Song · In Rainbows era (2007–09)
Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
They recorded it in an abbey weeks before the last soldier of the trenches died.
2005
the interview
Harry Patch was the last surviving British soldier to have fought in the trenches of the First World War. In 2005 he was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, and Yorke heard it.
The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
thom yorke · dead air space, 5 august 2009
2009
one voice, one string arrangement
They recorded it live in an abbey a few weeks before Patch died on 25 July 2009, aged 111. There is no rock instrumentation on it at all: Yorke's voice, and strings arranged by Jonny Greenwood, which open with repeated arpeggios and carry the whole song, with what the Telegraph called a “grim, delicately furious peak” halfway through. Writers reached for Gavin Bryars and Barber's Adagio, and for Greenwood's own score to There Will Be Blood.
The words are written from inside the trenches, and several lines are Patch's own, lightly adapted: “Give your leaders each a gun and let them fight it out themselves”, and “The next will be chemical, but they will never learn”. Radiohead had put their name to anti-war causes before, but this is the first of their songs to say the word.
5 aug 2009
a pound, and no record company
It premiered on Today on the morning of 5 August 2009, the day before Patch was buried, and went on sale that afternoon through the band's own shop for £1, every penny to the Royal British Legion. The BBC posted it with the lyrics.
Welcome, once again, to the future of popular music: no need for albums, or marketing campaigns, or grand announcements, just a song by Radiohead, recorded mere weeks ago, premiered on yesterday's Today programme, and now available to download.
john harris · the guardian, 6 august 2009
Judging by the traffic to the band's site, the Guardian reckoned a conventional release would have put it in the UK top ten. Patch's family approved of both the message and where the money went. It was added to streaming services on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2016.
2025
an intro, never the song
It has never been played in full. In 2025 the band used it as the intro to “Everything in Its Right Place”, in Casalecchio di Reno on 17 November and in Copenhagen on 4 and 15 December.
the video
The recording.· Weird Instrumentalswatch on youtube →
sources8
- Thom Yorke, “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)”, Dead Air Space, 5 August 2009.
- John Harris, “Radiohead's farewell to old first world war soldier in song”, The Guardian, 6 August 2009.
- Lucy Jones, “Radiohead's tribute to Harry Patch strikes the right note”, The Daily Telegraph, 6 August 2009.
- Terri Judd, “Radiohead release Harry tribute”, The Independent, 5 August 2009.
- Mark Richardson, “Resonant Frequency #70”, Pitchfork, 21 May 2010.
- Andrea Rice, “Radiohead's anti-war eulogy”, American Songwriter, 11 August 2009.
- Chris Salmon, “Click to download: Radiohead tribute hits purple Patch”, The Guardian, 14 August 2009.
- Wyndham Wallace, “Radiohead Versus The Release Schedule”, The Quietus, 11 August 2009.