How to count "Everything In Its Right Place" (or don't)

[@iximusic]

For song & album requests and to support my channel and musical projects, please consider joining my Patreon (I can't monetize my 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 💄

[@David-iv6je]

Ha you're going to have to try some King Crimson, especially their math rock phase starting in 1981. Discipline: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5-YioV5q9Wjf6M

[@robbiepeterh]

He wrote the song on the same day he wrote Pyramid Song - the day he brought a new piano. So I feel that an exploration of either song can shed light on the other.

[@marcyyyyyyyyyyyy]

where you read that? is it a doc out or something?

[@enchantedcroissant3212]

⁠@@marcyyyyyyyyyyyy Yorke said that in a 2001 interview

[@robbiepeterh]

@@marcyyyyyyyyyyyyI remember Thom Yorke saying it in the early 2000s in Q or Mojo or one of those magazines we used to buy in shops!

[@Andytheashton]

I’ve always felt everything in its right place and pyramid song have a connection the way the chords move (to my ears). This makes loads of sense

[@028fn48dne]

He also wrote both at a time when he'd been listening to a lot of Arvo Part. Listen to Arvo Part's "fratres" and compare the chords to pyramid song. It's a very direct influence.

in the 20 years I've been listening to this I never noticed it was 10 beats. Thats just how lost I let myself get in this song!

[@iximusic]

Love it :)

[@jameshannagan7830]

Me either I just love the emotions it invokes in me.

[@vcka]

I do not understand music theory, I maybe even despise it because I can't grasp it. but this video was fun to watch and understand.

[@SlamJamMusic]

I love how everything and pyramid have really similar chord progressions at the start. They’re like sister songs to me.

[@illusionist1872]

10/4. It's a pun. Radiohead is driving home the point of "Everything's perfectly fine :DD" by making their time signature a synonym of "OK." That's my interpretation, anyway.

[@cowboyflipflopped]

I agree, but I think this is contrasted with the D flat maj 7 repetition, which, especially as Thom sings it, sounds like an alarm made all the more insistent by the repetition at the end and beginning of the measures.

[@illusionist1872]

@@cowboyflipflopped exactly, it comes off as sarcastic, which is what i meant when i said ":DD" sarcasm is difficult to articulate when all you're given to express yourself is text

[@TuxedoLion]

🤯

[@seanspartan2023]

Mind blown! 🤯🤯🤯

[@epictulip948]

Pls explain

[@Omni-rd6sb]

It feels like like this song shouldn't work, but it does. It finds a way.

[@StopTheRot]

4-4-2 as an homage to Sven Goran-Eriksson - who always insisted on this formation at the time?

[@parambirsingh1321]

😂

[@joelkulesha8284]

What I appreciate almost as much as the content, is your no bullshit way of delivering it. Got 3 videos to upload? They all go up in one day! It's so much nicer than waiting a week for part 2.

[@iximusic]

haha. If I had a marketing manager I'm sure they'd discourage me from doing that. eh 😀

[@kurtharsis]

I've always counted this song 4-2-4 instead of 4-4-2. No idea why, but it just makes sense to me that way.

[@iximusic]

I can hear that!

[@isaacjohnson8752]

I’m stuck with 6-4 myself.

[@jcastano]

I've always counted 3-2. I think listening to the live recordings is important.

[@jonathandorozowsky4005]

Because of the harmony. It's definitely 4+2+4. First chord on the beat, next two anticipated by an eighth.

[@atlen.3130]

Both the former Brazilian national coach Flávio Costa and the Hungarian Béla Guttmanthe have been credited for creating the 4-2-4.

[@sarahr5513]

Radiohead is my 2nd favorite band right after NIN so I’m thrilled you’re covering them now 😊

[@robo3007]

SNAP, love both bands to pieces

[@Sprite_525]

Amazing taste 😊 👍

[@peterwilson3554]

Pretty Lights did a mashup of this song with NIN. Closer, I think?

[@HyperNova137]

I live about 15 minutes away from Bonnaroo, and my favorite version of this song was one of their performances there that had a much more active drum groove going on towards the end -- it actually had snare hits that help make everything a lot more defined and easier to count.

