Editing Paranoid Android (section)

==Composition==
{{Listen|filename=Paranoid Android.ogg|title="Paranoid Android"|description=Audio sample from the middle of the second section to the beginning of the first guitar solo}}
"Paranoid Android" is described as [[alternative rock]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Hogan|first=Marc|date=13 October 2011|title=Is Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android' the Best Song in 15 Years?|url=https://www.spin.com/2011/10/radioheads-paranoid-android-best-song-15-years/|access-date=18 November 2015|website=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Sigur|first=Matthew|date=1 October 2020|title=The Ringer's Top 100 Radiohead Songs, Ranked|url=https://www.theringer.com/music/2020/10/1/21494313/radiohead-best-songs-ranked|access-date=19 June 2023|website=[[The Ringer (website)|The Ringer]]}}</ref> [[art rock]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/popontrial/decades/index.shtml?d=90s&a=show&t=show&c=show&n=46&q=hide&m=hide&|title=Pop on Trial - 1950s - 1990s|work=BBC Music|access-date=18 November 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Smith|first=Troy L.|date=29 April 2020|title=90 greatest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame songs of the 1990s|url=https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/04/90-greatest-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-songs-of-the-1990s.html|access-date=5 August 2021|website=[[cleveland.com]]}}</ref> [[progressive rock]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Reed|first=Ryan|date=28 July 2021|title=Top 50 Progressive Rock Songs|url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/progressive-rock-songs/|access-date=5 August 2021|website=Ultimate Classic Rock}}</ref> and [[neo-prog]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Letts|first=Marianne Tatom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3HSuhm6DRGgC&pg=PA29|title=Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-253-00491-8|page=29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Moore|first=Allan F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S0g4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA263|title=Rock: The Primary Text: Developing a Musicology of Rock|date=3 October 2017|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=978-1-351-21872-6|page=263}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last=Greene|first=Andy|date=24 September 2020|title=500 Greatest Albums: Radiohead's Futuristic Breakthrough 'OK Computer'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/500-greatest-albums-radiohead-ok-computer-1059469/|access-date=9 July 2021|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref> It has four distinct sections, potentially defining the track as a "[[Rhapsody (music)|rhapsody]]", each played in [[standard tuning]], and a {{music|time|4|4}} [[time signature]], although several three-[[Bar (music)|bar]] segments in the second section are played in {{music|time|7|8}} timing. Yorke's vocals span from G3 to C5.{{Cn|date=May 2023}}

The opening is played in the [[musical key|key]] of [[G minor]]<ref name="Griffiths, 92">Griffiths, 2004. p. 92.</ref> with a [[tempo]] of 82 beats per minute (BPM),<ref name="Griffiths, 33">Griffiths, 2004. p. 33.</ref> and begins with a mid-tempo acoustic guitar backed by [[Idiophone|shaken]] [[percussion]] before layered with electric guitar and Yorke's vocals.<ref name="Footman, 51">Footman, 2007. p. 51.</ref> The melody of the opening vocal lines spans an [[octave]] and a third.<ref>Tate, 2005. p. 175</ref><!--Self published source: The final chord progression in this section uses C [[Dorian mode|Dorian]] and C [[Mixolydian mode|Mixolydian]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Julio |last=Baca |url=https://archive.org/details/radiohead-a-musical-analysis/page/206/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Radiohead – A Musical Analysis |year=2017}}</ref>-->

The second section is written in the key of [[A minor]]<ref name="Griffiths, 92" /> and begins about two minutes into the song. Although the second section retains the tempo of the first, it differs rhythmically.<ref>Griffiths, 2004. p. 52.</ref> Ending the second section is a distorted [[guitar solo]] by Jonny Greenwood, which lasts from 2:43 to 3:33.<ref name="Footman, 51" />

