"I suppose, counting back, if the Beatles had been influenced by music in the same length of time ago - you'd have to put that into better English for me, thank you - they would have been like a banjo orchestra. They would have been doing show tunes"

In this quote, Jonny Greenwood, the lead guitar player of Radiohead, uses a creative reflection on the development and influence of music over time. Greenwood is hypothesizing about the historic context of musical influences, particularly considering how generational shifts could modify the type of music an iconic band like the Beatles may have created.

Greenwood begins by suggesting a theoretical circumstance where the Beatles were affected by music from a much older age, comparable to the time gap in between his modern era and when the Beatles were at their peak. By discussing "the same length of time earlier", Greenwood draws attention to the concept of temporal influence-- the way in which the music of a given duration soaks into the creative awareness of artists who emerge years later on.

He humorously hypothesizes that if the Beatles' influences lined up with music from, perhaps, several decades previous to the 1960s, their sound might have been starkly various from the rock and pop they popularized. Greenwood pictures them as "a banjo orchestra" deeply rooted in traditional or folk music designs popular in earlier American or British culture, prior to the rock and roll transformation.

In addition, the mention of "show tunes" conjures an image of music related to theatrical productions, possibly from the period of vaudeville or early musical theatre, which was identified by structured song types and orchestration. This reflects a speculative opinion on how differing historical contexts customize artistic outputs, forming the music landscape.

Greenwood's musings highlight the fluidity of music evolution and underscore how shifts with time influence innovative expression. He playfully suggests that had the temporal scales been different, even revolutionary bands like the Beatles might have produced significantly different work. Eventually, Greenwood is acknowledging the extensive impact of historical context and cultural scene on musical development and artist influences.