[@guillaumeelgard]

The trick of the verse is that the first measure is 9 beats (5 + 4) while all the following are 10 beats (6 + 4), until the last one which is a 11 beats measure.

[@Muzikman127]

This is what sounds right to me too, is how the song "feels" to me anyway

[@matheuspegolo]

the very first time i've heard this song, i was nothing but a teenager, who never studied music at its core, and that song and lyrics hit me so hard in a way i couldn't understand at all. years have passed, now i'm an adult who is studying music theory, and now i'm beginning to understand why this hit me good: pure genious! thom's mind is unique! thanks for the vid, miss!

[@kaicanyonellis]

BLESS YOU for doing this song. I'm just as excited for this as I have been about every NIN song you've done.

[@ShadyMonkOfficial]

ditto

[@shrugsmemes917]

even if i don't listen to much radiohead, this song will always hypnotize me whenever i hear the main melody. dear god it's so damn dreamy...

[@shrugsmemes917]

i'd even reckon, if i heard the instrumental i'd straight up be able to sleep to it

[@iximusic]

Hypnotic is such an apt word for this song!

[@2dtesseract]

I always felt the song’s beginning resembled someone rushing in. Its like a measure got squished while closing a door, or a thought suddenly appeared from behind a bush.

[@hello50881]

This analysis is great. I wonder whether the band thought about it in this much detail when writing it. Because for me hearing it, it just felt natural and I feel like it came naturally to them

[@JMG72ARG]

the drums on the live version add a more danceable groove to an already bizarre song that totally works

[@arturolacruz2450]

What a trip. Maybe be able to jam it live with my band! Thank you ixi

[@richfrommitch]

This needs ten times as many views. So I'm basically watching it ten times. Do your part, people.

[@H.F.Jimenez]

oh no...NUMBERS kidding, I love your analysis

[@claymccoy]

Ha!

[@Andytheashton]

First time I heard it I kept expecting ‘everything’ to appear on the & of 3 in the second bar. So it caught me off guard completely. I like how each vocal phrase - he completes it without syncopation which your ear is expecting. Even aside from that - sonically it just incredible. And I love later in the tune how he uses him taking a breath in as a rhythmic device and also seems like it’s a full take with no dropping in or comping

[@AnibalVGM]

loved this explanation, I never counted it at all, same with pyramid song (do that one) lol love u

[@iximusic]

I might but in the meantime, this is a great video about it from David Bennett, KZbin's OG Radiohead analyzer :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/g5W9hIKlhKtog9U

[@AnibalVGM]

@@iximusic yeah David's great I watched that one a few times lol, i'd love your take tho' (don't mind me i'll just wait, i guess haha) xo

[@-l5905]

Give us more Radiohead please. Great job IXI Thank you

[@fishstickkitty8068]

The amount of analysis you’ve done on this song is amazing….and you haven’t even talked about the synth tones or the sampling….this is one of my all time faves and your vids were awesome!!!

[@iximusic]

Thank you, so glad you liked it! 🙌

[@iximusic]

I haven't watched this yet but a Patron sent it to me and I remembered your comment! It's about the synth sound: Red Means Recording recreating the synth sound from Everything In Its Rights Place: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6q4aZqaqZJ_sMU

[@swoopy1327]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for analyzing Radiohead!

[@hebehall]

I love your analysis. Feels like you’re right inside my head whilst I’m playing these songs. Thank you for being a fellow Radiohead nut.

