in this video I'm breaking down airbag
which is the first track from
radiohead's OK Computer arguably one of
the best albums of all time of any genre
and certainly one of my top favorites
I've Loved this album since I was a
pre-teen I remember listening to it and
just thinking like
well this is different basically I felt
like I had gone through something when I
listened to it it was so nuanced you
know it didn't make me want to dance
didn't make me want to cry didn't make
me angry it didn't make me happy either
it just
it was so complex I just really enjoy
the process of figuring out what's going
on with the harmonies and The Melodies
and The rhythms and the production
elements that all culminates and me
feeling the way I do when I listen to
music if you're new to my channel
welcome just a really quick disclaimer I
don't really do lyric analysis I just
don't really know what I'm doing in that
area but I might connect some of the
lyrics to what I'm hearing musically I'm
going to be using some music theory
terms as just a language to describe
some of these Concepts but that doesn't
mean that they were writing the music
with all those things in mind in fact
it's unlikely that they were that it was
more of an intuitive an emotional
process
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foreign
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[Applause]
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foreign
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to an album I mean their openings are
always great but this one is so
distinctive and memorable so this low
Melody is played by both an electric
guitar and a cello sample on the
melotron
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[Applause]
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foreign
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they're playing in unison so they're in
the exact same octave but they use
panning to kind of separate them but
it's still cool I feel like our brain
sort of invents like a third instrument
that sounds like both of them at the
same time so already it's different and
the actual Melody itself has some
unusual things going on it's navigating
something called mode mixture there's
both major and minor key things
happening in here at first it's like a
minor
then it goes major
[Music]
back to minor
back to Major
[Music]
minor
the main sort of uh conflict that's
created in this melody is that we have
both the major third and the minor third
and then this F okay this F is called a
flat six plus six this is a heavy
powerful potent note that's going to
carry a lot of The Haunting and sort of
troubled qualities that come later in
the song keeping time is the sleigh bell
which is literally look
it's just a bunch of sleigh bells on a
stick
I think I even hear like a really subtle
acoustic guitar kind of playing some
syncopated notes which then I think sort
of develops into Tom playing an a power
chord
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[Applause]
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foreign
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listen to how Tom's a power chord is
interacting with the low gritty guitar
slash cello riff it's so beautiful
[Music]
thank you
we're going to talk about the chord
later because it's so good
[Music]
and then this cleaner sounding guitar
comes in doing
which is like straight out of an a major
scale so it's got a lot of warmth and
kind of positivity to it it also sounds
a little bit innocent to me and almost a
little bit vulnerable so this line has
some clashing with the gritty kind of
almost menacing guitar slash cello riff
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you up
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okay so I think you get the point listen
listen to some of this Clash
right here this already sound a little
bit discordant
[Applause]
[Music]
and I think it's big
which comes from minor land and this is
the major third which comes from major
land so they just usually aren't in the
same place at the same time so I love
that sound but then there's like a
really direct Clash up here
um
[Music]
so I just collapsed them right next to
each other now you can hear like they
are very much at odds a c and a C sharp
but I love that they just let it they
just let the melody like run over
whatever was going on with that lick
they didn't try to make them get along
so to speak you got a lot of nice
repetition
[Music]
and the way that this little figure
repeats lines up with the rhythm of the
lower Melody which is
[Music]
okay quick diversion to the drums
they nailed it with the drums in the
song and we get to hear them really
nicely exposed at the very beginning in
the intro the groove has a sort of this
extra snare hit usually snares hit on
two and four so
it's usually what you clap to in a song
okay
but this one has a ah
[Music]
so this creates a little bit of a
feeling of syncopation syncopation will
save the nation syncopation is what
gives music I think
the feeling of humanity it's more
organic it's more offbeat it sounds like
they sampled the drums and then they ran
them through a bunch of filters and then
overlaid more tracks of drums on top of
the session drums so that there's like
glitching going on right there's that
feeling of Technology sort of overtaking
the acoustic you know the real the raw
feeling and you know from what I've read
this album is very much about sort of
fear of technology or just how
technology is affecting Humanity they
kind of come in and out again sort of
random unexpected intervals so this
keeps all these things keep our ear very
engaged Nigel godrich produced this
album and then has produced every
Radiohead album after this and I can see
why because
the band plus Nigel just I think it's
meant to be also listen to how Phil
comes in with the fill
[Music]
whenever drums first enter a song with a
fill it kind of feels like it's like
like I'm like I'm getting ready like I
don't know like a running start or
something this melody
and the drums and so many other elements
in this song they sort of enter when you
don't expect
thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
so we get like an extra measure again
usually things are in multiples of four
it just gives a feeling of like a run-on
sentence a bit so the eighth measure is
this beautiful cord that rings out
and that my friends is just one of the
most beautiful chords known to humankind
I think it's one of my favorites and
I've learned it's called an add nine
chord so there's an extra note in there
that's what's added and it's the one
that's creating this kind of delicious
Lush Clash
that one and that one's like
particularly loud and it rings out wow
[Music]
you just play major chord and then you
go a whole step up from the root of the
chord so if you're playing an a major
chord go a whole step up from the a get
B and you play a B on top of it all
and you can arrange this lots of ways
like this
on the piano at least I don't know how
it works on guitar
[Music]
ending with the phrase I am born again
at the end same Melody same line that's
the only line I could reliably make out
you know in the first verse when I was a
kid the rest I just kind of
when he sings I'm born again it sets off
an extra two measures that kind of
mimics that feeling we got at the end of
the intro
[Music]
this beautiful Melody comes in
which is I think a clear variation or
callback to the uh
[Music]
but it's just kind of
instead of the verse being riff-based
like the intro this is more chord based
you get an A chord first I think it's
just a power chord but you could also
play it with the major third
then we get this
you can probably hear that there's a lot
of clash that's a big clash it's called
the minor second it's a really really uh
disruptive sound it's beautiful
and to me that kind of implies this
chord
back chord
feels sort of like a tense bridge to the
next chord which I think is
basically D chord you can think of it as
an A sus4 but to me it sounds like
d
scrolling up and down but just voice
like that
on I am born again it comes back to that
beautiful homey a major chord with the
um
[Music]
it's so comforting
but now I want to talk about the bass
[Music]
I am born again
Collins sparse sort of interjecting
repetitive but unpredictable Baseline is
one of my favorite things about this
song the bass usually supports the
bottom floor if you think of the song as
a house you know it's the foundation I
think he just comes in to remind you
that there is a floor
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foreign
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so there's this feeling of floating of
being detached
you know separated from reality Maybe
raising up out of your seat in a car
that's flipping I don't know it's just
this really interesting sensation and
the Baseline will often in popular music
sort of legitimize or support the root
of a chord so like an a chord has an A
on the bottom and then all the notes are
sort of built on top of it so if I want
to play a major chord and I want to
play a bass note that feels really
satisfying I would play an A
if I want to play a bass note that feels
kind of like it's transitory I might
play
C sharp which is the next note in the
chord but C doesn't feel nearly as like
satisfying or settled or even
there's like this need for movement
there anyway not only is it just kind of
coming in and out at what feels like
sort of random intervals
but it's also applying the same figure
regardless of how the chords might feel
like they're kind of Shifting around
[Music]
foreign
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it works
another little bluesy lick there that he
brings in I wrote in my notes I like the
part where it goes do
[Music]
wait
[Music]
wait
before we get to Tom's Melody let's talk
about this synth
what's going on down
I thought it was the oned Martino
am I say that right I had trouble
confirming this but it sounds like
Johnny used a prophecy synth for this
record and then later
switch to the oned Martino there's a
really great video about how Johnny
Greenwood saved this instrument from you
know Extinction basically so if you want
to march to know more about it I forgot
to warn you guys that are new I make
puns anyway the onto Martino is like a
type of theremin and it sounds very
otherworldly and voice-like but so does
this synth so I when growing up I I
thought this was Tom I thought Tom was
singing in his beautiful falsetto some
people think it's a soprano singer what
did you think it was so it goes
oh but okay
[Music]
that's so pretty everything's all
together and then it kind of slides into
dissonance all together
it goes up there it's really pretty
because
[Music]
it makes that chord so completely major
and it's just so beautiful
foreign
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
okay now let's take a look at Tom's
vocal melody in his phrasing
already something happening here that I
always I don't know just kind of stood
out to me is if he sang in the cord he'd
go in the next
the next but he sings in the next
[Music]
I kind of like this it just sounds
pleasant and carefree
which is really interesting to hear with
in the next World War as the lyric I
find a lot of the time there's like a
conflict between the way the music
sounds and what Tom is saying you know
you listen to a Radiohead song and
you're like this song sounds so happy
but why do I feel so sad you know his
phrasing is very like kind of fits and
bursts also kind of unpredictable and
very organic sounding I don't know how I
would like notate that in other words
how I would put that into a grid don't
ever put Tom York in a grid and then
that positive I'm born again it sounds
so confident and one of the reasons is
because it ends on the tonal Center
that's a so it just feels so complete
I am born again little suspension there
and then
I'm just kind of bread just feels so
like a hug in a neon sign scrolling up
and down I am born again and then this
leads us into the chorus which is
actually really short it's only six
measures long total that's also unusual
I love that whatever their background
was as a group and individually if they
learned rules right for how like a song
should go they're ignoring them and
it is
[Music]
in an Interstellar burst I'm back to
