Knives Out
Encyclopedia
"Knives Out" is a song by English
rock band Radiohead
. The composition features electric and acoustic guitars, complemented by singer Thom Yorke
's vocals. It appears on Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac
, recorded during the same sessions as the previous album Kid A
. It was also released as the second Amnesiac single
, receiving more radio airplay than the band's other songs of the period. The song reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart
. It also topped the Canadian Singles Chart
for 4 weeks.
and Amnesiac sessions, and is known for having taken 373 days to record. According to Yorke, "We just lost our nerve. It was so straight-ahead. We thought, 'We've gotta put that in the bin, it's too straight.' We couldn't possibly do anything that straight until we'd gone and been completely arse about face with everything else, in order to feel good about doing something straight like that. It took 373 days to be arse-about-face enough to realise it was alright the way it was." Although "Knives Out" is not similar to Radiohead's earlier rock style as featured on The Bends
(1995), it is usually noted as one of the most traditional guitar pop songs the band has done since 2000.
When guitarist Ed O'Brien
played "Knives Out" to Johnny Marr
(The Smiths
), Marr was touched when told that the track was heavily influenced by his former group. The tune's chord progression is also very similar to the one heard in the first part of Radiohead's 1997 single "Paranoid Android
." "Knives Out" was later covered by The Flaming Lips
, on their 2003 EP, Fight Test EP. The song was also covered by classical pianist Christopher O'Riley
on his album True Love Waits
, and by jazz pianist/bandleader Brad Mehldau
on his album, Day is Done.
Part one of the single contains the b-side song "Cuttooth", with piano
and bass
working collectively and fluently, and a few samples running in and out throughout the song. The track is 5 minutes and 24 seconds long, though early versions were described as being much longer. "Cuttooth" is notable for having been mentioned 12 times in Ed O'Brien's online diary of the studio process for recording Kid A and Amnesiac, leading fans to expect it as a centrepiece of the band's new material, though the song would not make the cut on either record. Ed stated they wanted this track to sound like German Krautrock
group Neu!
. Some of the lyrics of "Cuttooth" ("I don't know why I feel so tongue tied / I don't know why I feel so skinned alive") were later used in the Radiohead song "Myxomatosis," appearing on the band's 2003 album Hail to the Thief
. Cuttooth, like its fellow b-sides Talk Show Host
and The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
, has since gained unexpected popularity among the fandom.
The "full length" version of "Life in a Glasshouse" found on the single is derived from the same performance as the version found on Amnesiac, but differs in that it lacks the opening electronic effect, and features slightly more soloing by jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton
and other members of his band before Yorke begins singing.
Part two of the single contains the original studio-recorded version of "Fog," an ambient and melodic song, mainly bass
-driven, and featuring some creative use of tambourine
. This version of the song is 4 minutes 5 seconds long and differs from Thom Yorke's solo piano version sometimes played live. That brief live piano version was itself released as a b-side two years later, during the band's Hail to the Thief era, at which point it was nicknamed "Fog (again)." The song had also been known as "Alligators in New York Sewers" since its live debut in Israel in 2000. Only the solo piano version has ever been played live, and Yorke professes to be dissatisfied with the recording found on the "Knives Out" single. Also in the second part of the single's release is "Worrywort", a slow and dreamy electronic song again featuring unique percussion effects or beat-boxing, which is 4 minutes 37 seconds long.
UK CD1 (CDFHEIS 45103) / 12" (12FHEIT 45103)
UK CD2 (CDFHEIT 45103)
Europe/Australia CD (7243 8 79760 2 3)
US CD (C2 7243 8 77668 0 8)
Japan CD (TOCP-65871)
. It features Thom Yorke in a hospital by the bedside of a woman, played by Emma de Caunes
, who appears to be his partner in the video. The whole video was shot in one take, quite remarkable considering the scene changes required. Attempts to interpret the surreal imagery and fit it with the song lyrics were dashed when Gondry eventually revealed that the video was autobiographical. Some may find thematic parallels with Gondry's later film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
. The "Knives Out" video was not included in Gondry's compilation DVD The Work of Director Michel Gondry
, but was later included on its follow-up, Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
rock band Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
. The composition features electric and acoustic guitars, complemented by singer Thom Yorke
Thom Yorke
Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...
