The human body. Everyone has one, yet when we picture one we have so many different thoughts and emotions. A nude body is us in our most vulnerable state, open to the world around for for all to see. Theres nothing hiding us, it’s full exposure and theres something very intimate about that. Enter Radiohead’s Nude, oddly enough a very intimate and vulnerable piece that seems to sway as if it were in the wind. The beautiful strings give an elevated sense to to the sung vocal melody. And that baseline is so mesmerizing!
Tom York’s language seems vague and somewhat hard to follow, but way he sings them fills in the gaps. At first his vocals are followed by an eire sounding synth somewhat in the distance, but as the song progresses the start to get closer and end up in unison. The synth resents the idea that “something is missing,” and once he finds it, the synth disappears and strings enter in the next phrase to fill in this space. But don’t worry, because it comes back “for what your dirty mind is thinking.”
An interesting aspect of the song is the beginning: only reversed vocals are heard, but when the rest of the instruments come in, the guitar reverses and the vocal returns to normal. I will leave it up to you the reader to come up with an idea for this, but to me what makes this so interesting is that every part of this song has a meaning and a purpose behind it, these sections aren’t put in simply because they “sound cool.”
You can learn more about Radiohead here:
About the curator - Nick Malpezzi
Nick Malpezzi is a lover of nature, cats, beer, and music. When he’s not at his day job he is recording artists, working on films, writing music, taking pictures and enjoying life. He believes complexity is derived from simplicity, which is seen in his musical tastes and original productions.
