According to Drowned in Sound, "Knives Out" is the most conventional song on Amnesiac. It features "chiming" and "drifting" guitar lines, "driving" percussion, a "wandering" bassline, "haunting" vocals and "eerie" lyrics. Singer Thom Yorke said the lyrics were 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."
Recording
Radiohead recorded "Knives Out" between 1999 and 2000 during the sessions for their albums Kid A and Amnesiac, which were recorded simultaneously. For the albums, Radiohead replaced their guitar-led rock sound with more experimental styles, incorporating influences from electronic music, 20th-century classical music, jazz and krautrock. According to a studio diary kept by guitarist Ed O'Brien, "Knives Out" took 373 days to complete, "a ridiculously long gestation period for any song". He felt it was "probably the most straight-ahead thing we've done in years... and that might explain why we took so long on it". He felt successful bands often felt the need to over-embellish their music, "especially if it was written on acoustic guitar", but that they had captured the song's essence. The song was influenced by the British rock band the Smiths. Before its release, O'Brien played it for Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who said: "I was beyond flattered and quite speechless – which takes some doing. He explained to me that with that song they'd tried to take a snapshot of the way I'd done things in the Smiths – and I guess you can hear that in it."
Music video
The "Knives Out" music video was directed by Michel Gondry. Gondry was going through a breakup at the time, and expressed his feelings in the video concept, which has Yorke grieving in a hospital room. Gondry described the collaboration as a "terrible experience", and said: "I showed a storyboard and every single detail: he was completely excited and happy for it – and then, it turned out, they all criticise me for being selfish and putting my own views on it and my own introspection... It did not go smoothly, but if it went smoothly, it would be mediocre."
Release
Radiohead debuted "Knives Out" in November 1999 during a webcast performance from their studio. It was released on 5 August 2001 as the second Amnesiac single. It reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. "Knives Out" was covered by the Flaming Lips on their 2003 EP Fight Test, pianist Christopher O'Riley on his 2003 album True Love Waits, and by jazz pianistBrad Mehldau on his 2006 album Day is Done.
Reception
David Merryweather of Drowned in Sound gave the "Knives Out" single 9 out of 10, praising Jonny Greenwood's "chiming" guitar for capturing the "romantic disappointment" and "wistful ache" of the Smiths. Reviewing Amnesiac for Pitchfork, Ryan Schreiber felt the guitar line was too similar to Radiohead's 1997 song "Paranoid Android", writing: "Great melody. However, they've fucking used it before." In 2010, Consequence of Sound praised "Knives Out" as one of Radiohead's "creepiest" songs: "It’s one of many tracks from the English quintet that tickles the bones rather than warms them. But that’s what makes Radiohead so unique." In 2020, the Guardian named it the 13th best Radiohead song, writing: "The impenetrable Amnesiac debunked industry rumours that Radiohead were primed for a bankable comeback – but amid that album lay this meat-and-potatoes rocker, its scurrying riffs, mystic ambience and cannibalistic lyrics qualifying as glorious light relief." The 2019 film Knives Out takes its name from the song.
