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Pyramid Song
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Pyramid Song
| cover = Radiohead pyramidsong.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Radiohead
| album = Amnesiac
| released =
| recorded = 8 December 1999 29 February 2000
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Art rock
| length = 4:51
| label =
| writer = Radiohead
| producer =
| prev_title = No Surprises
| prev_year = 1998
| next_title = Knives Out
| next_year = 2001
| misc =
}}
"'Pyramid Song'" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the lead single from their fifth studio album, 'Amnesiac' (2001). It features piano, strings, a "shuffling" rhythm and lyrics inspired by the Egyptian underworld. It was promoted with an animated music video.
After no singles were released from their previous album, 'Kid A' (2000), "Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's first single since "No Surprises" (1998). It reached the top 10 on seven national charts, and was named one of the best tracks of the decade by 'Rolling Stone,' 'NME' and 'Pitchfork'.
Recording
Following the tour for Radiohead's third album, 'OK Computer' (1997)',' songwriter Thom Yorke bought a house in Cornwall and spent his time walking the cliffs and drawing, restricting his musical activity to playing his new grand piano. He wrote "Pyramid Song" and "Everything In Its Right Place" in the same week. For "Everything In Its Right Place", he programmed his playing into a synthesiser, but found that "Pyramid Song" sounded better untreated. He said of the composition: "The chords I'm playing involve lots of black notes. You think you're being really clever playing them but they're really simple."
Yorke said "Pyramid Song" was inspired by the song "Freedom" by the jazz musician Charles Mingus, released on the 1962 album 'The Complete Town Hall Concert.' One version included similar handclaps, but, according to Yorke, "our claps sounded really naff, so I quickly erased them". The lyrics were inspired by an exhibition of ancient Egyptian underworld art Yorke attended while Radiohead were recording in Copenhagen, and ideas of cyclical time found in Buddhism and discussed by Stephen Hawking.
According to a studio diary written by the guitarist Ed OBrien, the basic track, consisting of vocals, piano and drums, was recorded on 8 December 1999. The strings, arranged by guitarist Jonny Greenwood, were recorded on 4 February 2000. They were performed by the Orchestra of St John's in Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church about five miles from Radiohead's studio in Oxfordshire. Greenwood instructed the players to swing in the style of jazz musicians. The isolated string part was included on the 2021 reissue 'Kid A Mnesia'.
Drummer Philip Selway said the song "ran counter to what had come before in Radiohead in lots of ways ... The constituent parts are all quite simple, but I think the way that they then blend gives real depth to the song." In a 2001 'Rolling Stone' interview, O'Brien said he felt "Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's best work.
Composition
"Pyramid Song" is an art rock song, with elements of jazz, classical and krautrock. According to the journalist Alex Ross, Yorke's piano chords are "laced with suspended tones" and "hang mysteriously in the air, somewhere between serenity and sadness". The strings play glissando harmonics and Selway plays a "shuffling" rhythm.
Critical reception
'NME' named "Pyramid Song" their "single of the week", describing it as "malevolent, moving, epic". The 'Guardian' named it "CD of the week", with critic Alexis Petridis describing it as "a beautiful, intricately wrought mesh of complex time signatures, keening vocals, elegiac strings and subtly disturbing audio effects".
'Rolling Stone' placed "Pyramid Song" at number 94 on their list of the "100 Best Songs of the Decade", writing that it "might be [Yorke's] most blissful recorded moment". In October 2011, 'NME' named it the 131st best track of the previous 15 years, calling it a "ghostly hymn of stunning beauty". 'Pitchfork' named it the 59th-best track of the decade, describing it as "an absolutely singular track in a catalog with no shortage of standouts". In 2020, the 'Guardian' named it the fourth-best Radiohead song, writing: "Lyrics alluding to Hermann Hesses 'Siddhartha', piano seemingly exhumed from ancient civilisation and a newly spiritual Yorke, swimming with 'black-eyed angels' and a shoal of exes towards some nebulous afterlife. Torture for some; otherwise, cult-making."
Commercial performance
"Pyramid Song" was Radiohead's first single in three years, after none were released from their previous album 'Kid A' (2000). It reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, number one in Portugal, number two in Canada, number three in Norway, number six in Finland and Italy and number 10 in Ireland. It also reached the top 25 in Australia, France and the Netherlands. On the Eurochart Hot 100, it debuted and peaked at number 13.
Music video
Radiohead released a computer-animated music video for "Pyramid Song", created by animation studio Shynola. In the video, inspired by a dream Yorke had, a scuba diver explores an undersea world and enters a submerged house.
Track listings
'UK CD1'
# "Pyramid Song" 4:51
# "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" 3:38
# "Trans-Atlantic Drawl" 3:02
'UK CD2'
# "Pyramid Song" 4:51
# "Fast-Track" 3:17
# "Kinetic" 4:06
'UK and French 12-inch single'
:A1. "Pyramid Song" 4:51
:B1. "Fast-Track" 3:17
:B2. "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" 3:38
'European maxi-CD single'
# "Pyramid Song" 4:51
# "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" 3:38
# "Trans-Atlantic Drawl" 3:02
# "Kinetic" 4:06
'Japanese CD single'
# "Pyramid Song" 4:51
# "Fast-Track" 3:19
# "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy" 3:38
# "Trans-Atlantic Drawl" 3:03
# "Kinetic" 4:05
Personnel
Adapted from the 'Amnesiac' liner notes.
' Radiohead '
* Colin Greenwood
* Jonny Greenwood
* Ed O'Brien
* Philip Selway
* Thom Yorke
' Additional musicians '
* The Orchestra of St John's strings
** John Lubbock conducting
' Technical personnel '
* Nigel Godrich production, engineering
* Radiohead production
* Gerard Navarro engineering assistance
* Graeme Stewart engineering assistance
* Bob Ludwig mastering
' Artwork '
* Stanley Donwood pictures, design
* Thom Yorke (credited as "Tchocky") pictures
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
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