“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” is the lead single of the seventh studio album, In Rainbows, by English rock band Radiohead. The song, written by lyricist, vocalist, and lead guitarist, Thomas Edward Yorke, reflects his experiences of witnessing drunkards around the town where he grew up in.
In an interview with British culture magazine New Musical Express (NME) in 2008, an interviewer asked “What about the night out that you described in ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’? Did you experience that first-hand?” Yorke replied, “I would never say it was personal because it’s always a set of observations. ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’ says much about the fact I used to live in the centre of Oxford and used to go out occasionally and witness the fucking chaos of a weekend around here. […] (Marshall and New Musical Express)” Despite Yorke’s response, one could be inclined to believe that he may have had at least a somewhat similar experience. In the second paragraph of the song, Yorke sings “The walls are bending shape / They got a Cheshire cat grin / All blurring into one” (Musixmatch), providing a vivid visualization of being drunk himself, and possibly on other substances simultaneously.
Being in this state of lethargy and assuming the main character of this song, Yorke or not, has nothing to lose, he tries to seduce a lady unsuccessfully as she rejects him and goes to the dancefloor, leaving our character behind. This is expressed in the third paragraph, “Before you run away from me / Before you’re lost between the notes / The beat goes round and round / The beat goes round and round / […] / Words are blunt instruments / Words are sawed-off shotguns”(Musixmatch). Reading the paragraph from bottom to top would suggest that he was rejected with words that hurt him over and over, then the lady disappears into the crowd of people, lost in her favorite song and running away from him. Yorke then implies in the same interview that the main character of this story begins to overthink what just happened and attempts to forget about it with more drinks when he says, “The lyrics are quite caustic – the idea of “before you’re comatose” or whatever, drinking yourself into oblivion and getting fucked-up to forget. (Marshall and New Musical Express)” When Yorke says the line “The beat goes round and round (Musixmatch)” the first time, it is sung in a tone that he has been singing in for the entire song. Then he says the line again, this time in a higher pitched tone, suggesting that he is becoming overwhelmed as the situation unfolds in his mind.
In the song, Yorke repeats the line “Come on and let it out (Musixmatch)” four times, emphasizing an overall theme of catharsis. The repetition and the last three words being “[…] let it out” seem to be Yorke letting it out, or expressing his emotions and telling this story in the form of this song. The use of “Come on […]” at the beginning of each line indicates that Yorke wants to get these feelings off of his chest as soon as possible, also backed up by the fact that he is still singing these lines in a higher octave. In the final paragraph, Yorke sings “Jigsaw falling into place / So there is nothing to explain (Musixmatch)” as our main character gaslights himself into believing that he is coming to terms with what just happened and that the lady he had interacted with was justified in rejecting him and leaving. Whether or not her actions were justified, deep down he believes that she is still in the wrong as this panicked tone Yorke is singing in is still present. The character tries to make himself believe that he was in the right, but as he is dwelling on it, he makes eye contact with the same lady from before and becomes overwhelmed, again, and becomes confused, wishing to forget about it. “You regard each other as you pass / She looks back, you look back / Not just once / Not just twice / Wish away the nightmare / Wish away the nightmare” (Musixmatch). The only way our character can wish away his nightmare, to him, is to keep drinking until he blacks out. Yorke then sings “You’ve got a light you can feel it on your back / A light you can feel it on your back (Musixmatch)” revealing that our character has a sliver of hope that their small act of regarding one another will make her change her mind about rejecting him.
However, this hope is quickly dashed as Yorke sings “Jigsaw falling into place (Musixmatch)” for a final time at the end of the song, as our character sobers up and realizes that this is the end of his romantical interests in this woman and decides to move on. The imagery of a jigsaw falling into place gives a visual representation of the main character finding clarity as he takes a step back and looks at the figurative completed jigsaw puzzle.
“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” was described 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 (Diver)” by Mike Diver of Drowned In Sound but of course, there were some negative reviews. Colm Larkin of Clash had this to say, “It’s good but, like the much-hyped In Rainbows album, musically it’s (relatively) unadventurous. (Larkin)”
Love it or hate it, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” perfectly encapsulates how some feel after awkward social interactions or being rejected and how they cannot cope with it like most.