My take on Pyramid Song.
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- Опубліковано 27 тра 2024
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0:00 - Intro
1:09 - Timing
9:01 - Why is it confusing?
12:53 - Chords
24:31 - Melodies
30:47 - Arrangement
34:52 - Thanks for watching!
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🙏 SPECIAL THANKS to my amazing Patrons, without whom these videos would not be possible, credited at the end of this video! - Розваги
Thank you so much for watching this! For song & album requests and to support my channel and musical projects, please consider joining my Patreon (I can't monetize these videos): www.patreon.com/iximusic 🙌 You can also commission me to analyze your original music or do a piano cover. 🎹 And I teach private & group lessons, do film/video game scoring, and music transcriptions 🎶 TIPS: www.buymeacoffee.com/iximusic 💄
I love UA-cam for this reason. A little wine with my spaghetti, and next thing you know I'm 30min into a video of a stranger deep diving into Pyramid Song. Thank you so much for putting your time into such a detailed video!
Wild because this is literally me right now, eating my spaghetti and drinking wine. Cheers! 🍷
producer: what is the time signature of this song?
radiohead: yes/4
Love hearing someone gush about the chords as much as I feel them
I think this may be Radiohead's best song, and you're raising my appreciation of it even higher. Excellent analysis!
There are not many pieces of music that bring a lump to my throat and that keeps me totally captivated from the very start to the end, but this is one of those.
I wish my life had the clarity of this explanation.
So beautifully put!
This is unquestionnably the best, ever, explanation/tutorial video for Pyramid Song.
All these years later, this song still gives me chills. It still feels eerie. Thank you for the detailed analysis.
I am always "no more subscriptions I am following too many channels already". And then I discover you with this video ...
"If you grew up listening to blues or jazz, you're free".
Ugh, once again time for my eyes to inexplicably well up with tears while you go over chord progressions
ESPECIALLY this song, oh my G O D
I feared I might be the only one! 😅
You're never the only one...
@@adamdalpozzo Shit man, that was unexpectedly moving! Thank you for that. 🥹
Same. Isn't it weird?
Fun fact, this song was initially called Egyptian Song. A live version was kicking around the internet for a couple of years before Amnesiac was released.
That is a very fun fact
Interesting, especially as ixi's demonstration of Phrygian Dominant sounded distinctly Arabic (to my ears anyway!)
Oh I didn’t know that, i was like a kid back then. Is that version inline now?
@@Danny-wv8ec Not a clue! It was one of the MP3s obsessives like me were sharing through Napster or something. Along with True Love Waits, Lift, Follow Me Around, Motion Picture Soundtrack. All unreleased at the time. Pyramid song barely changed from that early version, as I remember. So you’re not missing much.
This is the best Radiohead song. Isn’t it? And one of the best ever written.
For me the lyrics give the song a dark nostalgia by twisting with songs I knew in my childhood.
The way Thom plays on the lyrics from Swing Home, Sweet Chariot ("I jumped in the river and what did I see? Black-eyed angels swam with me" seems to mimic "I looked over Jordan, and what did I see? ...I saw a band of angels coming after me") and lifts that line from The Clapping Song ("And we all went to heaven in a little row boat") makes me feel simultaneously like I'm home but something isn't right. Like a strange dream where you're somewhere familiar but things are slightly off and scary. Powerful to play with those memories burned deep into your psyche.
pyramid song is a modern 'negro spiritual' which is a genre Sweet Home Sweet Chariot belongs.
You're bang on in making that connection
As Masta Killa once said: The dumb are mostly intrigued by the drum. So many folks are caught up in the timing that they neglect the lyrics.
Very interesting !
Its based on Dante's divine comedy. I think this is the crossing of the Archeron with Charon and 'coal black eyes'. Charon is a greek deity kind of like an angel of death i suppose. Well, he does go to heaven, in Paradiso but he has to catch the ferry into the Inferno (hell) first.
For like 9 years I had no idea how to count this thing. One day I got that exact "It's a clave!" eureka moment you had, because I realized if you ignore the harmony, that pattern of "3-2 / 3-3-2 / 3" becomes "3-3-2 / 3-3-2" which is two claves in a row. And just like you said "I could just feel, confidently" I felt the exact same thing.