The third section was written by Jonny Greenwood,<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Randall |last=Mac |date=April 1998 |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/article/radiohead_the_golden_age_of_radiohead?page=0%2C0 |title=Radiohead: The Golden Age of Radiohead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030192144/http://www.guitarworld.com/article/radiohead_the_golden_age_of_radiohead?page=0%2C0 |archive-date=30 October 2008 |magazine=[[Guitar World]] |access-date=5 October 2008}}</ref> and reduces the tempo to 62 BPM.<ref name="Griffiths, 33" /> The harmonies form a looped chord progression resembling a [[Baroque music|Baroque]] [[passacaglia]], with the tonality split between C minor and D minor.<ref>{{Cite thesis|title = Beyond Verse and Chorus: Experimental Formal Structures in Post-Millennial Rock Music|last = Osborn|first = Brad|year = 2010|location = University of Washington|page = 41|url = https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/15910| type=PhD thesis }}</ref> This section uses multi-tracked, [[Choir|choral]] vocal arrangement<ref name="Footman, 51" /> and according to Dai Griffiths, a "chord sequence [that ordinarily] would sound seedy, rather like something by the band [[Portishead (band)|Portishead]]".<ref>Griffiths, 2004. p. 53.</ref>

The fourth and final section, which begins at 5:35, is a brief instrumental [[reprise]] of the second movement that serves as a [[coda (music)|coda]].<ref name="Footman, 51" /> After a second solo, a brief guitar [[riff]] is introduced, which Jonny Greenwood says "was something I had floating around for a while and the song needed a certain burn. It happened to be the right key and the right speed and it fit right in."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Gulla |first=Bob |date=October 1997 |title=Radiohead&nbsp;– At Long Last, A Future For Rock Guitar |magazine=[[Guitar World]]}}</ref> Jonny Greenwood's guitar tone during the solo is achieved by playing through a Mutator effect pedal.{{cn|date=July 2024}} The song ends, as does the second section, with a short [[Chromatic scale|chromatically]] descending guitar [[Motif (music)|motif]].<ref>Tate, 2005. p. 144</ref>

The style of the song was likened to [[Queen (band)|Queen]] by ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s [[Mark Kemp]],<ref name="RSrev">{{cite magazine |author-link=Mark Kemp |last=Kemp |first=Mark |date=10 July 1997 |url=http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/230055/review/5945298/ok_computer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015155509/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/230055/review/5945298/ok_computer |archive-date=2007-10-15 |title=OK Computer |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=4 October 2008}}</ref> while other critics, including [[David Browne (journalist)|David Browne]] of ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'',<ref name="EWrev">{{cite magazine |author-link=David Browne (journalist) |last=Browne |first=David |date=23 May 2008 |url=https://ew.com/article/1997/07/11/ok-computer/ |title=OK Computer |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=4 October 2008}}</ref> Jon Lusk of the [[BBC]]<ref>{{cite web |last=Lusk |first=Jon |date=25 April 2007 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/wcp2/ |title=Radiohead, Paranoid Android |work=[[BBC Music]] |access-date=4 October 2008}}</ref> and Simon Williams of ''[[NME]]''<ref name="NMErev" /> wrote about its similarity to Queen's "[[Bohemian Rhapsody]]".

=== Lyrics ===
"Paranoid Android" is categorised by three distinct moods written in what Yorke referred to as three different states of mind.<ref name="Randall150s" /> The lyrics tie in with a number of themes common in ''OK Computer'', including insanity, violence, slogans, and political objection to capitalism.<ref>Footman, 2007. pp. 144–150.</ref> Yorke's lyrics were based on an unpleasant experience at a Los Angeles bar during which he was surrounded by strangers who were high on cocaine. Yorke was frightened by a woman who became violent after someone spilled a drink on her. He characterised the woman as "inhuman", and said "There was a look in this woman's eyes that I'd never seen before anywhere.&nbsp;... Couldn't sleep that night because of it." The woman inspired the line "kicking squealing [[Gucci]] little piggy" in the song's second section.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=October 1997 |title=Death Is All Around&nbsp;... |url=http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=1997&cutting=46 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711130842/http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=1997&cutting=46 |archive-date=11 July 2007 |access-date=20 July 2024 |magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]}}</ref> Yorke, referring to the line "With your opinion, which is of no consequence at all", said that "Again, that's just a joke. It's actually the other way around&nbsp;– it's actually ''my'' opinion that is of no consequence at all."<ref name="Jam">{{cite magazine |last=Sakamoto |first=John |date=2 June 1997 |title=Radiohead talk about their new video |url=http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/jam6297.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109073538/http://www.greenplastic.com/coldstorage/articles/jam6297.html |archive-date=9 November 2006 |access-date=20 October 2008 |magazine=[[Jam!]]}}</ref>