I'm Beginning to Get It

I have to admit that I've never been a Radiohead fan. It's not that I hate them or anything, I just have never understood what the big deal is about them and how so many people can think they're so it, including my husband. So, I never saw this day coming, but I'm going to write about a Radiohead song.

The evening routine at my house has morphed into bath, brush, stories, and music. We used to do it differently when the kids were younger, but for about a year or so, after the kids have bathed and brushed we all four congregate in Grace's room for family story and music time. Either David reads to them or I do, and while one parent is reading, the other either just listens or silently reads something of their choice on their own. After we've exhausted the stories, we turn the light off and pick a CD to listen to while the kids fall asleep and David and I lie there and listen. To those of you who say, "Cut the cord, let the kids fall asleep on their own!" I say, "Quit talking so loud, I can't hear the music." It's become my favorite part of the day, after the physical and emotional stress and labor of everyday life. A chunk of my day dedicated to lying there in peace, listening to as much or as little of a CD of good music. The CDs in rotation are all music that David and I like, not necessarily kids' lullabies (but not necessarily not, either). We've listened to Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, the soundtrack to Garden State, classical and John Coltrane. We're currently on Radiohead's newest release, In Rainbows, thanks to David.

The albums chosen for evening listening have to be primarily mellow and dream-inducing, not fast, loud, and energy-inducing. In Rainbows is perfect. We start off with "Nude" and the kids enjoy listening to the angels sing. It's the only time in my life that I've listened to this much Radiohead at one time. Not so for David. David is "one of those" who has listened to various Radiohead albums over and over and over and over and over at certain times in his young-adult life. I just have never gotten what the hype is all about. I wouldn't say that I've been completely won over, but I'm beginning to get it. Especially with the last song on the album, "Vidoetape."

"Videotape" is slow, steady, and somber, reminding me through timbre and tempo of a funeral procession. In fact, the lyrics do indicate death, saying goodbye and reaching above but being pulled from below. The song is in 4/4 time all the way through, suggestive of a march. Piano chords alone keep steady time through quarter notes for the first few bars then joining the piano are snare-drum beats on beats 1 and 3. The tempo never changes, but more percussion is added to provide swell and crescendo. Next I hear what sounds like a rolling timpani drum beginning the rolls slightly before beat 1 to end with the snare and piano on beats 1 and 3. As the song continues, a symbal is introduced, I think a high-hat, but played with a stick, not pedal. This is where the steadiness deviates as the symbals tap inconsistently to what has been going on so far. The most interesting element, however, is when the glockenspiel is introduced (at least I think it's a glockenspiel) adding this hard-to-figure-out percussive element of both dissonance and resolve. I've had to listen to this part over and over to determine if what I'm about to say is even true, but I've decided it is true...it's my true perception. The first time I heard this song was the other night as I was drifting off into dreams just like Johnny and Grace but was conscious enough to think, "Wow, there are some really interesting things going on here." When the glockenspiel-sounding instrument is introduced, it both fits with the 4/4 time and doesn't. It's dissonant and resolving, unpredicatable and predictable, mysterious and comforting. The glockenspiel taps out three notes that somehow incredibly start off before beat 1 but end on beats 2 and 4. At least I think that's what I remember happening.

That's the thing...it caught me the first listen and since then I have listened several times over to figure out exactly how they've pulled off the persussion in this tune. I think I have it figured out, but I'm not sure. It's simple and complex. It's simply complex. Like I gather most of Radiohead's music is like. Whatever's going on, it's interesting. Interesting enough to ask David to dig out his worn-out Radiohead CDs so I can have a closer listen.