Dissect - S11E6 - All I Need by Radiohead

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Our season long dissection of Radiohead's In Rainbows continues with its fifth track "All I Need" - a song that expresses the concept of limerence or the unrequited obsession passion for someone. Musically, we explore the concepts of rhythmic dissonance, terminally climactic song form, and tone clusters. Shop Dissect Season 11 Merch. Follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Host/Writer/EP: Cole Cuchna Additional Analysis: Dr. Brad Osborn Song Recreations: Andrew Atwood Audio Editing: Kevin Pooler Theme Music: Birocratic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good news, everyone. Dysect Season 11 merchandise is now available to order at Dysectpodcast.com. The designs this year are absolutely amazing. I am really excited about them. They're inspired by In Rainbows and contain a bunch of Easter eggs that reference the album. We're also printing on extremely high-quality garments, specifically the hoodie this year is beautiful. And like always, this merchandise is going to be available for a limited time and it will not be restocked. So head over to Dysectpodcast.com or hit the link in the episode description to grab. yours today. From Spotify and the Ringer, this is Dissect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. This is episode six of our season-long dissection of Radioheads

and Rainbows. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. On our last episode, we plunged deep into the aquatic world of Radiohead's weird fishes. It was here we observed Tom stuck at the bottom of the sea, looking for escape, which he ultimately found in the form of a mysterious person or entity that he follows out of the darkness. As in Rainbows continues, we'll observe a similar more extreme relationship dynamic in the album's next song, the subject of our episode today, All I Need. Like most songs on In Rainbows, All I Need dates back to at least 2005, when the song title appeared on a chalkboard list of unfinished songs shared on the band's website. The track begins with Ed O'Brien's electric guitar oscillating between two notes, a C and a G.

To create this expansive wash of sound, Ed uses his Fernandez native pro guitar, which contains a sustainer pickup. This allows the strings on a guitar to sustain indefinitely without being plucked. In this way, it functions more like a synthesizer, where you can sustain a single note simply by keeping your finger down on a key. Ed also uses his volume knob to create a swelling effect, manually raising the volume from 0 to 10 back to 0. Phil enters the track establishing the song's central drumbeat, a straightforward groove in 4-4 time. After four measures, Tom doubles the drum part with its own beatbox vocal percussion. It's also here that the bass centers, played not on a bass guitar, but a Profit 5 analog synthesizer. The bass part outlines a single chord, C major 9,

which is a basic C major chord with two additional notes. As we'll talk about in more detail later, all I need doesn't have a chord progression. Instead, it centers on variations of a single chord played in C-Lidian mode. But right now, it's actually the length of this bass part that's most intriguing, as it's 10 quarter notes long. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. As we've discussed a few times this season, a song in 4-4-time contains 4-4-0s per measure. This means that individual parts written in 4-4-time

are typically divisible by 4. If a part is 2 measures long, it's 8 quarter-notes long, since there are 4-4-notes in a measure and 2 times 4 is 8. If a part is four measures, it's 16 quarter notes long, and so on. This even divisibility means all the different parts of a song written in 4-4 are in sync. They align in very predictable, repeatable intervals.

This is the whole point of time signatures. It keeps all the parts playing together on a shared grid. As an example, let's listen to the beginning of the National Anthem from Kid A. The song's central bass part is two measures or eight quarter notes long. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Meanwhile, the song's drum part is one measure or four quarter notes long. One, two, three, two.

