Innocents Civilian

no drums, no guitars

It comes out of the fortnight at the start of 2000 when Nigel Godrich split the band into two groups and banned drums and guitars, leaving computers and synths. Early versions of “Backdrifts” and “The Gloaming” came out of the same sessions. Ed O'Brien told XFM that about a fifth of what they made was good. This one had sound effects of troops marching, made by the band trudging about on the gravel outside, and the idea did not survive.

the tape that was not there

Somebody asked about it on the band's message board, so the band went to put the master tape up, and O'Brien's diary reported that they could not find it.

Can't find it anywhere which is incredibly strange. It's got to turn up.

ed o'brien · online diary, 7 february 2000

The next day's entry was still worrying, and brought up the U2 rehearsal tapes that went missing and were sold as bootlegs. The diary never mentions the tape again.

There's a track that we nicknamed 'Innocents Civilian'.

ed o'brien · xfm, 25 september 2000

the salamanca setlist

Some fans think it is an early name for “Sit Down. Stand Up.”. Yorke's writing on the late-1999 radiohead.com, on a page called “collaterally damaged”, set the phrase “innocent civilians” beside words that ended up in that song. Salamanca argues against it. The band planned a request section in the middle of the show there on 7 August 2002, and the setlist held a placeholder called “Innocent Civilian” next to “Sit Down. Stand Up.” itself. Either it is a separate song, or it was a joke placeholder for whatever mystery song someone shouted for. Nobody asked, so it was never settled.

not on the minidiscs

When a great deal of the band's unreleased material leaked in the 2019 minidisc hack, this was not in it.