I love how the song can be very reasonably interpreted in different ways like how a pyramid looks like a triangle from some angles and a square from others
Interesting point.
Sounds like something that idk, like a really talented vibraphone player would say? ;)
Or a diamond or a flame
I've always thought that Pyramid Song is a slow and sad bossa nova. :)
Also, we do have a specific name for notes that aren't included in a scale but are used a few times in a song (e.g. in Hungarian we call them pien notes ).
Also I'd like to say a super huge THANK YOU for analyzing my all time favourite Radiohead song!
Oh man I thought there was something Hungarian about it. Not being familiar with a lot of Hungarian music, but as a Gabor Szabo fan
this seems right to me. If you go to the original on youtube and put the playback time at 2x you can hear exactly what ixi is saying
Yeah i played it at 1.75 and it made a lot more sense, especially as someone who knows very little about music theory.
This must be the most beautiful music piece that will ever be created. I am obsessed with this song for 20 years now. I am glad thatyou only showed the 4 note stripped down chord shapes as i have a 4 note polyphony synth and it are perfect to play this.
Try the original, "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis", by Vaughn Williams: ua-cam.com/video/ihx5LCF1yJY/v-deo.html
Agreed. The most beautiful composition ever submitted to vinyl, by my favourite band of all time. Timeless 👍
@@Dunbar0740very interesting. Thanks for the share.
@@Dunbar0740 wow many similarities. How does that "Great artists..." quote go? Creation always comes from something before it already there.
@@Dunbar0740Beautiful! And certainly very similar to Radiohead’s Pyramid song, so thank you for posting.
Have you heard the original of “Exit music (For a Film)”?
ua-cam.com/video/FDT_gtC5faQ/v-deo.htmlfeature=shared
The intimacy of this presentation is wonderful.
I've been a drummer and a Radiohead fan for many years, and I could never work this song out. The fact that it is in 4/4 blows my mind, but you're right. In the end I just kinda worked it out through repetition and feeling it, but now it seems so much simpler to understand. Thank you!
Who knew that I could love this song even more? Thanks for your post!
This is the first time I have watched this content creator. I have seen dozens of "Music expert reacts to a popular recording" type videos and this is absolutely the best I have seen. It fills all the gaps left by all the other "experts" who do similar content. It does far more than just pretend to love it, or shout out the basic chords (which only makes me wonder if they looked them up on a tab from a Google search and noted them down before recording the video). As it goes it actually describes why the music sounds like it does.
This song has always felt like being on large wooden sail ship in heavy seas at night under the stars, hanging on for dear life as it sways side to side, to me.
When this album came out I spent an entire day obsessively notating this song and it’s stayed with me ever since. It’s a perfect example of cyclical hypermeter and this is the best explanation online I’ve seen. The ambiguity is core to the experience.
Thank you! I’ve been searching for a way to express this point but you said it perfectly with “The ambiguity is core to the experience”. 👌
I get the way you break it down but I can't fathom how complicated it must have been to write and record in the studio...trying to explain your vision to producers and other members...mind blowing.
What I love about Thom's vocal melodies is how they flow from one note to another. It's a very fluid style.
Autotune would go crazy on this
Yes, it's called legato 🙂
That G# you talk about at 20:47 is what makes the song. It'd be beautiful anyway, but that simple note choice opens up the harmony and makes it sound so unique.
For me, that’s where Egypt is hiding in plain sight.
This is a study in post rock drumming. Phil Selway and Radiohead were pioneers of avoiding the downbeat, which defies the conventions of rock drumming.
Another great, earlier example of this is Britt Wolford’s drumming in Slint. Check out Spiderland if you haven’t yet. They along with Talk Talk’s “Laughing Stock” essentially kicked off post rock.
Talk talk Spirit of Eden do it for me to this day.
My eyes have been dry and sore all day.
Pyramid song has always been one of my favourite songs, and is deeply connected with a friend who killed herself 20 years ago. My eyes are no longer dry.
watched this video knowing hardly anything about music theory and i feel enlightened
I am still convinced that this song is incomparable after 20 + years... simply because there is literally nothing to compare this to.