[@patricetala-ngai7506]

Fantastic video, thanks! A friend asked me about the time signature of this song earlier this week, and I took a moment tonight to try to figure out how it works (so far, I had only listened to it with an emotionnal rather than a technical ear). I figured out it was in 10/4 most of the time, that you couldn't really divide it into 2 bars of 5/4, because the strong rythmic anchors would only come once every 10 pulsations. - Chorus: I figured out to count it like 4-2-4, as a mirror of the bass/chords progression that goes 4-2-4 too (put apart the slight offbeat of course). - Then came the verse that lost me with its recursive rythm pattern. I ended up deciding that the first bar was only a 9/4, so that it was 9-10-10-10 for the whole verse. And it was counterbalanced later by and longer bar back to the chorus, with 1 extra time (11-10-10-10). Of course, it's up to the listener to decide if there's a "shorter/longer bars" trick surrounding the verse or rather if everything stays in (not) its right place in a constant 10/4. At the end of the day, the conclusion is the same: there seems to be an offset, an offbeat, and nothing is going right apparently, but... everything is in its right place. That's a fantastic musical metaphor of the lyrics! Anyway, I just wanted to say how satisfying it was to go through this analyzing process, then look for a video about it (which happened to be yours), and see that you went through the exact same round of questions! And your explanation is crystal clear! Thanks!

[@LucHuygh]

Phwoarrr. Damn, dude. You good.

[@StanleyKubick1]

overthinking. it switches between 6/4 and 4/4 between bars and there's no meaning behind it other than that's how his fingers fell on that day

[@gbmbg114]

I know I’m late to the party, but what a blessing to have someone break this down so thoroughly.. it’s one of my favorite songs, but figuring out what’s going on has been pretty intimidating for me.. to the point where I just listen without trying to get it lol.. so this is perfect.. thank you!

[@foxVII]

This is wonderful I cant wait for more! I wont even request songs. I want to see were you take us next. A curated audio journey. Love it.

[@malcolmbrown912]

Fantastic video! This is my fav Radiohead song. It’s got to be among my top listened to songs all time. As a hobby musician this was both educational and entertaining, thank you for the content!

[@MartianTom]

I have the score. Parts are in 6/4, others in 4/4. That's Radiohead for you! Those guys have got their own internal metronomes!

[@dijjidog]

I love your houseplants, also thanks for demotivating me for learning this for my GCSE music performance and now I feel like this song is mocking me

[@iximusic]

Why are you demotivated? Noooo! Were you able to play it fine before? This is just to help people who have trouble with it.

[@DavidRamos-sr8cx]

You are an absolute treasure to this world.

[@johnwerner3714]

You're a genius.. (no not you, Thom... well you are too)

[@mzekonis]

This is great, IXI. Helped me to understand how to approach this piece. Many thanks!

[@Malix_Labs]

Very interesting and complete analysis

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

LOVE that Conclusion! Thank you. It brought joy and balance to the overactive & overly analytical (as I perceive my own) mind.

[@iximusic]

Ha, same. 🙌

[@vilmospeter6599]

The subtle annoyance in your voice at 08:56 got me:))

[@aajfranklin]

Hey Ixi, found this video after putting together my own arrangement of the same song. I tell people it's 10/8 but that's not even half the story 😅When the Dbmaj7 chord and Thom's vocal melody both bridge the gap between measures during the "tried to say" section like you described, it's just muscle memory and feel for me rather than counting. I really relate to your description of your process and how you reached a result that is both true to the original and playable, whether or not it's how the band also count it. New to your channel but excited now to watch your other Radiohead and Björk videos in particular.

[@reecec626]

Strong Alanis vibe today, ixi!

[@iximusic]

errday. I am flattered!

[@daniellachance173]

Love this. One of my favorite songs their catalogue. Idiotheque being close behind.

[@iximusic]

Kid A is quite an interesting album. Thank you for watching!

[@ded4_]

Omg I was literally counting the chorus as 4 beats and then 6

[@booli8542]

You have very good teaching skills, it's very well organized and explained. (As a math teacher I appreciate this!)

[@kambinoxwins]

SO good!

[@KenL414]

The thing that always fascinated me about this song is how it's simultaneously so tightly packed harmonically yet so complicated rhythmically. Just so many layers to peel back in this onion, yet on its surface it sounds so simplistic.

[@killlakill_2521]

I just found your channel and I’m loving all of it, especially this one. I love dissecting music and I’m glad I’m not the only one noticing these kinda of things. So keep doing what you’re doing:)

[@fredo3161]

Great breakdown of a great song.

