Song · The King of Limbs era (2011)
The Butcher
Finished for The King of Limbs, judged not to fit it, and released two months later on the back of a Record Store Day single.
2010–11
cut from the album
It was completed during the The King of Limbs sessions and then left off, not for being unfinished but for not belonging. Stuttering drums, a bassline that stays on one note, and the same beat-led minimalism as the album it was excluded from.
16 apr 2011
the other side
It came out with “Supercollider” as a 12-inch double A-side for Record Store Day on 16 April 2011, and as a free download two days later for anyone who had bought the album direct. Some pressings had the labels the wrong way round.
Opinions divide. Vulture found “impressively rumbling percussion, but, by Radiohead standards, not too much more”. Stereogum heard dance beats crossed with “Radiohead's most dirge-like tendencies in fascinating ways”, and counted it among the songs that would have made that album's reputation.
never
not played
It remains a studio piece.
the video
The official promo film.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →
sources5
- Glenn Peoples, “Radiohead thanks online buyers with two free tracks”, Billboard, 20 April 2011.
- Michael Cragg, The Guardian, 18 April 2011.
- Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 25 April 2011.
- Marc Hogan, “I might be wrong: every Radiohead song, ranked”, Vulture, 28 March 2019.
- Chris DeVille, Stereogum, 18 February 2021.