Jigsaw Falling into Place

Radiohead performed an early version of "Jigsaw Falling into Place" on their 2006 tour, with the working title "Open Pick".{{cite web|title=Pitchfork's Guide to Radiohead's In Rainbows|date=9 October 2007|website=Pitchfork|url=http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/6707-pitchforks-guide-to-radioheads-in-rainbows/|access-date=24 May 2012|archive-date=5 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605073626/http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/6707-pitchforks-guide-to-radioheads-in-rainbows/|url-status=dead}} Mike Diver of Drowned in Sound described it as a "bass-propelled pop-rock head-bobber".{{cite web |last=Diver, Mike |date=14 January 2008 |title=Radiohead – Jigsaw Falling Into Place |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/12182/reviews/2795069- |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160105163647/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/12182/reviews/2795069- |archive-date=5 January 2016 |access-date=28 December 2015 |website=Drowned in Sound}}

The lyrics were inspired by the chaos witnessed by the singer, Thom Yorke, when drinking in Oxford. He said: "The lyrics are quite caustic—the idea of 'before you're comatose' or whatever, drinking yourself into oblivion and getting fucked-up to forget ... [There] is partly this elation. But there's a much darker side."{{cite news |last=Marshall |first=Julian |date=8 December 2007 |title=Rainbow Warriors |url=https://citizeninsane.eu/media/uk/nme/07/pt_2007-12-08_nme.htm |access-date=18 April 2024 |work=NME |publisher=Caldecott Music Group |location=United Kingdom}}

The "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" music video was directed by Garth Jennings and Adam Buxton. Recorded in two takes, it features the members of Radiohead performing in their studio with footage shot from cameras attached to bicycle helmets.{{cite news |last=Salter |first=Jessica |date=14 July 2012 |title=World of Adam Buxton, comedian and actor |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/9398998/World-of-Adam-Buxton-comedian-and-actor.html |access-date=4 April 2018}}

The American singer David Byrne, who was visiting Radiohead's studio, watched an early edit and assumed the helmets would be cut from the video. However, Buxton felt it was important that the "ridiculous" helmets were visible. He said later: "For me, that was the point. It's funny ... [Radiohead] completely got what was good about the idea. They committed to it and they performed it brilliantly. And Thom was mesmerising and each member of the band was just giving it."{{cite news |last=Henderson |first=Paul |date=3 September 2020 |title=Adam Buxton: 'I made the least popular Radiohead video ever. And I don't care' |work=GQ |url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/adam-buxton-interview |access-date=19 June 2021}} Though Buxton said it was one of the least popular Radiohead videos, he considered it among his best work.

"Jigsaw Falling into Place" was released on 14 January 2008 on XL Records as the first single from Radiohead's seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007).{{cite web|date=30 November 2007|title=Radiohead announce new release details|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/radiohead-562-1352229|access-date=14 October 2021|website=NME}} Yorke's performances of "Videotape", "Down is the New Up" and "Last Flowers" from the television series From the Basement were included as B-sides. The single reached #30 in the UK singles chart.{{Cite web |date=2008-01-26 |title=Jigsaw Falling into Place |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/radiohead-jigsaw-falling-into-place/ |access-date=2025-05-27 |website=Official Charts |language=en}}

Along with the 2000 Radiohead song "Everything in Its Right Place", "Jigsaw Falling into Place" inspired the 2012 composition Radio Rewrite by Steve Reich.{{Cite news |last=Petridis |first=Alexis |author-link=Alexis |date=2013-03-01 |title=Steve Reich on Schoenberg, Coltrane and Radiohead |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/mar/01/steve-reich-schoenberg-coltrane-radiohead |access-date=2025-06-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Reich described it as "a beautiful song" with "elaborate harmonic movement".

Time named "Jigsaw Falling into Place" the fifth-best song of 2007.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1690636,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212162013/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686244_1690636,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 December 2007|title=Time magazine's Top 10 Songs of 2007 at time.com|last=Tyrangiel|first=Josh|date=9 December 2007|magazine=Time|access-date=3 October 2014}} The Time writer Josh Tyrangiel praised its "tightness" and rising intensity, which he likened to a three-act play. He described the song as "a journey through flirtation, consummation and regret [that] gets about as close as you can to summing up a doomed relationship in four minutes".Tyrangiel, Josh; "The Best Top 10 Lists of the Year"; "The 10 Best Songs"; Time; December 24, 2007; Page 39.

Drowned in Sound described the song as "easy enough on the ear for indirect consumption ... but compositionally complex beneath a deceptively simple outer gloss for long-standing admirers to get sufficient kicks from". However, Clash wrote: "It's good but, like the much-hyped In Rainbows album, musically it's (relatively) unadventurous."{{cite magazine | url=http://clashmusic.com/reviews/radiohead-jigsaw-falling-place | title=Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place | magazine=Clash | date=14 January 2008 | access-date=28 December 2015 | archive-date=6 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106231348/http://clashmusic.com/reviews/radiohead-jigsaw-falling-place | url-status=dead }} In 2016, Rolling Stone readers voted it one of the best Radiohead songs released since the 1990s.{{cite magazine|date=18 May 2016|title=Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Post-1990s Radiohead Songs|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-post-1990s-radiohead-songs-20160518/jigsaw-falling-into-place-20160518|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=8 November 2017}}

;7"

1. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" – 4:09
2. "Videotape" (Live from the Basement){{cite magazine|title=Radiohead announce new release details|date=2007-11-30|magazine=NME|url=http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/32866|access-date=30 November 2007}} – 4:26

;CD

1. "Jigsaw Falling into Place" – 4:09
2. "Down Is the New Up" (Live from the Basement) – 5:07
3. "Last Flowers" (Live from the Basement) – 4:11

Radiohead

• Colin Greenwood
• Jonny Greenwood
• Ed O'Brien
• Philip Selway
• Thom Yorke

Additional musicians

• The Millennia Ensemble – strings
• Everton Nelson – leading
• Sally Herbert – conducting

Additional personnel

• Stanley Donwood – cover art
• Nigel Godrich – production, mixing, engineering
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – engineering
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Hugo Nicolson – engineering
• Graeme Stewart – preproduction
• Richard Woodcraft – engineering

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{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Radiohead|title=Jigsaw Falling Into Place|award=Silver|type=single|relyear=2007|certyear=2024|accessdate=April 6, 2024|id=19870-1730-1}}

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{{reflist|30em}}

{{Radiohead}}

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Category:Radiohead songs

Category:2007 songs

Category:2008 singles

Category:XL Recordings singles

Category:British pop rock songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich

Category:Songs written by Thom Yorke

Category:Songs written by Colin Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Jonny Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Philip Selway

Category:Songs written by Ed O'Brien

Category:Black-and-white music videos

Category:Songs about alcohol