Song · Live covers
2HB
Thom Yorke sings Bryan Ferry's song to Humphrey Bogart, in a glam band invented for a film.
1972
to humphrey bogart
Bryan Ferry wrote it for Roxy Music's first album. The title is an address, 2HB, to Humphrey Bogart, and the song is largely about Casablanca. Ferry's Hohner Pianet carries it, and Andy Mackay's saxophone solo is built on the melody of “As Time Goes By”, put through tape echo by Brian Eno. Madness answered it with “4BF”, for Bryan Ferry, and the Human League with “4JG”, for J. G. Ballard.
1998
the venus in furs
For Todd Haynes's Velvet Goldmine, a band called the Venus in Furs was put together just for the film. They were Bernard Butler of Suede, Craig McClune, Paul Kimble, Andy Mackay from Roxy Music itself, Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke, who sings lead here. The film, about a glam rock scene that never happened, opened in British cinemas on 23 October 1998, and Yorke told MTV he had been asked to ham it up.
It was cool, but it doesn't sound like me singing at all.
thom yorke · mtv, quoted in louder, 11 july 2023
the video
Roxy Music cover - Vocal By Thom Yorke.· Orsojkawatch on youtube →
the record(1)
on stage(1)
sources3
- Wikipedia, “2HB”, for the Roxy Music recording and the Velvet Goldmine line-up.
- Niall Doherty, “That time Thom Yorke formed a glam rock band with members of Radiohead, Suede, Roxy Music and, umm, David Gray's drummer”, Louder, 11 July 2023, via this site's news story on the film, for Yorke's lead vocal, Craig McClune and the MTV quote.
- Box Office Mojo, “Velvet Goldmine (1998)”, via the same story, for the British opening.