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A huge fan favourite, but unreleased as yet, the song is a kind of tribute to James Bond themes in it's sound. It was played frequently before the release of OK Computer under the title Man-O-War. It was written around the time as The Bends, but never made it on to that album. The band have tried many times to record it - including in March 1998 for the soundtrack to the film The Avengers, but they just couldn't get it to sound right (see the Meeting People Is Easy video).
After a lot of failed attempts at recording this song, sadly the band have finally decided to ditch it. The only recordings left of this masterpiece are live performances (of which only four are known) from 1995, and the outtakes on the Meeting People is Easy video. However, fans still eagerly beg for this track every time a new album is due out.
Thom: We ditched it because we were so messed up and we went in, tried to do the track, but we just couldn't do it. It was actually a really difficult period of time. We had a five week break and all the shit was coming to the surface. It was all a bit wierd - I mean we went in and tried to do this old track that we had and it just wasn't happening at all. It was a real low point after it. It was quite an early song, written around the time of The Bends and it didn't make it on to The Bends. We couldn't find the proper way into it or whatever.
Thom: Man-O-War is very melodramatic. Too melodramatic. When we started out, it was just a homage to bond themes really. I like it. It's pretty much the opposite to everything we're writing. |
