No Surprises


"No Surprises" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released as the fourth single from their third studio album, OK Computer, on 12 January 1998. The music video features songwriter Thom Yorke singing inside a diving helmet as it fills with water. The single peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

Recording

Singer Thom Yorke wrote "No Surprises" while Radiohead was touring with R.E.M. in 1995. Yorke introduced the song to the rest of the band in their dressing room in Oslo, Norway on August 3rd, 1995. Later, the lyrics were rewritten and a glockenspiel melody was added. It was the first song recorded in the sessions for OK Computer. Yorke said the "childlike guitar sound set the mood for the whole album" and that the band was aiming for a mood similar to the 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds.
The version on the album is the first take recorded. Yorke said: "We did endless versions afterwards and they were all just covers of the first version. So we gave up and went back to ." Hoping to achieve a slower tempo than could be played well on their instruments, producer Nigel Godrich had the band record the song at a faster tempo, then slowed the playback for Yorke to overdub his vocals onto, creating an "ethereal" effect.

Music video

The music video for "No Surprises" was directed by Grant Gee. The video consists of a single close-up shot of Yorke inside an astronaut-style dome helmet. The lyrics are shown throughout the entire song slowly scrolling upwards but mirrored, as they are being reflected off of the dome. After the first verse, the helmet begins to fill with water. Yorke continues singing as he attempts to lift his head above the rising water. Once the bubble completely fills, Yorke is motionless for over a minute, after which the water is released and he resumes singing. For Yorke's safety, the video was filmed at high speed and played back in slow motion.
One of the scenes in Gee's documentary about Radiohead, Meeting People Is Easy, cuts from the British news channel Sky News showing and discussing the video to several takes of its filming. The song speeds up during filming when his face is fully submerged, until he breaks the rubber seal to release the water and members of the film crew help him out. Despite the safety measures, Yorke is shown getting visibly more uncomfortable and agitated with each take.

Release

"No Surprises" was released as the fourth single from OK Computer on 12 January 1998. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. In 2008, it was included in . An early version with different lyrics is included in the 2017 OK Computer reissue.

Legacy

In October 2011, NME placed it at number 107 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
Bassist Colin Greenwood revealed that ""No Surprises" is our 'stadium-friendly' song. The idea was: First frighten everyone with "Climbing Up The Walls" and then comfort them again with a Pop song with a chorus that sounds like a lullaby."
Thom Yorke, in Humo magazine on July 22nd, 1997, said "We wanted it to have the atmosphere of Marvin Gaye. Or Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World."" Yorke also told Q magazine a song such as "No Surprises" has to be played a certain way for it to work live. "If you play it right, it is fucking dark," he said. "But it's like acting. It's on the edge of totally hamming it up but you're not. It's just the words are so dark. When we play it, we have to play it slow. It only sounds good if it's fragile."

''No Surprises/Running from Demons''

No Surprises/Running from Demons is the fourth extended play by Radiohead, released in December 1997. The EP was aimed at the Japanese market to promote the band's Japan tour of January 1998.

Content

"Meeting in the Aisle" is Radiohead's first completely instrumental track.
This "remixed" version of "Pearly*" features clearer production values, louder guitar at the beginning of the song, and a different guitar line at the end.
The song "Bishop's Robes" refers to Yorke's experience of cruelty at school. Though he claims that he suffered no physical punishment as a schoolboy, violence was felt in ghastly mind games, and in the teacher's cruelty: hence the line "bastard headmaster." The song covers similar thematic material as The Smiths' "The Headmaster Ritual", which Radiohead covered in one of their 2007 webcasts.
"Bishop's Robes" is also included on the "Street Spirit " 'CD1' single.
"A Reminder" contains excerpts from the reports of the Prague metro in the Czech Republic.

Track listing

All songs written by Radiohead.
;CD 1
  1. "No Surprises" – 3:51
  2. "Palo Alto" – 3:44
  3. "How I Made My Millions" – 3:07
;CD 2
  1. "No Surprises" – 3:50
  2. "Airbag" – 4:49
  3. "Lucky" – 4:34
; No Surprises/Running from Demons
  1. "No Surprises" – 3:49
  2. "Pearly*" – 3:38
  3. "Melatonin" – 2:08
  4. "Meeting in the Aisle" – 3:07
  5. "Bishop's Robes" – 3:23
  6. "A Reminder" – 3:51

    Personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Alternative versions and covers

Versions have also been recorded by Luka Bloom, Malia, Blake Morgan, Yaron Herman Trio, Christopher O'Riley, Paige, Peter Jöback, Motorama, Louis Durra, Stanisław Sojka, Scott Matthew, Northern State, and Postmodern Jukebox. American singer songwriter Amanda Palmer recorded a version of this song for her album of Radiohead covers performed on ukulele, "Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele". It was also covered by Blake Morgan on his 2006 album Silencer. A piano interpretation of the song was used in the second episode of the HBO show Westworld in 2016. Roman GianArthur, of Janelle Monáe’s Wondaland Arts Society, released , an EP of Radiohead R&B mash up covers including No Surprises in the fall of 2015.

Regina Spektor version

, alternative pianist and anti-folk musician, released a one-track charity single of the song on April 27, 2010. All proceeds of the song go to the Doctors Without Borders Emergency Relief Fund.