� High And Dry 4:18

 
Originally released: March 1995

Available on: The Bends (album), High And Dry (single)

 
Two jumps in a week,
I bet you think that's pretty clever don't you boy?
Flying on your motorcycle,
watching all the ground beneath you drop
You'd kill yourself for recognition,
kill yourself to never, ever stop
You broke another mirror,
you're turning into something you are not

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

Drying up in conversation,
you'll be the one who cannot talk
All your insides fall to pieces,
you just sit there wishing you could still make love
They're the ones who'll hate you
when you think you've got the world all sussed out
They're the ones who'll spit on you,
you'll be the one screaming out

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

Oh, it's the best thing that you ever had,
the best thing that you ever, ever had.
It's the best thing that you ever had,
the best thing you have had has gone away.

Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry
Don't leave me high,
Don't leave me high, don't leave me dry

 

Originally written two years before The Bends when they were recording Pablo Honey, the song started out life over a stolen Soul II Soul rhythm. They then decided to do a version of it. They had just had a new skin put on their bass drum, so Phil was messing about with it, and that is how the drum beat came up. Thom played the opening bit acoustic, for a laugh, and everyone thought it sounded like Rod Stewart. Bits got recorded and added, but it soon got discarded pretty quickly.

About at the time that they were recording The Bends, someone found it again, and they were surprised at how well it fitted in. They then put it on the album, not bothering to re-record it. The album version is the original demo version, just remixed. This song is one of the only occasions on which it was not all recorded together - as the band came in separately, and recorded their own sections before it was all put together.

Thom has frequently dedicated this song to the older people, who don't like loud music. There are two videos for this song - one for the release in the UK featuring the band in a desert, and one for release in the USA with a story revolving around a Pulp Fiction-esque diner.