"2 + 2 = 5" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as the third and final single from their sixth studio album, Hail to the Thief (2003), on 17 November 2003. It reached number two in Canada, number 12 in Italy and number 15 in the UK.
"2 + 2 = 5" is a rock song that builds to a loud climax. It was recorded in 2002 at Ocean Way Recording studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, with the producer Nigel Godrich. It was recorded as a studio test and finished in two hours.
The title references the slogan "two plus two equals five" from the 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.' The alternative title, "The Lukewarm", references Dante's Inferno, in which the "lukewarm" are those in hell who did nothing wrong but did not oppose wrongdoing.
"2 + 2 = 5" was released as the third single from Hail to the Thief on 17 November, 2003. It was included in ' (2008). A live version recorded at Earl's Court, London, was included on the 2004 EP Com Lag and the 2025 album Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003âÂÂ2009).
In 2020, the Guardian named the live version of "2 + 2 = 5" the 31st-greatest Radiohead song, writing that it was Thom Yorke's "polemical anthem for the era of mass-broadcast deception and enhanced interrogation techniques".
UK CD1 <small>(CDR 6623)</small>
UK CD2 <small>(CDRS 6623)</small>
UK DVD single <small>(DVDR 6623)</small>
Radiohead
Additional personnel