Editing OK Computer (section)

====Tracks 1–6====
{{Listen
 | filename = Airbag.ogg
 | title = "Airbag"
 | description = "Airbag" features sparse bass and a programmed drum beat influenced by the music of [[DJ Shadow]]. This audio sample contains a portion of the song's first verse.
 | filename2 = Paranoid Android.ogg
 | title2 = "Paranoid Android"
 | description2 = "[[Paranoid Android]]", Radiohead's second-longest song, has a multi-section structure and has been called one of the most ambitious songs of all time. This audio sample is from the middle of the second section to the beginning of the first guitar solo.}}

The opening track, "Airbag", is underpinned by a beat built from a seconds-long recording of Selway's drumming. The band sampled the drum track with a [[sampler (musical instrument)|sampler]] and edited it with a [[Macintosh]] computer, inspired by the music of [[DJ Shadow]], but admitted to making approximations in emulating Shadow's style due to their programming inexperience.<ref name="RANDALL p. 4">{{cite journal
 |first       = Mac
 |last        = Randall
 |title       = Radiohead interview: The Golden Age of Radiohead
 |url         = http://www.guitarworld.com/radiohead_the_golden_age_of_radiohead?page=0,3
 |date        = 1 April 1998
|journal    = [[Guitar World]]
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20121003065151/http://www.guitarworld.com/radiohead_the_golden_age_of_radiohead?page=0,3
 |archive-date = 3 October 2012
|url-status     = dead
}}</ref>{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=42}} The bassline stops and starts unexpectedly, achieving an effect similar to 1970s [[dub music|dub]].{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=43}} The original draft of the lyrics for "Airbag" were written inside a copy of [[William Blake]]'s ''[[Songs of Innocence and of Experience]]'' that Yorke had also annotated with his own notes; this personal copy was later auctioned off by Yorke in 2016 with proceeds going to [[Oxfam]].<ref>{{cite web |first = Parker |last = Hall |title = Thom Yorke to auction original Radiohead lyrics, written inside a William Blake novel |website = [[Digital Trends]] |url = https://www.digitaltrends.com/music/radioheads-thom-yorke-auction-handwritten-lyrics/ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220812070249/https://www.digitaltrends.com/music/radioheads-thom-yorke-auction-handwritten-lyrics/ |date = 4 February 2016 |archive-date = 12 August 2022 |url-status = live}}</ref> The song's references to automobile crashes and [[reincarnation]] were inspired by a magazine article titled "An Airbag Saved My Life" and ''[[The Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''. Yorke wrote "Airbag" about the illusion of safety offered by modern transit, and "the idea that whenever you go out on the road you could be killed".<ref name="SUTCLIFFE"/> The BBC wrote about the influence of [[J. G. Ballard]], especially his 1973 novel ''[[Crash (J. G. Ballard novel)|Crash]]'', on the lyrics.<ref>{{cite news|last=Dowling|first=Stephen|title=What pop music tells us about JG Ballard|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8008277.stm|publisher=BBC|access-date=17 January 2017|date=20 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423052125/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8008277.stm|archive-date=23 April 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Music journalist [[Tim Footman]] noted that the song's technical innovations and lyrical concerns demonstrated the "key paradox" of the album: "The musicians and producer are delighting in the sonic possibilities of modern technology; the singer, meanwhile, is railing against its social, moral, and psychological impact ... It's a contradiction mirrored in the culture clash of the music, with the 'real' guitars negotiating an uneasy stand-off with the hacked-up, processed drums."{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=46}}

Split into four sections with an overall running time of 6:23, "[[Paranoid Android]]" is among the band's longest songs. The unconventional structure was inspired by the Beatles' "[[Happiness Is a Warm Gun]]" and [[Queen (band)|Queen]]'s "[[Bohemian Rhapsody]]", which also eschew a traditional [[Verse–chorus form|verse-chorus-verse]] structure.{{sfn|Randall|2000|pp=214–215}} Its musical style was also inspired by the music of the [[Pixies (band)|Pixies]].<ref name="MM"/> The song was written by Yorke after an unpleasant night at a Los Angeles bar, where he saw a woman react violently after someone spilled a drink on her.<ref name="SUTCLIFFE"/> Its title and lyrics are a reference to [[Marvin the Paranoid Android]] from [[Douglas Adams]]'s ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' series.<ref name="MM"/>

The use of electric keyboards in "Subterranean Homesick Alien" is an example of the band's attempts to emulate the atmosphere of ''Bitches Brew''.<ref name="MORAN">{{citation
 | first = Caitlin
 | last = Moran
 | author-link = Caitlin Moran
 | title = Everything was just fear
 | magazine = [[Select (magazine)|Select]]
 | page = 87
 | date = July 1997}}</ref>{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=62}} Its title references the [[Bob Dylan]] song "[[Subterranean Homesick Blues]]", and the lyrics describe an isolated narrator who fantasises about being [[abduction phenomenon|abducted]] by [[extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrials]]. The narrator speculates that, upon returning to Earth, his friends would not believe his story and he would remain a misfit.{{sfn|Footman|2007|pp=60–61}} The lyrics were inspired by an assignment from Yorke's time at [[Abingdon School]] to write a piece of "[[Martian poetry]]", a British literary movement that humorously recontextualises mundane aspects of human life from an alien perspective.{{sfn|Footman|2007|pp=59–60}}