Even though the bass and drum parts are different lengths, because eight is divisible by four, the two parts will realign where they started every two measures, creating an incredibly predictable, easy to follow loop. 1, 2, 2. All right, so let's go back to all I need. The bass line is 10 quarter notes long, which of course is not divisible by 4 evenly. In other words, the bass part is 2 and a half measures long. Because the drum part is one measure long, we get what's called rhythmic dissonance between the drum and bass parts,

meaning we're not going to get that clean alignment between the two parts when they repeat like we just heard in National Anthem. Instead, the bass part repeats in the middle of a measure, and therefore the notes are going to fall on different beats the second time. time it's played. Let's listen to the drum and bass part together while I count the four quarter notes of each measure. I want you to specifically focus on how the bass notes fall on the fours the first time and then on the twos when the part repeats. I'll say repeat when the bass part starts over. While subtle, this rhythmic dissonance and all I need adds a little unpredictability and musical complexity in an otherwise simple arrangement. To my ears, there's a slight dissociative

effect between the drum and bass parts. They're playing together, but they're kind of separate. As we'll hear, this dynamic is a pretty accurate reflection of the relationship dynamics sung about in the song, where two people are seemingly together, but not quite a line in their feelings for each other. Tom begins the song singing, I'm the next act, waiting in the wings. The wings here refer to the concealed areas behind the curtain on either side of a theater stage. Without additional context, it's hard to know what exactly Tom means, so we'll return to this line in a moment. Next he sings, I'm an animal trapped in your hot car.

It's an incredibly expressive line. Here the relationship dynamic becomes quite clear. Tom is the unconditionally loving and dependent dog cruelly neglected and endangered by his love interest, either someone he's pursuing, admiring, or already in a one-sided relationship with. Tom describing himself as an animal feels diminutive in this context, as if he sees his love interest as a goddess,

something beyond a mere mortal animal that has definitive power over him. With this context, we can return to the first, first line with more clarity, as it seems Tom, waiting in the shadows behind the theater curtain, is comparing his love interest to the main attraction, while he's someone simply in the background, unseen, waiting on their cue. The verse's third line continues the dynamic, I am all the days that you choose to ignore. It's a little abstract, as I'm not entirely sure what it means for a person to ignore a day. But in any case, the symbolism is clear. Tom is again unseen, neglected, and belittled, just as he expressed in the previous two lines. The addition of the word

choose and you choose to ignore makes the line even more devastating, as it would seem this person is going out of their way to neglect him, or at least that's how Tom is feeling. It's entirely possible Tom is expressing classic unrequited love. He could also be admiring or even obsessing over someone from afar, someone who doesn't even know he exists. And this makes the song's chorus either romantic, melancholic, or eerily pathological, depending on your interpretation of the verse. With an elegant rising melody, Tom sings, You are All I Need. He then repeats the phrase with a more elongated delivery. On one hand, the sentiment is incredibly sweet, and in many ways, the classic romantic ideal. I mean, just imagine someone you love saying to you, you are all I

need in this world to be happy. If I have you, I feel like I can overcome anything, be anything, do anything. You are my everything. With you, I am enough, forever. You are all I need. This kind of of rhetoric is Prince Charming 101, the kind of fantastical, cinematic, sweep you off your feet brand of romance. And it's sweet when the feeling is mutual. On the other hand, let's imagine the same scenario when the feeling is not mutual. Imagine, for instance, you've been on a few dates with someone, or you're friends with someone at school or work. And then you get a text message that says, you are all I need in this world to be happy. If I have you, I feel like I can overcome anything, be anything, do anything. You are my everything. With you, I am enough.

forever. You are all I need. Suddenly these words are obsessive stalker one-on-one, the kind of overzealous, change-your-number brand of delusional projection. And that to me is what's so interesting about this chorus. It could be read as pure, enduring love, or creepy desperation. The way Tom is describing his relationship with this person, it's not so clear to me which sentiment is the correct reading. By his own account, this person could hardly know he exists. But at the same time, he could just be describing the immense feelings and adoration he has for his beloved, how humbled and powerless he feels in their presence. And for me, this ambiguity in the text is mirrored in the music,

because the music is beautiful, but at the same time, there's also something a little hollow and haunting about it. Tom completes the chorus singing, I'm in the middle of your picture, lying in the reeds. The dynamic is consistent with the verses here. Tom feels center stage in this person's world, but he's out of sight, hidden in the reeds or tall grass. The image could certainly be read as voyeuristic, continuing the pause. possible obsessive motif. Reeds is also used to refer to a weak person, which is consistent with

