Toni Morrison's novel Beloved centers itself around the trope of daunting ghost interacting with the characters and setting. Similar to the structure of Beloved, Radiohead's 2007 album In Rainbows shares the plot structure of the popular literary work. Within the structure of the album's placement of each song the underlying tone of each piece heightens the hysteria or vibe of insanity, schizophrenia, fear and rage that are equivalently present in Beloved. Recently in class discussion's about the novel I brought up the possibility of Sethe, Denver, and Beloved all being the same person. The song Bodysnatcher's focuses primarily on society displacing humanity out of their own skin, driving individuals into insanity. The frantic tone of Thom Yorke's voice creates a similar sensation to the distress in Beloved's approach to part two of the novel, where the characters begin to unravel in confusing trade-offs between the characters speaking. In the song All I Need the lyrics are written to highlight humanities dependencies that feed off the light and pain of others like a moth. Mid-way through Beloved in Part Two, the intertwining dependencies between Sethe, Denver, and Beloved exposes why each feel so connect and reliant on one another. Specifically All I Need relates to Denver's forced love from her fear of her mother, just as Thom Yorke vocalizes in his lyric- "I only stick with you because there are no others." Beloved, the character, is present in this album right away in 15 Step, she is supposedly the daughter of Sethe that had she had murdered who was reincarnated into this character Beloved to redeem their once corrosive relationship. The lyric "you reel me out and then cut the string," mirrors their connection. Like the umbilical chord connecting the child to its mother, Beloved and Sethe's is cut when she returns, no longer the ghost present in 124, beloved manipulates all those involved in her once connected bond with Sethe, now that she is cut from all emotional ties.
An interesting fact I had read on Songfacts (http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9547) that really drew both the story of Beloved and the album In Rainbows together was one of the comments given by the Guitarist Ed O'Brien about their song Body Snatchers, "'Bodysnatchers' will always remind us of Tottenham House, a decrepit mansion where we recorded some of the album. This track reflects the weird energy of the house." Just as Sethe and Denver lived in 124 the house that was haunted by a ghost that contributed to the ominous vibe with in the beginning of the book, just as Bodysnatchers is the first song of the album.
In Tyler Fishers review on Radiohead's album In Rainbows (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/13815/Radiohead-In-Rainbows/), he states "his voice provides the eerie icing on the cake that makes this album stand out." The sound of Thom Yorke's voice reinforces the tone in Beloved through his apparitional fluctuations and key lyrics that relate to the ridged and abstract plot. The title In Rainbows, is not to reflect the the joyous mood with in the songs or the stereotyped gay emblem but "In Rainbows proves the band’s realization that their career has spanned a full rainbow, an entire color palette of tones and voices, and they are still adding new colors fourteen years later." After 18 years apart Paul D and Sethe continue to build their relationship, welcoming in Sethe's newly reincarnated daughter (Beloved) into 124, Denver's determination to leave home and help support the family, developing new understandings that come with group effort and eventually bringing the community together. As though Sethe was building, or adding to her own rainbow.
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