Go to Sleep

For other uses, see Go to Sleep (disambiguation).
"Go to Sleep"
Single by Radiohead
from the album Hail to the Thief
Released 18 August 2003
Format CD, 12"
Recorded 2002
Genre Alternative rock, folk rock
Length 3:21
Label Parlophone
Producer(s) Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
Radiohead singles chronology
"There There"
(2003)		 "Go to Sleep"
(2003)		 "2 + 2 = 5"
(2003)
Music video
"Go to Sleep" on YouTube

"Go to Sleep" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the second single from their sixth album Hail to the Thief in 2003. The alternate title for the song as listed on the track listing for the album is "Little Man Being Erased". A number twelve hit in the UK, it also reached number thirty-nine on the Australian ARIA Charts.[1]

Musical structure

"Go to Sleep" starts in 10/4 (4/4 + 6/4) with an acoustic guitar riff written by Ed O'Brien but played by Thom Yorke. After 11 bars of guitar and vocals, the rest of the band comes in. In the second half of the song the time signature remains in 4/4 and the guitars change to a different riff; the song fades out with a guitar solo played by Jonny Greenwood.

The guitar-work at the end of this track was achieved by Jonny Greenwood playing a sequence of random notes on his guitar that were being processed through a digital patch for software called Max/MSP, which is musical software frequently used by electronica or experimental artists.

A similar solo to that heard in live versions of "Go to Sleep" was played by Adrian Belew on the 1980 Talking Heads song "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)," though it was generated through different technology. Radiohead have cited the album Remain in Light on which the song appears as a major inspiration on their work in general.

Music video

Directed by Alex Rutterford, the CGI-animated video shows a full-blossom red rose swaying in the wind, and proceeds to show Yorke sitting on a park bench singing the song while around him men and women in business suits walk by rapidly. In the middle of the video, the buildings, in classical architecture style, spontaneously crumble into pieces and moments later reassemble themselves, only to have become modern in style. The shot returns to the rose shown in the beginning, which is now closed in a bud.

Track listings

The b-sides for the single are "Gagging Order" and "I Am a Wicked Child." The former is a solo acoustic guitar song. "I Am a Wicked Child" is a blues song with harmonica work by Jonny Greenwood.

UK Versions

  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "I Am Citizen Insane"
  3. "Fog (Again)" (Live)
  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "Gagging Order"
  3. "I Am a Wicked Child"
  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "I Am Citizen Insane"
  3. "I Am a Wicked Child"

US Version

  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "Gagging Order"
  3. "I Am a Wicked Child"
  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "I Am Citizen Insane"

Canada Version

  1. "Go to Sleep"
  2. "I Am Citizen Insane"
  3. "Fog (Again)" (Live)

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak
position[1]
Canadian Singles Chart 2[2]
Italian Singles Chart 9[3]
Ireland Singles Chart 11[1]
Danish Singles Chart 11[1]
UK Singles Chart 12[1]
Finland Singles Chart 14[1]
Australian Singles Chart 39[1]
Dutch Singles Chart 55[4]
German Singles Chart 82[1]
French Singles Chart 87[1]
Swiss Singles Chart 90[1]
US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 32[2]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 "Radiohead - Go to Sleep - Music Charts". acharts.us. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Hail to the Thief Charts and awards". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "Radiohead - Go To Sleep". italiancharts.com. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "Radiohead - Go to Sleep". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 25 November 2011.

External links