15 Step

This beat-heavy opener to the In Rainbows album, which was featured prominently during Radiohead's 2006 tour, features a group of children from the Matrix Music School and Arts Centre in Oxford hand clapping and shouting "Yeah!"

"15 Step" was written in the rarely used 5/4 time signature. The most well-known example of a song written in a 5/4 meter is "Take Five" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet. Another example of a Radiohead song written in an unusual time signature is "Morning Bell" from Amnesiac, which was written in 7/8. When performing, the band sometimes puts these songs together. In an interview with New York magazine, Ed O'Brien explained why they did so at a June 2006 concert at Madison Square Garden: "Putting '15 Step' and 'Morning Bell' together was deliberate. '15 Step' is in 5/4 and 'Morning Bell' is in 7/8. It's nice to have a bit of clapping, a bit of audience participation, if they can get the beat. In Spain, they love 'Morning Bell' - all the fast clapping is like flamenco music. But in the West, we're not very rhythm-savvy. Anything not in 4/4 is hard for a lot of people."

One suggestion for the meaning of the title is that the majority of popular songs are written in or 4/4 or less frequently 3/4, which would require a 12 or 16 step to stay in time when dancing. However, somebody dancing to a song with a 5/4 time signature could confidently stay in time with a 15 step dance. Another possibility is it refers to the 15 steps of the Courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem, on which the Levites stood and sang the 15 Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) during the offering of sacrifices.