[@soaribb32]

3:20 that just blew my mind

[@cesarmagallanes2284]

great video!

[@zeldacoach2528]

Kinda like listening to the theme of Halloween… 5/8 😂

[@andrewcleggguitar]

Another great video - fab content!! 👍🏻👌🏼👍🏻🌶

[@absum6p952]

You are awsome ... thank you

[@deathchips926]

Thanks Alanis. The fact that you made Jagged Little Pill and still have the time to educate us plebs is wonderful.

[@FingerMonsterGuitar]

This video is really REALLY helpful for me trying to learn this on Guitar. THANK YOU!!

[@iximusic]

Awesome, glad it helped you! 🎸

[@smokestack534]

It took me a year to hear the drum beat in this song, it's so quiet

[@ibcamwhobu]

Ok damn, I thought I had felt out most of this song okay, such as the time signature, and I always felt the off-beats clearly in parts like the intro. But somewhere in the verses, those measure ends/starts were totally fooling me, especially the final "say" in "tried to say". Which is interesting because I guess it only took one measure of... what I guess I was feeling as 11 beats, before I was back on track. Mind blown. It's so clear now when I count it out. What is it with Radiohead trying to hide these things, haha. I think whenever I was counting it "correctly", I was counting it as 4+4+2 as well. Exactly because of that little 2 beat intro you mention. That little wind-down I think was crucial to me noticing the start of a measure as clearly as in the intro. It really disappears in some of the verse. Thanks for the great video as always

[@ah2595]

The way my face squenched up at 4:32 lol

[@ah2595]

Squenched is now a word. Cuz that’s what my face did.

[@ChristopherFahey-k3w]

I heard a cover version that took it to 11. The artist inserted a delay between what you call beats 8 and 9, almost like an a capella solo singer with total control of a song’s pacing taking a breath before the final two beats. This interpretation actually had the effect of making your beat 8 the second-to-last beat (followed by the one-beat “pause”), and your beats 9 and 10 become the beginning the phrase (i.e. 1 and 2). This effect was helped by the fact that it was just a simple, solo keyboard performance, with no kick to make (your) 1 feel like the 1.

[@lylecarlsonsurfboard]

Thank you very cool and interesting

[@NightMedicine]

Would love to hear your thoughts on Idioteque! Those chords are so weird to me.

[@Tomversal]

Supposedly it's all the same chord just different textures and panning?

[@XeroReMix]

heyyy so i was remixing this song and i had a problem figuring how to count it and even putting it on my DAW it didn't make sense so i found this video and it was helpful but then i tried it myself and u can count 5 better than 4/4/2 for me it just better and even seeing it on my daw 5/5 is better cuz i can see the sentence is 5 bars which is better for me and more cleaner i think counting 5/5 is easier and thank u for ur this video it was very helpful

[@Arakiel9]

I am ecstatic about finding your content. My brain understands your words. My brain likes your words. You have awesome taste in music (i.e. we have similar taste in music... but I think we both have awesome taste in music, so tomatoh, tomahto). Thank you so much for what you do. :)

[@iximusic]

Thanks David!

[@elitefitrea]

I never even once noticed this wasn't in 4/4

[@kaithecactus3714]

YOU ARE EPIC

[@TheDadagibberish]

For me the verses feel most natural as 7-3

[@marianoturienzo6974]

Beautiful! Thank you so much for this 🙏🏼

[@KidKobayashi]

I think they just were to high looping and Tom was trying a Rap song but he fail. 😂 and There is, a master piece!