Tom's own depiction of himself in this song. Some fans have even hypothesized that this line actually references a specific picture, Ophelia by John Everett Melaise. This very well-known painting from 1851 depicts the character Ophelia from Shakespeare's Hamlet after committing suicide. She is literally in the middle of the picture, lying beside the reeds and a swampy bed of water. If Tom was intentionally referencing this famous painting, it would likely be to compare himself with the tragic Ophelia character, who was driven mad by Hamlet who used her like a pawn in his elaborate revenge scheme. In this way, the relationship dynamic was lopsided, just like Tom and his beloved, and perhaps Tom is even inciting himself as deranged just as Ophelia became.

Now, another cool thing about this chorus is that Radiohead actually alters the synth-base line into a standard length of eight quarter-notes or two measures, meaning that now when it repeats, it realigns properly with the drums. 1.2.3. In this way, the chorus becomes more of a traditional cohesive unit, creating subtle contrasts with the rhythmic dissonance of the verse. But as soon as the chorus is over, Radiohead immediately returns to the 10-count bass line,

again setting off the rhythmic dissonance for verse 2. Before getting into the lyrics, we have to acknowledge some very cool musical additions to this second verse. First, we have a piano playing low octaves that double the baseline. On top of this, Johnny plays a counter melody on Glockenspiel. Along with providing some much-welcome high-end to the mix, this Glockenspiel plays two-note phrases that move from low to high. This is in contrast to the bass and piano that have been moving high to low.

Together, they create a satisfying melodic dynamic known as contrary motion, which is when two lines move in opposite directions. In the background throughout this verse, we also hear some abstract, deep-wishing sounds coming in and out. These are provided by Ed, and while I'm not entirely sure of their source, it sounds like a combination of his incredibly affected guitar and the same processed auto harp we heard on 15-step. In any case, however they were produced, these sonic textures add an ominous quality to the track, peeking just before the second chorus. These chilling noises are a perfect accompaniment for the verse's lyrics, which continue the same subservient superior structure as verse 1, only this time the analogies get even darker. He begins singing, I'm a moth who just wants to share your light.

This plays on the phenomenon known as positive phototaxis, which is the movement of an organism toward a source of light, with the most well-known example being moths' attraction to bright lights. Scientists still can't explain exactly why some moth species are so attracted to light, but what they do know is that once you get near bright lights, they basically stop being moths. They stop reproducing and abandon their normal duties as nighttime pollinators. For the most part, they just remain near the light source. stunned, hypnotized, often resulting in their death. This of course makes for a perfect, if not chilling analogy for Tom and his beloved. His compulsive fixation is endangering, hypnotizing to the point of paralysis

or self-harm. The next line continues the same analogy. I'm just an insect trying to get out of the night. The significant change here is that Tom exclusively focuses on himself and his motivations without mentioning the other person. He sees himself as just an insect, small and insignificant, in a dark place. The implication is that he sees his beloved as a way out of this darkness. And it's at this point we have to at least consider a possible connection between all I need and the previous song Weird Fishes. Recall it was here Tom sang about being in a dark place, the bottom of the sea, and seeing the eyes of someone or something that he eventually followed out of the darkness to escape. They became a catalyst for change, just as Tom sees the subject

in all I need. Perhaps we're now seeing the aftermath of Weird Fishes narrative, where Tom has become hopelessly dependent on this person. He then saves the most revealing line of all for the end of the verse. I only stick with you because there are no others. This seems to confirm Tom's desperation throughout the song, as the specific phrasing, I only stick with you, implies that if he felt he had other opportunities, he wouldn't be so stuck on this one person. Without others, Tom obsessively attaches his entire self-worth to this person, fearing without them he would be alone and in the dark forever. It's become clear, at least for me, that Tom's feelings are unhealthy. He's a parasite latched on to this person, seeing them as a source of emotional nutrients to supplement his own

deep-seated insecurities. After this revelation, the repetition of the chorus resounds differently than the first. The refrain, You Are All I Need, loses its tinge of romance and now feels devastatingly pathetic. After this repetition of the chorus, All I Need suddenly explodes into a climactic section that will carry us to the end of the song. Structurally, this is known as a terminal climax, a concept I'll explain in detail, right after the break. Welcome back to dissect. Before the break, we heard the second iteration of All I Needs chorus. Now, if Radiohead were adhering to standard song structure, this chorus would be followed by a bridge, which would then be followed by the final chorus. This would complete the most common song structure of verse chorus, verse chorus, bridge chorus.

