Reckoner

"Reckoner" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their seventh album, In Rainbows (2007). It was produced by Nigel Godrich and 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 NME. Remixes were released by James Holden, Flying Lotus and Diplo. Radiohead released the separate stems for fans to remix, as they had for the In Rainbows single "Nude". "Reckoner" reached number 74 on the UK Singles Chart.

Recording
"Reckoner" developed from a different song with the same title, which later became known as "Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses". Radiohead wrote a coda that developed into the final song, but kept the "Reckoner" title. They were excited about the song and were driven to finish it quickly after recording a demo.

The producer, Nigel Godrich, recalled of the recording sessions: "People [were] 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 the guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Yorke said the guitar riff was a homage to the Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, "in my sort of clunky 'can't-really-pick' kind of way".

According to the bassist, Colin Greenwood, "reckoner" is an old Biblical word referring to Saint Peter, who judges people at the gates of heaven. Yorke said he did not know this, and had tried to let the melody drive the lyrics without overthinking them. He described the song as "kind of a love song ... Sort of." Yorke said the lyric "because we separate like ripples on a blank shore" was the centre of In Rainbows, and that "everything's leading to that point and then going away from that point".

Release
"Reckoner" was released on Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows. As they had done for their single "Nude", on September 28, 2008, Radiohead released the separate "Reckoner" stems for fans to purchase and remix. Fans could upload their remixes to the Radiohead website and vote for their favourites. The electronic musicians James Holden, Flying Lotus and Diplo also created remixes.

After the stems were released for sale, "Reckoner" reached number 74 on the UK Singles Chart. It did not enter the US Billboard Hot 100, but reached number 21 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart, a 25-song extension of the Hot 100. A performance of "Reckoner" was included on the 2008 live video In Rainbows – From the Basement.

"Reckoner" was used in the credits of the 2008 film Choke, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk said Radiohead had written an ambient soundtrack for the film, which Radiohead's management later denied.

Music video
The "Reckoner" music video was created by Clement Picon, who won a competition held by Radiohead and Aniboom to create an animation for a song from In Rainbows. Yorke described it as "one of my favourite video things that has ever happened".

Reception
Reviewing In Rainbows, Pitchfork wrote that "Reckoner" was not the "most immediate track", but that after 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 the 93rd-best track of the previous 15 years. Pitchfork named it the 254th-greatest song of the decade. In 2020, the Guardian named "Reckoner" 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."

Personnel
Adapted from the In Rainbows liner notes.

Radiohead
 * Colin Greenwood
 * Jonny Greenwood
 * Ed O'Brien
 * Philip Selway
 * Thom Yorke

Production
 * Nigel Godrich – production, mixing, engineering
 * Richard Woodcraft – engineering
 * Hugo Nicolson – engineering
 * Dan Grech-Marguerat – engineering
 * Graeme Stewart – preproduction
 * Bob Ludwig – mastering

Artwork
 * Stanley Donwood
 * Dr Tchock