And a lot of Radiohead song are incomparables, never heard a band with such unique songs
Only thing it’s comparable to is other Radiohead songs
It really loosely reminds me of Swim by Oh No Ono.
David Bennett Piano also did an excellent video on Pyramid Song.
There is a channel called ‘ listening in’ that also explained it very well. The deeper meaning of the song and how it all connects. There is more to it than the ears can catch. It’s well worth checking out.
I have been a Radiohead fan since I really got into them in college, over 20 years ago. This song has slowly risen to the top for me as my favorite Radiohead song.
i was playing those chords and suddenly realized how similar it is to Everything in its right place, YET it feels so different... And it's so touching... How beautiful it is to keep discovering new things in their music, after so many years... Thank you
This is song never fails to rip me apart. I feel every note every word. I wish I could swim with the black eyed angels. I am envious.
I guess we all get to swim with black eyed angels, someday or another, someway or another
Hi ixi, you're probably aware of this, but I believe the strings part have that eerie, flowy vibe due to an Ondes Martenot that Jonny was playing. The electronic instrument was one of the first history pieces to be created just like the Theremin back in late 1920/1930 and it is known to have this glissando/sliding sound, which surely give this song a great touch. Placing it on top of real strings and Ed's e-bow guitar is probably a match made in heaven. Jonny also used the Ondes Martenot in How to Disappear Completely and The National Anthem, including live versions of it. Anyway, great take on this incredible piece!! Thanks for the upload as always.
This song hit me right away and pulled me back while I was still reeling from Kid A. Pure beauty. Thank you yet again!
I remember feeling the same, came out almost as a side feel to kid a.
Though I’ve been playing music for 30 years, I don’t know anything about theory, so I rarely watch videos like this. But this was one of the best breakdowns of any piece of music I’ve ever seen. Even the technical parts which I didn’t fully understand seemed to make sense to me on a core level, and it’s made me fall even more in love with a song I’ve loved since its release. What a an absolute pleasure to watch…and listen to. Thank you. 😭
I believe Jonny dubbed the strings over using Ondes Martenot (one of his go-to obscure keyboard instruments) - hence the amplified "gliding" sensation.
This is music from the heart…when Thom wrote this I guarantee you that time signatures were the last thing on his mind…all he knew was that it was distinctive and different….what a beautiful song though 🎼
Mind blown. When you first counted 4/4 it’s like I could hear in another dimension. Haha I got emotional. I’ve never heard the song in that way. I always just dismissed it as a weird time signature and loved it for what it was. What a rare and gorgeous tune. Thanks for explaining it with such detail and feeling. ✌️
Lovely. Your discovery of the clave rhythm is the key.
I can’t tell you how much your analysis has enhanced my enjoyment of this masterpiece. I’m a bass player that occasionally plays guitar and am trying to teach myself music theory on piano. I have been a Radiohead fan since The Bends in 1994, seeing them play live only once in Vancouver, BC in 2001 for the Kid A tour. Thank you for sharing this.
hauntingly beautiful song
Ahaaaa! Here’s the “hauntingly beautiful” guy!! 😂😂😂😂
@@chrisknight2631 Someone has to be
everything's in 4/4 if you're not a nerd
😂
I was conflicted about KID A after being in love with Radiohead for years since The Bends… I was in the US Navy in 2001 before 9/11 and I remember watching Pyramid Song’s video on MTV in the barracks/in all the bullshit places us enlisted sailors were studying in… and thinking/feeling, “there is a part of me, dying… and i have a great soundtrack the end of the world” - and 6 months later, our world was changed forever. The year 2000 and 2001 before 9/11 WAS AMAZING if you can remember
The Eadd9 sounds like hope to me in this context
What the weirdest thing about this song is not even just the general metering feel. It’s the harmonic feedback loop or as you say the “howling” that Nigel Godrich created at the end of the song. Seemingly within a similar meter at double speed. Exits to the jarring beat of Pull/Pulk revolving doors on the next song. What’s truly fascinating is this “howling sound” comes back at the end of Pull/Pulk revolving doors but in a completely different time signature. I always felt Amnesiac was the quieter angry artsy brother of Kid A that is often misunderstood. And is still to this day one of my favorite albums of all time. There’s no other body of work I’ve ever heard that pulls me in like it.
its a mellotron flute or similar keyboard/synth run into an AMX digital delay with the feedback all the way up so it repeats infinitely. then you turn the pitch shift knobs to change the pitch to whatever key you want. they basically created a loop/pad with the infinite feedback then tune it with the pitch shift
@@RyanRenteriamakes sense as Nigel infamously used one of those.
