Song · Pablo Honey era (1992–93)
Ripcord
A hundred and fifteen nights in four years, from the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden to the E-Werk in Cologne.
Pablo Honeyalbum- 1993released
- 3:10length
1992–93
no ripcord
At a show in Gothenburg in June 1993, Thom Yorke introduced it as a song about signing to a label, having lots of money and “absolutely no idea what the fuck to do with your life”. The 2003 version of this site kept the line, and it fits. A ripcord is what a parachutist pulls to open the canopy, and in the song there isn't one. Somebody has been sold a thrill, flung out of an aeroplane at speed and dropped wherever it suits.
Annie Zaleski, writing in Salon for the album's 25th anniversary, heard an abrasive song about hurtling into the unknown, driven by its tense dynamics. Phil Witmer in Vice put it with “Prove Yourself” among the songs that break into squealing guitars every few bars.
1993–94
on record twice more
A live recording from the Town and Country Club in London, where they were supporting Belly, went on the “Pop Is Dead” single in May 1993, with different words from the album's. Another is on Live at the Astoria, the show EMI filmed on 27 May 1994, where it was third in the set. In between, Paul Moody's NME piece of September 1993 printed it, from a warm-up show at The Venue in Oxford, as “Ripchord”.
2 jul 1993
the revolving stage
Its first night in the archive is the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden, in north-west London, on 11 September 1992. It was played on 58 nights in 1993, and one of them was Edgefest in Toronto on 2 July, in front of 4,500 people on a stage that revolved. Kim Hughes, reviewing it for NOW Magazine, watched the band start tentatively, as if the turning had thrown them, before they found their feet. Colin Greenwood stayed close to Phil Selway's drums and Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood stood almost still, which left the stage to Yorke. Hughes thought him small, and found that he filled it anyway, wailing and shaking his hair through this song.
2016
two halls
Michael C. Hall and Lena Hall, no relation, both of whom have been in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, sang it in rehearsal for Radiohead: Obsessed, a one-night show of the band's songs at the Carlyle in New York in March 2016, and Vulture ran the footage.
on stage
Live at Reading 1994.· Nero Liveswatch on youtube →
the record(1)
on stage(5)
Live history
| Times played | 115 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 11 September 1992 · Harlesden |
| Last played | Tuesday 28 November 1995 · Cologne |
| Closed the night | 6 times |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
Tabs (1)
sources9
- The 2003 treefingers.com lyric page for “Ripcord”, for Yorke in Gothenburg.
- Annie Zaleski, “Pablo Honey: Beyond ‘Creep’”, Salon, 23 February 2018.
- Phil Witmer, “The first song on Radiohead's debut album predicted their future greatness”, Vice, 22 February 2018.
- Wikipedia, “Pop Is Dead”, for the Town and Country Club recording and the B-side.
- Paul Moody, NME, 11 September 1993.
- Wikipedia, “Live at the Astoria”, for the running order.
- Kim Hughes, Edgefest review, NOW Magazine, 8 July 1993.
- Greg Cwik, Vulture, 20 March 2016, for the Hall rehearsal.
- Performance dates from this site's own setlist archive.