's vocals. It appears on Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac
Amnesiac
Amnesiac was generally well-received by critics. It was also ranked as one of the best albums of the year by several publications. The Village Voice Pazz and Jop poll ranked it number 6 on their top 10 albums of the year. Alternative Press declared it the #1 album of the year...
, recorded during the same sessions as the previous album Kid A
Kid A
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
. It was also released as the second Amnesiac single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, receiving more radio airplay than the band's other songs of the period. The song reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. It also topped the Canadian Singles Chart
Canadian Singles Chart
The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays....
for 4 weeks.
Recording history
The song was developed during the 18-month Kid AKid A
Kid A is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in October 2000 by the Parlophone label. A commercial success worldwide, Kid A went platinum in its first week of release in the United Kingdom. Despite the lack of an official single or music video as publicity, Kid A...
and Amnesiac sessions, and is known for having taken 373 days to record. According to Yorke, "We just lost our nerve. It was so straight-ahead. We thought, 'We've gotta put that in the bin, it's too straight.' We couldn't possibly do anything that straight until we'd gone and been completely arse about face with everything else, in order to feel good about doing something straight like that. It took 373 days to be arse-about-face enough to realise it was alright the way it was." Although "Knives Out" is not similar to Radiohead's earlier rock style as featured on The Bends
The Bends
The Bends is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. The Bends was produced by John Leckie at EMI's studios in London, and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce all future albums by the band...
(1995), it is usually noted as one of the most traditional guitar pop songs the band has done since 2000.
When guitarist Ed O'Brien
Ed O'Brien
Edward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...
played "Knives Out" to Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is an English musician and songwriter. Marr rose to fame in the 1980s as the guitarist in The Smiths, with whom he formed a prolific songwriting partnership with Morrissey. Marr has been a member of Electronic, The The, and Modest Mouse...
(The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...
), Marr was touched when told that the track was heavily influenced by his former group. The tune's chord progression is also very similar to the one heard in the first part of Radiohead's 1997 single "Paranoid Android
Paranoid Android
"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, featured on their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The lyrics of the darkly humorous song were written primarily by singer Thom Yorke, following an unpleasant experience in a Los Angeles bar...
." "Knives Out" was later covered by The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, on their 2003 EP, Fight Test EP. The song was also covered by classical pianist Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley
Christopher O'Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host. He is the host of the weekly National Public Radio program From the Top. O'Riley is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative artists....
on his album True Love Waits
True Love Waits (album)
True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead is the first tribute album by classical pianist Christopher O'Riley of songs by the experimental rock band Radiohead.The concept of reinterpreting Radiohead's works is not new...
, and by jazz pianist/bandleader Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau
Brad Mehldau is an American jazz pianist. Besides leading his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio, he has performed with many renowned artists, including Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Larry Grenadier, Peter Bernstein, Jeff Ballard, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Michael Brecker, Chris Potter, Kurt...
on his album, Day is Done.
Structure
Yorke has usually described the song as being about "cannibalism". In one interview he said: "It's partly the idea of the businessman walking out on his wife and kids and never coming back. It's also the thousand yard stare when you look at someone close to you and you know they're gonna die. It's like a shadow over them, or the way they look straight through you. The shine goes out of their eyes."Part one of the single contains the b-side song "Cuttooth", with piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
working collectively and fluently, and a few samples running in and out throughout the song. The track is 5 minutes and 24 seconds long, though early versions were described as being much longer. "Cuttooth" is notable for having been mentioned 12 times in Ed O'Brien's online diary of the studio process for recording Kid A and Amnesiac, leading fans to expect it as a centrepiece of the band's new material, though the song would not make the cut on either record. Ed stated they wanted this track to sound like German Krautrock
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
group Neu!
Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
. Some of the lyrics of "Cuttooth" ("I don't know why I feel so tongue tied / I don't know why I feel so skinned alive") were later used in the Radiohead song "Myxomatosis," appearing on the band's 2003 album Hail to the Thief
Hail to the Thief
Hail to the Thief is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in June 2003 through Parlophone Records. After two Radiohead albums that featured heavily processed vocals, less guitar, and strong influence from experimental electronica and jazz, Hail to the Thief was seen...
