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  1. Tracks
  2. Radiohead
  3. OK Computer
  4. Paranoid Android
Paranoid Android by Radiohead

SINGLE

Radiohead

Paranoid Android

Release date: 20th May 1997

From OK Computer
Track 2
6:27
AlternativeMusicElectronicPop
Spotify Apple Music More on Radiohead

About This Track

The lead single from 'OK Computer', 'Paranoid Android' runs over six minutes and forgoes any conventional radio chorus, a choice Capitol Records nonetheless supported. Thom Yorke wrote the lyrics following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar, the song characterised by three distinct moods that shift between states of mind. The result is bleak but intentionally humorous, moving from exhausted plea to sneering dismissal to a final plea for deliverance.

Yorke sings 'ambition makes you look pretty ugly', the track cataloguing yuppie networking, vomit, panic, and a Gucci-clad figure kicking and squealing. The paranoid refrain insists on a human consciousness beneath the noise, whilst the closing section repeats its invocation of rain from a great height. The structure refuses to settle, each movement pulling against the last, the whole thing designed to resist the very format it was released into.

"Paranoid Android" is a single by Radiohead, from the album OK Computer, released 20th May 1997. The track is 6:27 long. It's filed under Alternative. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 16 articles about Radiohead.

About the Artist

Radiohead

Radiohead

Lyrics

Paranoid Android

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)

(La, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la)

Ambition makes you look pretty ugly

Kicking, squealing, Gucci little piggy

(La, la, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la, la)
(La, la, la, la)

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
That's it, sir (Rain down)
You're leaving
The crackle (Rain down)
Of pigskin (Come on)
The dust and (Rain down)
The screaming (On me)
The yuppies networking and
The panic (From a great)
The vomit (Height)
The panic (From a great)
The vomit (Height)
God loves his children
God loves his children, yeah

(The family see him as very ugly)

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From OK Computer

6:271997Single
Listen
Album
OK Computer
OK Computer
Radiohead
21st May 1997
Track number
2
Release year
1997
  1. 1Airbag
    4:48
  2. 2Paranoid Android
    6:27
  3. 3Subterranean Homesick Alien
    4:28
  4. 4Exit Music (For a Film)
    4:27
Watch the music video

Radiohead — Paranoid Android

Radiohead — Paranoid Android
6:33

 

Paranoid Android

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5Let Down
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  • Credits

    Production & Engineering

    Writer
    Colin Greenwood, Ed O’Brien, Jonny Greenwood, Nigel Godrich, Philip Selway, Radiohead, Thom Yorke
    Producer
    Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
    Drums
    Philip Selway
    Acoustic Guitar
    Thom Yorke
    Background Vocals
    Ed O’Brien, MacInTalk Fred
    Bass Guitar
    Colin Greenwood
    Cabasa
    Ed O’Brien
    Claves
    Colin Greenwood
    Electric Guitar
    Ed O’Brien, Jonny Greenwood
    Electric Piano
    Jonny Greenwood
    Lead Vocals
    Thom Yorke
    Mellotron
    Jonny Greenwood
    Overdubbed At
    Abbey Road Studios, Air Lyndhurst Studios, Courtyard Studio, Mayfair Studios, The Church, London
    Percussion
    Philip Selway
    Synthesizer
    Jonny Greenwood
    READ MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEAD
    READ MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEADREAD MORE ABOUT RADIOHEAD
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