‘Pyramid Song’: how Radiohead used Dante’s ‘The Divine Comedy’ to create an anthem
Radiohead have always had an air of intelligence about them, whether it be through their complex, classical-influenced arrangements and composition or the themes within their music. Several literary and scientific references can be found throughout the Radiohead catalogue, and one standout moment comes in a classic from their 2001 album Amnesiac.
There are many influences behind the writing of ‘Pyramid Song’. Firstly, Thom Yorke based it on a Charles Mingus track entitled ‘Freedom’. But more significant than that, Yorke had been influenced by an exhibition of Egyptian art in Copenhagen in 1999. In fact, the song had originally been dubbed ‘Egyptian Song’ before settling on one of the icons of Egyptian culture.
Discussing the other influences behind ‘Pyramid Song’, Yorke admitted it took him a very short period of time to write it. He told MTV in 1999 (via Songfacts): “That song literally took five minutes to write, but yet it came from all these mad places. [It’s] something I never thought I could actually get across in a song and lyrically. [However, I] managed it, and that was really, really tough. Stephen Hawking talks about the theory that time is another force.”
Yorke added: “It’s [a] fourth dimension, and [he talks about] the idea that time is completely cyclical; it’s always doing this [spins finger]. It’s a factor, like gravity. It’s something that I found in Buddhism as well. That’s what Pyramid Song’ is about, the fact that everything is going in circles.”
It’s common knowledge that Yorke is well versed in science, religion and literature, so it’s unsurprising to find such influences behind ‘Pyramid Song’. Interestingly, those were not the only inspirations behind the Amnesiac track, though, as Colin Greenwood also noted a literary reference within it. He said ‘Pyramid Song’ details the image of “people being ferried across the river of death”. The most well-known cultural facet of this comes from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, which details the traversal of a man’s journey into the underworld and the afterlife.
After all, within the song, we hear Yorke’s narrator jump into the river (presumed to be the River Styx of the Greek – and Roman – mythological underworld), where “black-eyed angels” swim with them. From there, the narrator is certainly said to be in the underworld, viewing all their past lovers, the “astral cars”, whilst having no fear and no doubt. ‘Pyramid Song’ is undoubtedly one of Radiohead’s most beautiful efforts.
