15 Steps Then A Sheer Drop

'15 step’, is an opening track from seventh studio album ‘In Rainbows’ by English rock band Radiohead. Lyrically, it’s a song about love and betrayal, as well as the repetition of failed pursuits. In interviews, Thom Yorke has described the songs in ‘InRainbows’ to be related to “that anonymous fear thing, sitting in traffic, thinking, ‘I’m sure I’m supposed to be doing something else’” and “about the fucking panic of realizing you’re going to die! And that any time soon I could possibly have a heart attack when I next go for a run.”

There is a techno-ish feel that it resonates, which certainly amplifies the pool of emotions that run through your mind while listening to it; starting with punchy beats and heavy base followed by melodic guitar riffs certainly conveys a full of life feeling which disappears at the end with gothic paranoia.

15 steps (steps in UK English = stairs in US English) is the approximate height of a long-drop gallows. This provides the guiding metaphor for the song (repeated mentions of ‘cut the string’, ‘soft as your pillow’ being the hood, ‘silence is golden’ and ‘one by one in procession’ being the death march, and of course ‘15 steps then a sheer drop’ being the main event.

This could be a metaphor about love and possibly betrayal. You love someone, you get closer (“step” by “step”), but then they pull the trapdoor on you and you’re suddenly single again.

‘Sure’, will one say when asked, “do you listen to Radiohead?” more often than not that person has only heard “Creep”, which is a good song but it is not the best of what the band has to offer. If you are one of those people, who haven’t dived into the cosmic ocean of art rock that is Radiohead; you, my friend, have the privilege of listening to Radiohead’s whole work for the first time, trust me it doesn’t get better when you have so many deep and thought-provoking music just waiting to be heard, it’s like being intoxicated without the hang-over the next morning.

More songs by Radiohead:

Weird Fishes / Arpeggi

Pyramid Song

Reckoner

Let Down

House of cards