I Am a Wicked Child

the webcast

It was first heard at the end of the band's webcast from their own studio in March 2000, after a long evening of them playing records they liked. NME reported that the new song was meant for the next album and guessed it might be called “Wicked Child”.

salamanca

It reached a concert stage in Salamanca on 6 August 2002, the second of three nights at the Palacio de Congresos that closed the band's summer run through Portugal and Spain. They played it third, with Jonny Greenwood on maracas and harmonica. The 2003 version of this site missed the night, and told its readers the song had not been played since the webcast.

the b-side

It came out on 18 August 2003 on the second CD of the “Go to Sleep” single and the limited 12-inch, and the next spring on Com Lag. It is built on harmonica over a heavy stomp, something like a back-porch song with the porch rotted through.

Ryan Schreiber reviewed it for Pitchfork the day before release, was hard on all three of the single's new songs, and said the blues harmonica reminded him of Alice in Chains. Reviewing Com Lag for NME, Anthony Thornton spotted that the song's opening line is borrowed from the Beatles' “Let It Be”.