But at this point in Radiohead's discography, they very rarely adhere to the cliche formula. Instead, they seem to find the most appropriate structure for each individual song, whatever that specific song calls for. One form they've employed a handful of times is what music scholar Dr. Brad Osborne dubbed terminally climactic form, which in a nutshell is when a song saves the loudest, often most memorable part for the end. This ending section is the terminal climax. Importantly, once the song reaches the terminal climax, it will never return to the chorus or any previous musical material. That's why it's terminal. Once this climax, climax is reached, the song never looks back and carries the climax to its end, often for a lengthy period of time.

The first time Radiohead executed this song form was on OkC computers KarmaPice. Like all I need, it begins with a verse. Like in a typical song form, this verse is followed by a chorus. Following this chorus, Karma Police returns to the verse, which is followed by another chorus. So to this point, the song has followed the standard structure, verse chorus, verse chorus. chorus. Next should come the bridge, and at first, this is what the next section sounds like it's going to be. If this part were a bridge, it would need to lead us back to the chorus, but that's not what happens. Instead, this section repeats over and over and over for almost two full minutes until the end of the song. This is the terminal climax, the climactic point of no return carried

out for a lengthy period of time. All I need adheres to this same structure. So far we've had a verse chorus, verse, chorus. And what comes next feels at first. like a bridge, except this climactic section will carry us to the end of the song. Let's hear a bit of this terminal climax, then we'll talk about all the cool musical things happening in it. Alright, so the first notable change here is the piano that begins hammering chords. The first time in the song we've heard an instrument actually playing polyphonic chords. Right away we notice how saturated this harmony is, with Tom playing a huge six-note chord. This chord is a C major 13 sharp 11, an incredibly dense chord that's essentially like playing all the notes

in an entire scale all at once, specifically the C-Lidian scale. The piano then moves to play variations of the same chord with different notes in the bass, specifically an E followed by a G. As a whole, this part is a continuation or evolution of the single-cord harmony we heard throughout the entire song to this point, only now with more and more notes stacked on top of that underlying C-major chord. In fact, it's every note in the scale heard at once. This was almost certainly intentional,

because we have a more extreme execution of this same idea in the string section that enters here. Johnny told the New York Times that his intention with this string part was to recreate the white noise that occurs when a band plays loudly in a room, when all the competing frequencies and waveforms and overtones bounce off the walls and overlap each other, creating a dense blanket of sound. To mimic this, Johnny brought in the millennia string ensemble and had them sustain every note in the scale at the same time. To thicken the texture, he also overdubbed himself executing the same thing on the viola which he's played since high school. While these strings play throughout the entire outro, it's impossible to isolate them with all the other instruments going.

But at the end of the song, all the other instruments stop, and just the strings sustain on their own for a few seconds, which gives us an opportunity to hear their effect clearly. I'm going to loop these isolated strings a few times, just so we have enough time to really hear them. As you can hear, the end result of playing so many pitches at once is a kind of thick, hazy, almost fog-like wash of sound, what Johnny described as white noise. This string part is another example of Johnny finding inspiration from 20th century classical music. Hungarian Austrian composer Giorge Ligate was known to use this technique in his work, including the 1967 piece Lantano.

Johnny himself first explored this tone cluster technique in his 2005 piece Popcorn Superhet receiver, his first composition after being named composer in residence for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Combined with the dense piano chords, Johnny's frequency-saturated strings on all I need immerses the band in an incredibly thick haze of harmony. But there's actually a third unlikely instrument contributing to this frequency saturation, the drums. You'll notice during this section, drummer Phil Selway switches from the hi-hat to the ride symbol, the largest, loudest symbol in the kit.

