Story of "Paranoid Android"

"Paranoid Android" is a song by Radiohead, featured on their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The lyrics of the darkly humorous song were written primarily by singer Thom Yorke, following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar. At more than six minutes long and containing four distinct sections, the track is significantly influenced by The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Paranoid Android" takes its name from Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. It was used to be the ending song of the anime Ergo Proxy, in 2006. "Paranoid Android" was recorded in actress Jane Seymour's 15th century mansion (which Yorke was convinced was haunted) near the village of St Catherine, near Bath, Somerset.The first edit was over 14 minutes long and included a long organ interlude performed by Jonny Greenwood. Radiohead played this extended version during a tour with Alanis Morissette in September 1996. O'Brien said "when we started playing it live, it was completely hilarious. There was a rave down section and a Hammond organ outro, and we'd be pissing ourselves while we played. We'd bring out the glockenspiel and it would be really, really funny." Before the song's first live performance, Yorke told audiences that "[i]f you can have sex to this one, you're fucking weird." He also sarcastically referred to the version of the song played during the tour as "a Pink Floyd cover". Radiohead were inspired by the editing of The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour (described by Colin Greenwood as "brutal"), to shorten the song to a final six and a half minutes, a process that led to Jonny Greenwood's organ section being replaced by a substantially shorter guitar fade out. However, it took the band a year and a half to learn how to play the final version in live performance. "Paranoid Android" has four distinct sections, each played in standard tuning, and a 4/4 time signature, although several three-bar segments in the second section are played in 7/8 timing. The opening segment 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 these opening vocal lines span 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 entirely by Jonny Greenwood, and reduces the tempo to 63 BPM and changes key to C minor/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 begins at 4:58, and is a coda that resolves to the tempo, key and musical patterns of the second movement. After a second solo, a brief guitar riff is introduced, which Jonny Greenwood says "was something I had floating around for awhile 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.

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, 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 colourful 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." 

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."

Here is the interesting video clip of Paranoid Android:

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/