I very much have appreciated Radiohead's intuitive mathematica.
I'm here just to appreciate the progress bar being perfect alligned with the piano in the standard view mode 🎹My overexcited ADHD impulses salutes you. Great video btw, really enjoyed.
I just want to clap 👏👏👏
This haunting song deserved this beautiful analysis
I appreciate the shoutout! The pyramid conspiracy continues...
It is wonderful to dive with you into so many subtle details hidden in this beautiful song. I was moved in many passages. Thank you for doing it this way
Literally my favorite Radiohead song.
Literally?
@@smartbart015 no figuratively
F# phrygian cadence, from flamenco music
The G triad functions as the tritone substitution for the dominant, just like in flamenco
Such a gorgeous song. One of my all time favorites. The melody and harmonic modulation in this song, Everything in its right place, and Ill wind evoke thoughts, feelings, and visualizations I had as a toddler. Like a mind that’s rapidly and joyfully developing while simultaneously being aware of its own limitations. Paul McCartneys compositions often do the same.
Best breakdown of this song I’ve seen, and explaining it with music theory, and also feeling, helps any audience digest this heavy song. Really cool, thanks made my day.
Such a beautiful song. I’m pleased it’s not only me who can’t listen to this without crying. Great video, thanks so much.
I have no idea what you're talking about, but I definitely listened as if I was learning something. Please don't test me.
Excellent analysis of one of my favorite Radiohead songs. And I believe the jazz influence is not accidental. I am fairly certain that Charles Mingus' song Freedom provided a bit of inspiration to Thom when he wrote this.
I haven't finished to watch the video and I want to hugh you already.
Ondes Martinot is the string element, though they had strings for the recording obviously. Very interesting instrument, the Ondes Martinot!
when this album came out I was captivated by this song! still in my top 5, love it so much. I figured out the rhythm the same way you did. Then I was at a friend's house (jazz drummer) and I said 'listen to this awesome song!' And he said, within a few seconds 'it's 4/4!' and my head exploded (in a good way). I love your video - subbed!
jumped to the river what did i see? that really sums up the whole idea. disappointment and confusion and slowly coming to live with it and accepting it although the reality has destroyed all the elements of your expectations and suddenly being ok with it.
There are plenty of those 'wrong notes' in Mozart, too. In the second variation of the Theme and Variations which opens his Piano Sonata in A (KV331) you get a D natural in the right hand over a repeated A, D#,E pattern in the left hand.
This is an amazing song by Radiohead, thanks for your interesting and illuminating observations.
This is (easily) the best music breakdown I’ve seen on YT. Thanks for taking your time and going through how it feels emotionally as well. Really cathartic.
If you’re looking for another song to breakdown, So Real by Jeff Buckley has a lot to talk about, harmonically and rhythmically.
you got into Yorkes "head". Grats
Part of Radiohead’s brilliant musicianship is that they don’t make things easy for themselves. Particularly when it comes to time signatures. I can’t imagine it was an easy song to write but if the drums, vocals, piano accents had all been on the first beat of the 4/4 time signature with no ties over one one bar to another, it would be a completely different inferior song.
100% there is a famous video of Thom struggling to get the syncopated beat of videotape live. But God damn, only they can do it. So blessed to be alive during their time
Jesus... I'm listening to Radiohead with my future wife right now. We initially bonded over our love for the band.
After watching the official Pyramid Song video again, your video (this one) was in my recommended list.
I checked out your channel and it seems like it was made for my partner and me.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this video, and so many others that I see you've uploaded.
Thank you so much for all you do. She and I will be binging your channel tonight.
Phenomenal take on the song! I love seeing you react and perk up to the same things that I gush about this song. Definitely deserving of a subscribe!
I know nothing about music, how is it possible I understood everything you said? How come I feel like I finally understand this song that I've loved for so long?
