"Paranoid Android"

by Radiohead
cover for two pianos by Anderson & Roe

Lose yourself in the delirious depths of a nightmare, seething with alienation, surreal imagery, and madness. Merge with the confusion and the chaos, with the wandering of dreams. In the end, the singer pleads for the heavens to “rain down” and cleanse the ugliness of the world. The darkest hour is just before dawn…

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Radiohead remain one of the most visionary, exciting, iconic bands of our time. Ever since they appeared on the rock scene in the early nineties, they have continually redefined their sound and aesthetic to brilliant effect. With their album OK Computer (1997) — which Rolling Stone called a “stunning art-rock tour de force” — Radiohead fully established themselves as a creative force to be reckoned with. The crowning track of the album may well be “Paranoid Android,” a three-part suite clocking in at over six minutes. With a title that references a character from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the song was originally intended to be humorous. Yet beyond this humorous intention seethes music suggesting something far more complex; an unsettling mix of alienation, violence, and madness prevails throughout, thanks to an inexorable rhythmic pulse, distorted guitar solos, the manic shifting of musical textures, and frontman Thom Yorke’s operatic wailing. The lyrics themselves are simultaneously absurd and bleak:

Please could you stop the noise, I'm trying to get some rest
From all the unborn chicken voices in my head
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but not an android)
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but not an android)

When I am king, you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but no android)
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but no android)

Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking and squealing gucci little piggy
You don't remember
You don't remember
Why don't you remember my name?
Off with his head, man
Off with his head, man
Why don't you remember my name?
I guess he does....

Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me

That's it, sir
You're leaving
The crackle of pigskin
The dust and the screaming
The yuppies networking
The panic, the vomit
The panic, the vomit
God loves his children, 
God loves his children, yeah!

It is ironic that the song includes the line “Ambition makes you look pretty ugly,” when one of Radiohead’s key traits is their ambition — an ambition to keep evolving as artists and to continue exposing existential truths, however ugly.

In creating our cover of “Paranoid Android,” we drew inspiration from the song’s epic scope, the lyrics’ strikingly evocative images, and Thom Yorke’s emotive singing. Our treatment of the musical material, however, is far from literal; the arrangement takes on a life of its own as it strays from the original’s structure and elaborates frenetically on melodic motives. As a tribute to Radiohead’s iconoclastic spirit, we have put our own Anderson & Roe stamp on the song.

— Greg Anderson & Elizabeth Joy Roe

INCLUDED ON THE ALBUM WHEN WORDS FADE

Unfortunately, the sheet music to this work is not available for sale.