavily based on.

References

External links

• Interpretations of the song at SongMeanings
• "Paranoid Android" at At Ease Web, a Radiohead fan site
• The official video for Paranoid Android (and several other Radiohead songs) can be seen here. Note: You may need to register first.
• Early version (live) with organ solo and alternate lyrics