Reckoner


"Reckoner" is a song by English rock band Radiohead, released on 23 September 2008 as the fourth single from their album In Rainbows. It was produced by longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. The song developed while Radiohead were working on another song, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses".
"Reckoner" was named one of the best songs of the decade by Pitchfork and the NME. Remixes were released by James Holden, Flying Lotus and Diplo. To promote the single, Radiohead released the separate stems for fans to remix, as they had done with their previous single "Nude".

Recording

On tour in 2001, Radiohead performed a different song with the title "Reckoner". Working on this song for their 2007 album In Rainbows, Radiohead wrote a coda which developed into a new song, the version that appears on the album. In 2009, Yorke released the original "Reckoner" song as a solo single, "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses".
Producer Nigel Godrich recalled of the "Reckoner" recording sessions: "People all over the house, shaking things and getting this groove going, then chopping it up into little pieces and putting it back together. It was a lot of fun."

Composition

"Reckoner" features Yorke's falsetto, "frosty, clanging" percussion, a "meandering" guitar line, piano, and a string arrangement by guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Yorke said the guitar riff was a homage to Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, "in my sort of clunky 'can't-really-pick' kind of way".

Release

"Reckoner" was released on Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows. It was released as the fourth and final single from the album on 23 September 2008.
Radiohead had electronic musicians James Holden, Flying Lotus and Diplo create remixes of "Reckoner". As they had done with their previous single "Nude", Radiohead also released the separate stems from "Reckoner" for fans to remix.

Reception

Reviewing In Rainbows, Pitchfork wrote that "Reckoner" "may not be the most immediate track on the album, but over the course of several listens, it reveals itself to be among the most woozily beautiful things the band has ever recorded". In October 2011, Rolling Stone readers voted it the ninth best Radiohead song, and NME ranked it number 93 on its list of the "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". Pitchfork named it the 254th greatest song of the decade. In 2020, the Guardian named it the third best Radiohead song, writing: "At first innocuous, 'Reckoner' unspools a full house of virtuoso performances engulfed by Godrich’s winter-blanket production. It soothes then soars."

Music video

The music video for "Reckoner" is Virtual Lasagna's submission to a video contest conducted by Aniboom. The video was chosen on 1 October 2008. The video depicts a situation in which a place filled with greenery is being replaced with structures, which hints at the gradual deforestation of the Earth for human benefit, but ultimately leads to everything returning to nature.

Cover versions