Specifically, Phil utilizes a technique called washing, which is when the edge of the symbol is repeatedly struck with the middle of the drumstick. This gets the symbol wavering violently, creating an incredibly loud wash of sound, saturating the ear with an array of complex inharmonic frequencies. So in this outro section, we have three instruments, the piano, strings, and drums, all consciously working toward the same aim, the same effect of saturating the frequency spectrum as much as possible. The end result is a cacophonous, extremely opaque wall of sound.

An instrumental texture so thick that, as we'll hear in a moment, any melody played on top of it is going to struggle to be heard clearly. Now, in a song so clearly about obsession, I can't help but think of the symbolic implications here, both in this overbearing wall of sound and the fact that all I need essentially repeats a single chord for its entire duration. Like Tom's relentless single focus on his beloved, all I need relentlessly focuses on a single chord. Like Tom's growing all-consuming obsession to the point of losing focus on all-else, the single chord grows into an all-consuming entity that devours the entire frequency spectrum. Like we've already observed,

many times this season. Radiohead's meticulously crafted musical arrangements functions as a cinematic score that enhances the emotional resonance of the song's themes, a deliberate, perfectly composed union of music and text. In the eye of the storm, Tom sings at the top of his lungs, yet for as much force as he's singing with, he's not as audible as you'd expect due to the blanket of sound he's enclosed in. The words Tom sings are barely legible as well, but the official in Rainbow's lyric sheet reads, Saul wrong, Saul right, Saul right, saw wrong. Curiously, the lyric sheet contains fewer repetition of these alternating phrases than is actually heard in the song, and just by listening, it's nearly impossible to differentiate the two

with any certainty. Thus it appears Tom is intentionally blurring the lines between the two phrases here, which makes sense given the lyrics themselves. It's all wrong, it's all right. It's as if he himself can't tell the difference between them, can't tell if his obsession is wrong or right. Perhaps it feels right, but he knows it's wrong. It's the classic battle between the head and heart, between logic and love, expressing the very human experience of feeling things we wish we didn't or don't fully understand. And this to me is what Tom gives voice to and all I need, a vulnerable, involuntary, perhaps unhealthy emotional dependency, the kind of dependency that feels like your entire emotional regulatory system is exclusively controlled by a single person.

The kind that feels like your entire existence could be validated with a single smile from your beloved, as if their attention is everything that you'll ever need. There's actually a word to describe this phenomenon, coined in the 70s by psychologist Dorothy Tenov. It's a condition called limerence, which describes a kind of infatuated, all-absorbing, unrequited passion for someone, a passion that can turn into involuntary obsessive craving. The limerent object becomes the central force of gravity in one's life, a black hole of attraction. And it's this black hole of attraction that's so accurately captured in all I need's terminal climax, as we literally hear Tom swallowed up by his own obsession, losing himself to limerence.

When asked directly if all I need was about obsession, Tom not only confirmed the song was about it, but also noted how obsession was a recurring theme throughout the album, so much so that it inspired the album's title. Quote, that's why it's called in Rainbows, That Obsession Thing, thinking beyond where you are at the time. It's a phrase I had for a while. It kept coming up in my notebooks. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to go with the eczembourg.

idea of trying to reach something you can't. It's there, but you can't reach it, unquote. Having now reached the midway point of In Rainbows, it seems like an appropriate time to reflect on the ways in which this central theme of obsession and trying to obtain things just out of reach has expressed itself on the album so far. We'll do that, as well as examine In Rainbow 6th track, Faustart. Next time, on Dysect. This episode of Dysect was written and produced by me, Cole Kushna. If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a review wherever you're listening right now. It really helps. Additional musical and lyrical analysis by Dr. Brad Osborne.

Audio editing by Kevin Pooleer. Song Recreations by Andrew Atwood. Theme music by bureaucratic. All right. Thanks, everyone. Talk to you next week.