[@Muzikman127]

The way I've always felt it is exactly the way you say for the chorus (a 2/4 pickup at the end), but yeah, for the verse, I do hear your beat "10" as the "1". I realise that then leaves us with the consequence that because the downbeat has shifted back 1, that there is now like a stray bar of 9 to make it fit (and then an extra beat going back in to the chorus), but for me, while it's not necessarily the most neat or elegant construction conceptually, it just has the advantage of lining up with how the song _feels_ to me. Like if I'm dancing or bobbing along to Everything it's Right Place, it's just so _ natural_ where the oomph of the downbeat is on the verse. So the fact that it's now shifted a beat earlier than where it was previously? I'm kind of fine with that, just adds to the trancey sort of free-floating aspect of the song. I know you said it's not likely in your opinion, but I entreat you to try "shifting" the downbeat you feel in the verse (by putting in the bar of 9 and 11 as you said to make it fit). I don't want to say that that interpretation is "right" as such, but I certainly enjoy the way it feels. It's how the song "lands" to me when I'm not properly thinking about it (as in where my body wants to put the rhythmic accents) so I prefer it to stay that way when I'm counting it too :) Love your videos, peace

[@Muzikman127]

In other words basically what you said at 10:44. Yeah, I think that's actually it. But I won't fight you about it!

[@2fs]

I've always felt it as a 10-beat song...and the "1" has been clear to me (for the reasons you point out: the kick, and where the chord sequence begins. That said, there are definitely songs that confuse me regarding where the downbeat is. I've always heard "Sunshine of Your Love" wrong (probably because Ginger Baker's drum pattern is kinda inside out). I always get lost during Rufus's "Tell Me Something Good" because so much of that one falls on the offbeat. And (going more obscure) Dali's Car's song "Dali's Car" (from their album 'Dali's Car') throws me off as to whether the "one" is in the same place in verses and choruses... kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5-ximWweq2jqLM

[@popsarocker]

Language, rhythm, meaning SUBSCRIBE The beauty of this track is how it disregards (or just resists) logic, analysis and "valid explanations". This is by no means a totally valid take either but generally the more structural symmetry and alignment the more stasis and frankly boringness you'll have. The shear apparent repetition of this track at first glance is completely undermined first by the odd groupings and then by a rather nuanced lack of symmetry between the piano and vocal phrases. But yes, let it take over your senses. Now that's totally valid!

[@hydethepenguin]

theyre genius

[@ClavisRa]

I've been thinking way too much about this. 😅 But in the end I think it just boils down to keeping the lead in as part of the phrasing throughout. Then the 3 + 2 + 1 syncopated chord progression is in an almost call and response with Tom's vocals which pick up on the end of that. If the instrumental phrasing was truncated so that the lead in was happening over the landing of the final of the three chord progression there would be no space and it would feel too driving and busy with Tom's vocals overlaying the chord progression. I also love the way it gives space for Tom to hold a note while the piano is also holding and let all the background percolations take primary focus of our ear which kind of includes the listener in a pensive inner world of the singer as Tom reflects. And finally it gives more equal weight to unsyncopated part of the phrase so that doesn't feel incessant, we get this cyclical release from the syncopated pulse.

[@positronalpha]

Counting is also very important to certain (mostly male) jazz listeners at a gig in a smoke-filled (well, in their mind, because that's how it used to be) bar, so that they can stomp their feet to the beat and look like they know what's going on. They also need to keep track so that they can time their obnoxious shouts of exaggerated appreciation for some borrowed phrase or similar improvisation artifact.

[@AlenMustafic]

You are a great teacher

[@contrabone10]

Funny thing, Radiohead is on record as developing their grooves in the studio, without ant singing, and after editing and codifying form etc, Yorke would come in in the middle of the night and figure out lyrics. Still and all, great album, great your are teaching people about what makes these pieces cool.

[@prongs0611]

Thanks for this video... still don't understand it at all but think it helped a lil bit :D

[@MaggaraMarine]

Chorus: 4 + 2 + 4. Verse: [2+3] + [2+3]. The downbeat of the verse is easiest to feel by listening to the vocals IMO, because the vocal phrase always starts on the downbeat. The vocal phrasing in the verse seems to follow 2+3+2+3. The harmonic rhythm too on the latter half (although as mentioned, the harmony kind of obscures the downbeat - but the vocals do IMO give enough emphasis to the downbeat to still feel it clearly as the downbeat).

[@ricochetsixtyten]

I think the title is a sneaky commentary on the odd meter of the song.

