Radiohead – Everything In Its Right Place Lyrics

On the opening track of “Kid A” Thom Yorke sings on depression, change, confusion, and the state of the world all while trying to find a place in a confusing existence.

The song was written late one night by Thom Yorke on a piano at home and the recording was largely finished in another night by Yorke together with drummer Phil Selway and producer Nigel Godrich. The final composition featured neither guitar, piano, nor drums, but electric piano, drum machine and computer manipulations of Yorke’s voice.

Though not all band members contributed directly to the sound, all are credited equally on the track, as always. Thom Yorke and guitarist Ed O’Brien have both cited “Everything in Its Right Place” as the moment their frustrations with a year of contentious recording sessions began to give way, and they felt they were actually getting somewhere with their experimental approach, which had initially been worrisome to O’Brien. After the completion of the song in early 2000, the album was finished in only a few more months in an atmosphere of greater cooperation and understanding between Yorke and the other band members. Thus it formed a natural opening track for Kid A, the first album compiled from these recording sessions.

Yorke is reported to have written this song in the shadow of their 1997–1998 OK Computer tour. Specifically, as he recalled in an interview, it was their show in Birmingham, England, that affected him the most, as he was beginning to fully realize the band’s sudden and unexpected fame. Yorke reportedly left the stage for his dressing room, feeling burned out and helpless.