The thing she mentions right after 25:00 is also one of my favorite things in a melody.
My gosh I loved this video! My brain needed it.
I just finished my first ever piano tutorial session after seeing this video yesterday. Your enthusiasm inspires me to aspire.
Once upon a time I traveled in the process of defining a mount of chained feelings with such beautiful precision. Thank you for this
Thanks! I love this song. It’s been a companion through some tough times and it still hits me with the same power every single time I hear it.
Got a little choked up hearing some of those melody/harmonies pulled out like that. This song is so beautiful.
Strings at 27:55 are like a siren song. I follow your keyboard moves. Thanks for providing a keyboard graphic. Keep up the great work.
Superb. Just shows there are young people out there that can teach us older ones a thing or two. One of my fave Radiohead songs, struggled with the time signature for years and then you blow my mind with a simple count of 4. Thankyou.
One university conductor urged the musicians to write out their parts from the Rite of Spring in 4/4 to get a better handle on it.
I've always liked this song but now hearing it broken down and the genius of it explained takes it to another level for me. Your analysis and playing are spot on!
This is simply amazing! So many things to appreciate here: your insights very well and thoroughly explained, in a relaxed, pleasant way, with lots of love for the music itself and for music theory. I especially love how you get emotional by hearing (for the 100th time?) individual parts in this song. That's totally me, I'm sitting in the office, working and listening to my favorite music and getting emotional with eyes getting wet and hoping no one stops by to ask a question. 🙂Wish there were more people like you in my life! But anyway, I only found out about this channel today and now I'm hooked.
Masterpiece... and the way this song make us feel. Wow.
What a fantastic, knowledgeable, and enjoyable video - thank you for this!
This is the first time I have seen this channel, and it gave great insight to me, not trained in music but fascinated by this song.
Wow, what a journey - both for the rhythmic and harmonic part! Thank you for taking us along for the ride, I feel I have learned a lot. This song will never feel the same again.
Love this song so much since it came out. Thank you for bringing it even closer to my heart by analysing and describing your thoughts and feelings about its harmonic content. Sometimes one might fear analysing takes the magic away from such an artpiece. At least with your interpretation, I did not feel robbed of my good old cosy, magic relationship with that song. Just discovered your channel via this video and as Radiohead is my absolute favorite, I will watch at least all your other videos about their music. And of course I am now number 61600, following you.
You are excellent. Thnx
Also, I have to say that your explanation of the chord sequence as a train journey was the best way I've ever had music explained to me. It really helped me to see structure but also retain the feeling of the music. I have ADHD, so a different learning style sometimes, and I wonder if any others appreciate this almost narrative-like method.
Your videos are so cathartic to watch. I love your way of exploring music and your keen attention to every note and chord. You take songs that we already know and love and give us an even deeper appreciation for them, often helping us understand the nuances that we could never put our fingers on. It's like you're guiding us through a journey in every video. Thank you!
Wow.... How are you able to explain what I have been feeling every time I listen to this melody is incredible. Thank you!
first time i’ve understood how this rhythm breaks down in 4/4! i’ve always counted it in that same crazy compound signature you lay out at the beginning. your analysis of what makes the rhythm hard to understand is perfect, too.
Brilliant exposition on this amazing song. I really enjoy the highly analytical approach and explanation of how other theories can be explained. You know when a song is special when there are so many videos trying to explain how the song is put together. This song is a masterpiece.
they all went to heaven in a little rowboat. Reminds me of a Tom Waits song.
Three six nine, the goose drank wine
The monkey chew tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
(And) they all went to heaven in a little rowboat
4/4 works well. I think what throws many listener is the heavy syncopation and, as you mentioned, the "shuffle". I would venture that most "rock" listeners are unfamiliar with syncopation since most probably don't listen to much jazz.; so this song probably sounds confusing. Like you said, it a feel song not so much a written song.
I had a very hard time playing this song until I heard someone else say the same thing... "it's a very slow clave"... and it just clicked for me.
one of my faves since day one. thank you for this enlightening deconstruction
Wow ... Wat a fantastic 'analysis' of one of my favorite songs of one of my favorite bands. And you bring it soooo good! Thank you for this one 🙂
Wonderful video. As lovely and haunting as the song.