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Jigsaw Falling into Place

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"Jigsaw Falling into Place"
Single by Radiohead
from the album In Rainbows
B-side
  • "Videotape" (Live)
  • "Down Is the New Up" (Live)
  • "Last Flowers" (Live)
Released14 January 2008
Recorded2005–2007
GenreArt rock
Length4:09
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Nigel Godrich
Radiohead singles chronology
"2 + 2 = 5"
(2003) 		"Jigsaw Falling into Place"
(2008) 		"Nude"
(2008)

"Jigsaw Falling into Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, produced by Nigel Godrich. It was released as the first single from Radiohead's seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007), on 14 January 2008. The music video, directed by Garth Jennings and Adam Buxton, features Radiohead performing in their studio with cameras attached to bicycle helmets.

Writing

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Radiohead performed an early version of "Jigsaw Falling into Place" on their 2006 tour, with the working title "Open Pick".[1] Mike Diver of Drowned in Sound described it as a "bass-propelled pop-rock head-bobber".[2]

The lyrics were inspired by the chaos witnessed by the singer, Thom Yorke, when drinking in Oxford. He said: "The lyrics are quite caustic—the idea of 'before you're comatose' or whatever, drinking yourself into oblivion and getting fucked-up to forget ... [There] is partly this elation. But there's a much darker side."[3]

Music video

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The "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" music video was directed by Garth Jennings and Adam Buxton. Recorded in two takes, it features the members of Radiohead performing in their studio with footage shot from cameras attached to bicycle helmets.[4]

The American singer David Byrne, who was visiting Radiohead's studio, watched an early edit and assumed the helmets would be cut from the video. However, Buxton felt it was important that the "ridiculous" helmets were visible. He said later: "For me, that was the point. It's funny ... [Radiohead] completely got what was good about the idea. They committed to it and they performed it brilliantly. And Thom was mesmerising and each member of the band was just giving it."[5] Though Buxton said it was one of the least popular Radiohead videos, he considered it among his best work.[5]

Release

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"Jigsaw Falling into Place" was released on 14 January 2008 on XL Records as the first single from Radiohead's seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007).[6] Yorke's performances of "Videotape", "Down is the New Up" and "Last Flowers" from the television series From the Basement were included as B-sides.[6] The single reached #30 in the UK singles chart in its first week of release, Radiohead's lowest chart entry since "Lucky" in 1995. It spent several weeks as one of the 100 most played songs on US modern rock radio, peaking at #69.[7]

Reception

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Time named "Jigsaw Falling into Place" the fifth-best song of 2007.[8] The Time writer Josh Tyrangiel praised its "tightness" and rising intensity, which he likened to a three-act play. He described the song as "a journey through flirtation, consummation and regret [that] gets about as close as you can to summing up a doomed relationship in four minutes".[9]

Drowned in Sound described the song as "easy enough on the ear for indirect consumption ... but compositionally complex beneath a deceptively simple outer gloss for long-standing admirers to get sufficient kicks from".[2] However, Clash wrote: "It's good but, like the much-hyped In Rainbows album, musically it's (relatively) unadventurous."[10] In 2016, Rolling Stone readers voted it one of the best Radiohead songs released since the 1990s.[11]

Along with the 2000 Radiohead song "Everything in Its Right Place", "Jigsaw Falling into Place" inspired the composer Steve Reich's 2012 instrumental work Radio Rewrite.[12] Reich described "Jigsaw Falling into Place" as "a beautiful song" with "elaborate harmonic movement".[12]

Track listing

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7"
  1. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" – 4:09
  2. "Videotape" (Live from the Basement)[13] – 4:26
CD
  1. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" – 4:09
  2. "Down Is the New Up" (Live from the Basement)[13] – 5:07
  3. "Last Flowers" (Live from the Basement)[13] – 4:11

Personnel

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Radiohead

Additional Musicians

  • The Millennia Ensemble – strings
    • Everton Nelson – leading
    • Sally Herbert – conducting

Additional Personnel

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Pitchfork's Guide to Radiohead's In Rainbows". Pitchfork. 9 October 2007. Archived from the original on 5 June 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  2. ^ a b Diver, Mike (14 January 2008). "Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  3. ^ Marshall, Julian (8 December 2007). "Rainbow Warriors". NME. United Kingdom: Caldecott Music Group. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  4. ^ Salter, Jessica (14 July 2012). "World of Adam Buxton, comedian and actor". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b Henderson, Paul (3 September 2020). "Adam Buxton: 'I made the least popular Radiohead video ever. And I don't care'". GQ. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Radiohead announce new release details". NME. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Mediabase 24/7 - 7 Day Charts - Alternative - Dec 21-Dec 27". Mediabase. 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2007.
  8. ^ Tyrangiel, Josh (9 December 2007). "Time magazine's Top 10 Songs of 2007 at time.com". Time. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  9. ^ Tyrangiel, Josh; "The Best Top 10 Lists of the Year"; "The 10 Best Songs"; Time magazine; December 24, 2007; Page 39.
  10. ^ "Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place". Clash. 14 January 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  11. ^ "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Post-1990s Radiohead Songs". Rolling Stone. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  12. ^ a b Petridis, Alexis. Steve Reich on Schoenberg, Coltrane and Radiohead. The Guardian (1 March 2013) (accessed 8 March 2013)
  13. ^ a b c "Radiohead announce new release details". NME. 30 November 2007. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
  14. ^ "British single certifications – Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
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