Radiohead Airbag How Am I Driving Raritan
| 'Airbag' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Radiohead | ||||
| from the album OK Computer | ||||
| Released | 24 March 1998 | |||
| Recorded | July 1996 – March 1997 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 4:44 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | Radiohead (Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood) | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Radiohead singles chronology | ||||
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'Airbag' begins and ends with a guitar riff by Jonny Greenwood. The song was inspired by the music of DJ Shadow, and is underpinned by an electronic drum beat programmed from a seconds-long recording of Selway's drumming. The band sampled the drum track with a digital sampler and edited it with a Macintosh.
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'Airbag' is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It is the first song on their 1997 album OK Computer and the final single to be released from said album on 24 March 1998.
Background[edit]
The song is inspired by a car crash involving Thom Yorke and his girlfriend in 1987.[citation needed] He said, 'Has an airbag saved my life? Nah ... but I tell you something, every time you have a near accident, instead of just sighing and carrying on, you should pull over, get out of the car and run down the street screaming, 'I'm BACK! I'm ALIVE! My life has started again today!' In fact, you should do that every time you get out of a car. We're just riding on those things – we're not really in control of them.'[1]
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The song was first performed in 1995. It was originally titled 'Last Night an Airbag Saved My Life', a reference to the Indeep song, 'Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life'. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood said, 'Airbag' is a classic example of Colin and Phil saying, 'Let's make it sound like DJ Shadow.' But unfortunately – or fortunately – it does not, because we missed again. It's that thing of lumbering around in the dark, but still being excited by what we do. We're discovering these things for the first time rather than getting the pros in to show us how to do it.'[2]
Radiohead Airbag How Am I Driving Raritan Valley
In 2016, Thom Yorke auctioned the original draft of lyrics for 'Airbag', written inside a copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, with proceeds going to Oxfam.[3]
Composition[edit]
'Airbag' begins and ends with a guitar riff by Jonny Greenwood. The production was inspired by the music of DJ Shadow, and is underpinned by an electronic drum beat programmed from a seconds-long recording of Selway's drumming. The band sampled the drum track with a digital sampler and edited it with a Macintosh, but admitted to making approximations in emulating Shadow's style due to their programming inexperience.[4][5] The bassline in 'Airbag' starts and stops unexpectedly, achieving an effect similar to 1970s dub.[6]
The song's references to automobile accidents 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.'[7] Music journalist Tim Footman notes the song's technical innovations and lyrical concerns demonstrate 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.'[8] The song appears on the album Airbag / How Am I Driving?, on the DVD Meeting People Is Easy, in the Radiohead Box Set and Radiohead: The Best Of.
Cover versions[edit]
- The Section in 2001 (Strung Out on OK Computer: The String Quartet Tribute to Radiohead)[9]
- Christopher O'Riley in 2003 (True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead)[10]
- Michael Armstrong in 2006 (Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Radiohead)[11]
- Easy Star All-Stars in 2006 (Radiodread)[12]
- 4inObjects in 2006 (4inObjects)[13]
- Rjd2 in 2006 (Exit Music: Songs for Radio Heads)[14]
Personnel[edit]
- Thom Yorke – vocals, rhythm guitar, programming
- Jonny Greenwood – lead guitar, synthesizer, mellotron
- Ed O'Brien – lead guitar, percussion
- Colin Greenwood – bass guitar
- Phil Selway – drums, percussion
Notes[edit]
- ^'AIRBAG'. tripod.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.; originally from Caitlin Moran, 'I was feeling incredible hysteria and panic', Select, July 1997, p92
- ^'Airbagby by Radiohead'. songfacts.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^http://www.digitaltrends.com/music/radioheads-thom-yorke-auction-handwritten-lyrics/
- ^Randall, Mac (1 April 1998). 'Radiohead interview: The Golden Age of Radiohead'. Guitar World. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011.
- ^Footman 2007, p. 42.
- ^Footman 2007, p. 43.
- ^Sutcliffe, Phil (1 October 1997), 'Death is all around', Q
- ^Footman 2007, p. 46.
- ^'Strung Out on OK Computer Review'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^'True Love Waits Review'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^'Rockabye Baby!'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^'Radiodread'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^'4inObjects'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- ^'Exit Music: Songs for Radio Heads'. allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
Palo Alto, California is the home of Stanford University and a major center of the Silicon Valley. When Radiohead performed in the city in 1996, they toured the offices of several prominent technology companies.
Pictured: A rendering of Apple Park, located in nearby Cupertino.
The original title of the song was “OK Computer”, meaning this song continues with the prominent techno-paranoia, personal dettachment, and anti-corporate themes in the eponymous album, applying them to what’s regarded as the world’s foremost innovation hub: Silicon Valley. It captures the other prominent theme of alienation that the English narrator feels. The specificity of this song is odd considering how general if not vague the rest of OK Computer is, which might explain why it became a B-side. Palo Alto really works as an archetype for the issues Radiohead is dealing with in the album.
“Palo Alto” was released in 1997 on the “No Surprises” single. It can also be found on the Airbag/How Am I Driving EP, on the Collector’s Edition of OK Computer and on disk 2 of the 20th anniversary edition, OKNOTOK.