. Cuttooth, like its fellow b-sides Talk Show Host
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
"Street Spirit " is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, featured on their second studio album The Bends, which was released in 1995...
and The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
Pyramid Song
"Pyramid Song" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was the first single from their 2001 album Amnesiac and the first Radiohead single released in over three years, after none were taken from their previous album Kid A....
, has since gained unexpected popularity among the fandom.
The "full length" version of "Life in a Glasshouse" found on the single is derived from the same performance as the version found on Amnesiac, but differs in that it lacks the opening electronic effect, and features slightly more soloing by jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
and other members of his band before Yorke begins singing.
Part two of the single contains the original studio-recorded version of "Fog," an ambient and melodic song, mainly bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
-driven, and featuring some creative use of tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
. This version of the song is 4 minutes 5 seconds long and differs from Thom Yorke's solo piano version sometimes played live. That brief live piano version was itself released as a b-side two years later, during the band's Hail to the Thief era, at which point it was nicknamed "Fog (again)." The song had also been known as "Alligators in New York Sewers" since its live debut in Israel in 2000. Only the solo piano version has ever been played live, and Yorke professes to be dissatisfied with the recording found on the "Knives Out" single. Also in the second part of the single's release is "Worrywort", a slow and dreamy electronic song again featuring unique percussion effects or beat-boxing, which is 4 minutes 37 seconds long.
Charts
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Singles Chart Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
13 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 17 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
25 |
| French Singles Chart | 46 |
| Dutch Top 100 | 63 |
Track listing
- All tracks written by Radiohead.
UK CD1 (CDFHEIS 45103) / 12" (12FHEIT 45103)
- "Knives Out" – 4:17
- "Cuttooth" – 5:24
- "Life in a Glasshouse" (full length version) – 5:06
UK CD2 (CDFHEIT 45103)
- "Knives Out" – 4:17
- "Worrywort" – 4:37
- "Fog" – 4:05
Europe/Australia CD (7243 8 79760 2 3)
- "Knives Out" – 4:17
- "Worrywort" – 4:37
- "Fog" – 4:04
- "Life in a Glasshouse" (full length version) – 5:06
US CD (C2 7243 8 77668 0 8)
- "Knives Out" – 4:17
- "Cuttooth" – 5:24
- "Life in a Glasshouse" (full length version) – 5:06
- "Pyramid Song" (enhanced video) – 5:05
Japan CD (TOCP-65871)
- "Knives Out" – 4:17
- "Cuttooth" – 5:25
- "Worrywort" – 4:37
- "Fog" – 4:05
- "Life in a Glasshouse" (full length version) – 5:06
Music video
A promotional video was directed by Michel GondryMichel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
. It features Thom Yorke in a hospital by the bedside of a woman, played by Emma de Caunes
Emma de Caunes
Emma de Caunes is a French film actress. She is best known for playing the role of Sabine in Mr. Bean's Holiday.- Life and career :...
, who appears to be his partner in the video. The whole video was shot in one take, quite remarkable considering the scene changes required. Attempts to interpret the surreal imagery and fit it with the song lyrics were dashed when Gondry eventually revealed that the video was autobiographical. Some may find thematic parallels with Gondry's later film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a 2004 American romantic science fiction film about an estranged couple who have each other erased from their memories, scripted by Charlie Kaufman and directed by the French director, Michel Gondry. The film uses elements of science fiction, psychological...
. The "Knives Out" video was not included in Gondry's compilation DVD The Work of Director Michel Gondry
Directors Label
Directors Label is a series of DVDs devoted to notable music video directors. First released in 2003 by Palm Pictures, the series was created by Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, and Michel Gondry, the subjects of the first three volumes. Four new volumes were released in 2005, this time featuring...
, but was later included on its follow-up, Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)
Michel Gondry 2: More Videos (Before and After DVD 1)
Michel Gondry 2: More Videos is a DVD compilation of music videos and short films by director Michel Gondry. It was released in April 2009 and includes videos which were not included on Gondry's Directors Label DVD. The compilation includes nearly three hours of videos and never-before-seen...
External links
- "Knives Out" video at YouTube
- Article about the video