Song · In Rainbows era (2007–09)
Last Flowers
It was the one song on the second disc of In Rainbows that Radiohead had never played at a concert.
In Rainbows Disk 2album- 2007released
- 4:26length
1996–97
last flowers to the hospital
The title comes from a sign Thom Yorke saw on the road to the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, “last flowers to the hospital”, meaning the last chance to buy any. Fans knew the song by that longer name for a decade, and the 2003 version of this site filed it as “Last Flowers Till the Hospital”.
The band tracked it during the OK Computer sessions, when it also went by “Cogs”, and left it off. Ed O'Brien's verdict on the recording, quoted on the 2003 site, was short: “It was one that we actually tracked and it sounded shite.”
2005–07
the version that came out
In April 2005 Yorke sang it alone at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, in an unannounced set during the all-night Trade Justice vigil, where NME heard it as “Glass Flowers”, and a fan's recording of it was going round online within days. He played it for Nigel Godrich's From the Basement that year too. The recording on the second disc of In Rainbows is a mournful vocal, piano arpeggios and acoustic guitar, with nothing else in the way, and of the six full songs on that disc, leaving aside the two short instrumentals, “MK 1” and “MK 2”, it was the only one the band had never played at a concert. Yorke's From the Basement performance became one of the B-sides of the “Jigsaw Falling into Place” single.
colin's favourite
The band said it had something of Bowie in it, and it was Colin Greenwood's favourite. Everyone has to agree before a track goes on an album, he explained, and he was still upset about this one.
the session
Thom Yorke alone, From the Basement.· From The Basementwatch on youtube →
the record(2)
on stage(4)
Live history
| Times played | 1 show · all of them Thom Yorke solo shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | by Thom Yorke, solo, Friday 15 April 2005 · London |
First played live in 2005, by Thom Yorke, solo, 2 years before it was released.
Thom Yorke, solo 15 April 2005 London
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. Thom Yorke’s solo nights are counted and marked as his; the openers, closers, longest absence and chart are Radiohead’s own. All setlist stats →
sources8
- Eric Torres, “Radiohead unearth Thom Yorke's 2005 From the Basement concert”, Pitchfork, 14 April 2021, for the From the Basement performance.
- Marc Hogan, “Every Radiohead song, ranked”, Vulture, for the sound of the record.
- The site's own catalogue note, based on Rolling Stone and fan archives.
- This site's own preserved 2003 lyrics pages, which carry the O'Brien and Colin Greenwood quotes, the “Cogs” title and the 2003 title.
- NME, “Radiohead Song Revealed”, 16 April 2005, and Jon Ford, “New Radiohead Tracks Appear Online”, Xfm Online, April 2005, for the Trade Justice vigil.
- Ernest Simpson, “Radiohead : In Rainbows (Disc Two)”, Treble, 15 January 2008, for the six songs and two instrumentals.
- This site's live archive, for the one song the band had not played at a concert.
- NME, “Radiohead announce new release details”, 30 November 2007, for the B-side.