[@HectorRoldan]

I

[@cigxretlxghter2546]

I enjoy these videos very much. Might we consider the time as 4-2-4. As such, those last 4 beats constitute a kind of finishing unit, and for all three movements. Those last four act as a runway for the fill leading into the following 1 beat. This count also marries nicely to the chords, especially in the first two movements. No?

[@babakkanjoory7551]

08:52 It's Radio Head darling what did you expect?

[@brentcross7650]

Perhaps this song was created by looping audio materials? Love your musical analysis:) How about that Wierd Fishes song?

[@ShadyMonkOfficial]

haha maybe i should have linked the remix i shared on part one here, cuz it definitely helps convey the timing of the track with the addition of the "4 to the floor" dance percussion, but doesn't change the 10 beat phrases.

[@iximusic]

right on, that should be wild to listen to!

[@darinbauer8122]

It would be VERY difficult for me to remember when I started listening to that album. Radiohead basically is one of the kinds of bands that helped me survive as a returning college student. I definitely remember working the score in this exact manner (yeah I know, so say I,) even down to the # toggle & the pan of your wtf counting moment. Part of letting go of whatever & simply existing in a more zen like manner came w the caveat that u have to let loose & let go of the definitive. Shocker, those Buddhists! All I can say is A: Please let's see your rendition in it's entirety, & B: When I learn Klingon can we duet? [I'm a tenor & probably a KL false Alto.] You bring glory to the revolution ixi! Peace!

[@apexracing9479]

Just started playing this Wondering why I couldnt almost get it,now I know why!

[@marcmistermarc]

I thought this was super interesting... but my take on it. It was done through a series of improvisations and assembled in Pro Tools and gradually iterated. It may have been done without the use of the grid or click but assembled around the piano which was done entirely around feel. This was then built upon with everything else. So made on instinct not math. Even so a fine job of analysing what is going on.

[@thepostapocalyptictrio4762]

I always thought it was in 5/4 before🤯 using 10/4 cb lingo would be funny.

[@stephenpercha411]

The end is the beginning of the end eh... BRB have to go listen to one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins songs

[@Isakube]

this is why you actually research a song before you recreate it because now i literally have a version of EiiRP in 4/4 and i cant… really do anything with it now that i know the orig is 10/4

[@iximusic]

Does it sound like the original or is the timing actually off? Everything can be fixed!

[@StuartQuinn]

I'd like to mention how useful the visual aspects are to these videos, showing the counting and showing the stresses, really helps to understand the rhythm of the song. Similarly for showing the chords on the sister video breaking down the harmony.

[@iximusic]

Ah glad to know that, thanks!

[@StuartQuinn]

@@iximusic it's obvious that a lot of work goes into the visual side, and it makes a massive difference to understanding what's going on. Hope to hear some more Radiohead analysis in the future!

[@lennym-l170]

Amazing video, thom is really a genius ! Where can I get a sheet music of the version you play ?

[@iximusic]

I'm just improvising! I might have those chords I flashed on the screen somewhere on my computer though - feel free to email me and I'll see what I can do but it probably will have to wait until the new year! [e-mail]

[@kindnessasgreatasthesea1158]

Yeah, I'm also aching for those sheets! Did you get them?

[@ErikWolowitz]

Lol the sound of your metronome sounds like Dance Away from Roxy Music...

[@conorkmartshoppingexperien2739]

i have a guitar with a sustainer and i try and play multiple parts of pyramid song with a looper and i can never get it right. its so confusing

[@iximusic]

that one is tricky. I learned it on piano. I was never 100% sure if I had the rhythm right when I played it because I was just "feeling" it. I guess that's an argument for counting sometimes!

[@JacquesDeLeon]

"Every song is in 4/4 unless you count it like a nerd."

[@mucy2807]

OMG I love you ❤

[@brettcampbell8589]

@ixi Have you listened to Christopher O’Reily Radiohead albums? Love your breakdowns, I have been a huge RH fan since OK computer!

[@iximusic]

no, what are they? Covers?

[@losprimitosmorenocr59]

What about Idioteque? I always get confused with that one