save the universe
one of the greatest lines I love the
Harmony in the chorus because it has
this one chord that's kind of surprising
[Music]
eyes
foreign
surprising well it doesn't exist in the
key of a major or a minor this comes
from lydian which is a different scale
which has a very open almost like Ultra
major sound
[Applause]
actually the sustain pedal is like a
dream
[Music]
how pretty
[Music]
this part
changes to an F sharp minor chord
this is the first and only minor chord
in the whole song
you get that feeling of like pushing the
tension to release it
then um
part
foreign
of what's called a sus4 it's a
suspension you hear this a lot in like
church music
it's very warm and kind of reverent
sounding so that's kind of how that
whole chorus ends and he ends singing on
the tonal Center again so I'm back
I think that's synth
that we talked about before is holding
out this a the entire time kind of
grounding us up here
foreign
[Music]
tension
and then it all comes together
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
the defining sound of the second verse
for me is the tremolo picked guitar
Melody
[Music]
[Applause]
and actually kind of Fades in from the
end of the interlude so there's like
this bridge between them that's so
beautiful kind of blossoms open drowned
in Reverb And Delay it's holding out an
a
foreign
and then this line is just crazy
beautiful and very haunting I think this
is a line that when I was younger I felt
a bit troubled to me like there's a bit
of pain in this the note that's doing
that in my opinion is that flat fixed
note which is f in this key but it's in
a line
that sounds mostly from major so again
mood mixture
reduce
again
[Applause]
[Music]
two things about this I really like that
that's a flat six Note coming in in fact
we heard the regular six not the
flattened one which has come from major
first
see it's lower
I think
is like the painful version of
[Music]
I love this I love the way it's
articulated
like doubling of the the note got the
major third which brings all those
feelings of major keys and warmth and
confidence and peace and you know with
the flat six which comes from minor so
that's the
just to give you an example I'm gonna
play it like it was all major
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you
[Applause]
now if it was all minor
[Music]
[Applause]
which sounds very serious and severe it
sounds so pretty when he sings I'm
amazed that I survived that little
but it's on the minor IV chord
and there's all this delicious tension
in there
so the bridge is next and the bridge is
an extension I think of the second verse
tremolo guitar gets a chance to really
spread its wings even more kind of whale
I forgot to mention you know you've got
the tremolo picked guitar on the right
on the left there's just a distorted
electric guitar that's just kind of
playing the notes more sustained the two
guitars kind of split off from being in
unison with each other and they play
their two different variations and it
feels like they're both kind of hitting
that Peak which is the C it's the
highest note it's from the minor scale
so it has some weight to it and they
kind of hit it at different times and
there's just sort of this Cascade of
like wailing and crying out it's so
incredible
foreign
[Music]
so beautiful if you've always loved that
I think it's because it's doing this
thing Radiohead does a lot where they
mix a major sounding song with a minor
four chord sorry
foreign
[Music]
it's just very wistful I think you can
hear maybe the intro to nude right now
right
mixing these sounds creates nuance and
Radiohead does this all the time
[Music]
foreign
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they Loop something twice that sort of
extends the chorus to be a little bit
longer and the way they do that is kind
of neat because at the end of the first
phrase Universe he doesn't sing you uh
Universe like he always does he goes
universe and can you hear different
notes and it's no longer resting on the
tonal Center that a anymore it's higher
so it kind of prompts him to like go
again
the bass line starts to interject a lot
more
and so it kind of feels like it's
starting to build because you know the
Baseline has a lot of energy behind it
right it's loud it's full it's deep it's
foundational but instead the song just
kind of breaks down
[Music]
the guitar is starting to kind of like I
said break down it feels like they've
kind of lost their grip interjections
you know very conversational it actually
reminds me of like fireworks or Sparks
or just little explosions the bass takes
the lead now with the sleigh bells
keeping time so the bass starts to go
like this
foreign
[Music]
and then listen he starts to kind of amp
things up even more it starts playing
more and more and more and now he's
playing almost constantly
[Music]
it feels like like he was playing like a
long game Tom at the end
very harmonious and it reminds me of
everything that goes
all of those Melodies that kind of end
on that major third it's just a nice
memory the riff from the very beginning
comes back and something really cool
happens with this riff and the bass the
bass actually joins in with some of the
riff
and then it kind of does like
[Applause]
but it hits the flat six and the minor
third and it just feels like
it's finally
supporting everything and that's I think
why the end for a lot of reasons but I
think that's part of why the end feels
so full
so this builds and builds and builds and
it feels like you're just like going
through this tunnel and you'd have no
idea when you're gonna get to the light
when are you gonna get to the other side
just feels endless and all of a sudden
you come out
[Music]
with this like shimmery golden beautiful
cord it feels so bright so like life
affirming and it just couldn't be the
better ending
thank you for watching this whole video
I know it was a long one I really really
appreciate it and if you liked it please
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okay that's it happy New Year have a
great one and I will see you next time
oh no eyelash in my oh no
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