Nothing to Fear and Nothing to Doubt: Radiohead's "Pyramid Song"

While not about September 11, 2001 per se (it was released the year before), Radiohead's "Pyramid Song" more than any other song, evokes for me the haunting feeling of that day.

Thom Yorke's spare piano ballad seems simple at first, but is deceptively complex with an unusual time signature and instrumentation.

A highlight from their very underrated record Amnesiac, "Pyramid Song" revists themes often heard in the blues: fear, doubt, terror, acceptance and rebirth.

But no one is going to mistake Thom Yorke for Robert Johnson; "Pyramid" sounds miles removed from history, just as the 9/11 attacks, while based in the most ancient religious conflicts, were like nothing the world had ever experienced before.

The song's most marked characteristic is it's eerie silence and calm, which for me completely captures the sense of disbelief felt in New York City and around the world in 9/11's immediate aftermath. It was millenial blues for end-of-times terror.

I jumped in the river and what did I see?
Black-eyed angels swam with me
A moon full of stars and astral cards
And all the figures I used to see
All my lovers were there with me
All my past and futures
And we all went to heaven in a little row boat
There was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt



Another reason I find "Pyramid Song" so powerful in the context of 9/11 is that in August of 2001, some friends and I attended our first Radiohead concert, an outdoor show at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. The band was absolutely at the top of their game, with a stunning backdrop of the Statue of Liberty and World Trade Center. Taking the ferry back to Manhattan after the show on this gorgeous evening, my friends and I marvelled at the silent majesty of the Towers and other downtown architecture. A month later, the Towers were gone.


Last year, Radiohead returned to Liberty State Park, headlining the first night of the All Points West festival. This time Radiohead faced in the opposite direction, with no Towers in the background. Seven years later, watching the band play "Pyramid Song" with the same friends who joined me for the 2001 concert, I wondered if the reorientation of the stage was intentional, so as not to draw attention to the spirtitual and physical void that still sits across the Hudson River.

Herewith, a stunning live performance of Radiohead playing "Pyramid Song" at All Points West, plus a live mp3 from a 2000 Berlin show. At the risk of sounding self-important or trite, Rock Turtleneck dedicates this to the thousands who lost their lives that day and the millions still affected on this one.


mp3: Radiohead, "Pyramid Song," Berlin 2000