Innocents Civilian

no drums, no guitars

It comes out of the fortnight at the start of 2000 when Nigel Godrich split the band into two groups and banned drums and guitars: computers and synths only. Early versions of “Backdrifts” and “The Gloaming” came out of the same sessions. O'Brien told XFM that about a fifth of what they made was good. This one had sound effects of troops marching, made by the band trudging about on the gravel outside, and the idea did not survive.

the tape that was not there

Somebody asked about it on the band's message board, and O'Brien's diary reported that the master tape could not be found anywhere.

Can't find it anywhere which is incredibly strange. It's got to turn up.

ed o'brien · online diary, 7 february 2000

The next day's entry was still worrying, and name-checked U2's rehearsal tapes ending up as bootlegs. None of it was true. The band had noticed how closely the music press was reading the diary and decided to have some fun with it, and they did not think much of the song anyway. Yorke's description of it around then as a sweeping ballad belongs to the same game. The title had also changed between entries, from “Innocent Civilians” to “Innocents Civilian”, probably a slip that the band kept.

There's a track that we nicknamed 'Innocents Civilian'.

ed o'brien · xfm, 25 september 2000

sit down, or something else

There is a theory that it is an early name for “Sit Down. Stand Up.”. Yorke's writing on the late-1999 radiohead.com, on a page called “collaterally damaged”, set the phrase “innocent civilians” beside words that ended up in that song. Against it: on 7 August 2002 in Salamanca the band planned a request section in the middle of the show, and the setlist held a placeholder called “Innocent Civilian” next to “Sit Down. Stand Up.” itself. Either it is a separate song, or it was a joke placeholder for whatever mystery song someone shouted for. Nobody asked, so it was never settled.

lost

No recording has been released. When a great deal of the band's unreleased material leaked in the 2019 minidisc hack, this was not in it.