[[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' inspired the lyrics for "Exit Music (For a Film)".<ref name="MM"/> Initially Yorke wanted to work lines from the play into the song, but the final draft of the lyrics became a broad summary of the narrative.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=67}} He said: "I saw [[Romeo and Juliet (1968 film)|the Zeffirelli version]] when I was 13 and I cried my eyes out, because I couldn't understand why, the morning after they shagged, they didn't just run away. It's a song for two people who should run away before all the bad stuff starts."<ref name="Moran_92">{{cite journal|first=Caitlin|last=Moran|author-link=Caitlin Moran|title=I was feeling incredible hysteria and panic&nbsp;...|journal=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]|date=July 1997|page=92}}</ref> Yorke compared the opening of the song, which mostly features his singing paired with acoustic guitar, to [[Johnny Cash]]'s ''[[At Folsom Prison]]''.{{sfn|Randall|2000|p=154}} [[Mellotron]] choir and other electronic voices are used throughout the track.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=66}} The song climaxes with the entrance of drums{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=66}} and distorted bass run through a [[distortion (music)|fuzz pedal]].<ref name="WYLIE">{{citation
 | first = Harry
 | last = Wylie
 | title = Radiohead
 | magazine = [[Total Guitar]]
 | date = November 1997}}</ref> The climactic portion of the song is an attempt to emulate the sound of [[trip hop]] group [[Portishead (band)|Portishead]], but in a style that the bassist, [[Colin Greenwood]], called more "stilted and leaden and mechanical".<ref>{{citation
 | first = Stephen
 | last = Dalton
 | title = The Dour & The Glory
 | magazine = [[Vox (magazine)|Vox]]
 | date = September 1997}}</ref> The song concludes by fading back to Yorke's voice, acoustic guitar and Mellotron.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=67}}

"[[Let Down (Radiohead song)|Let Down]]" contains multilayered [[arpeggio|arpeggiated]] guitars and electric piano. Jonny Greenwood plays his guitar part in a different [[time signature]] to the other instruments.{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=73}} O'Brien said the song was influenced by [[Phil Spector]], a producer and songwriter best known for his reverberating "[[Wall of Sound]]" recording techniques.<ref name="RANDALL p. 4"/> The lyrics, Yorke said, are about a fear of being trapped,<ref name="Moran_92" /> and "about that feeling that you get when you're in transit but you're not in control of it—you just go past thousands of places and thousands of people and you're completely removed from it".<ref name="MM"/> Of the line "Don't get sentimental / It always ends up drivel", Yorke said: "Sentimentality is being emotional for the sake of it. We're bombarded with sentiment, people emoting. That's the Let Down. Feeling every emotion is fake. Or rather every emotion is on the same plane whether it's a car advert or a pop song."<ref name="Sutcliffe1999" /> Yorke felt that scepticism of emotion was characteristic of [[Generation X]] and that it had informed the band's approach to the album.<ref>{{citation
 | first = Mary
 | last = Gaitskill
 | title = Radiohead: Alarms and Surprises
 | magazine = [[Alternative Press (music magazine)|Alternative Press]]
 | date = April 1998}}</ref>

"[[Karma Police]]" has two main verses that alternate with a subdued break, followed by a different ending section.<ref name="Huey">{{cite web
 | first = Steve
 | last = Huey
 | title = Karma Police
 | website = [[AllMusic]]
 | url = https://www.allmusic.com/song/karma-police-t1416670
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101210235903/http://allmusic.com/song/karma-police-t1416670
 | archive-date = 10 December 2010
| url-status = live}}</ref> The verses centre around acoustic guitar and piano,<ref name="Huey"/> with a chord progression indebted to the Beatles' "[[Sexy Sadie]]".<ref name="LOWE">{{citation|last=Lowe|first=Steve|title=Back to Save the Universe|date=December 1999|magazine=[[Select (magazine)|Select]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=79}}<ref name="KENT"/> Starting at 2:34, the song transitions into an orchestrated section with the repeated line "For a minute there, I lost myself".<ref name="Huey"/> It ends with [[audio feedback|feedback]] generated with a [[delay (audio effect)|delay]] effect.<ref name="RANDALL p. 4"/>{{sfn|Footman|2007|p=79}} The title and lyrics to "Karma Police" originate from an [[in-joke]] during ''The Bends'' tour; Jonny Greenwood said "whenever someone was behaving in a particularly shitty way, we'd say 'The [[karma]] police will catch up with him sooner or later.{{'"}}<ref name="MM"/>