Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (5:16)

“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”, originally known as “Arpeggi”, is a song written by British group Radiohead, appearing on their album In Rainbows as the fourth track. The name comes from the chorus (I get eaten by the worms/And weird fishes) and the plural of the Italian word ‘Arpeggio’. It was first performed by guitarist Jonny Greenwood and lead singer Thom Yorke in 2005 as an atmospheric string-based piece, backed by the Nazareth Orchestra . In 2006, the song was brought into a rock music setting, and a full-band version was premiered which included a driving rock beat. On October 1, 2007 the band announced that the song would appear on In Rainbows as the fourth track. The version that appears on the album is similar to the 2006 version with Phil Selway’s driving drum beat, although it retains many of the atmospheric, bubbly qualities of the 2005 version.

The structure has changed since the 2006 tour. The final bridge was originally used as an introduction prior to the drums starting in the song. It now starts immediately at the verse.

This song is written in a dorian mode, which gives it the “floating” kind of vibe that it has. The chords are all diatonic to the key of D, but Dmaj is not played at any time during the song. The song is actually based around Em7, which would make it in the key of E dorian.

The first note Thom sings and which he returns to frequently in the melody, is a D, but they dont play a tonic (D) chord under it at any point, giving it a “deceptive” cadence.