Song · In Rainbows era (2007–09)
Last Flowers
Named after a road sign outside the Radcliffe Hospital, it sat in a drawer for ten years.
In Rainbows Disk 2album- 2007released
- 4:26length
1996–97
last flowers to the hospital
The title is a sign 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.
They tracked it during the OK Computer sessions, when it also went by “Cogs”, and left it off. 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.”
The band said it had something of Bowie in it, and it was Colin Greenwood's favourite. He explained that everyone has to agree before a track goes on an album, and that he was still sorry about this one.
2005–07
the version that came out
Yorke played it on From the Basement in 2005, and the recording that eventually appeared on the second disc of In Rainbows was made during the sessions for The Eraser: mournful vocal, piano arpeggios, acoustic guitar, and nothing else in the way.
It was one of three Yorke solo performances used as B-sides on the “Jigsaw Falling into Place” single.
never
not played by the band
The archive holds no Radiohead performance of it. It exists as a solo piece that happened to be released under the band's name.
the session
Thom Yorke alone, From the Basement.· From The Basementwatch on youtube →
takes(3)
sources3
- Wikipedia, “In Rainbows”, for the From the Basement performances and the Eraser session.
- The site's own catalogue note, based on Citizen Insane, Rolling Stone and Green Plastic.
- This site's own preserved 2003 lyrics pages, which carry the O'Brien and Colin Greenwood quotes and the “Cogs” title.