Song · The King of Limbs era (2011)
The Daily Mail
It spent six years in a drawer as “A Pig's Ear”, then was arranged for brass in a week.
2005–2010
a pig's ear
It had been around since roughly 2004 or 2005 under working titles including “A Pig's Ear”, and went nowhere. Yorke played it alone at a piano in February 2010.
2011
from the basement
When the band decided to perform it for The King of Limbs: Live from the Basement, they finished the arrangement inside a week, with a brass section scored by Jonny Greenwood and Clive Deamer added on second drums. It starts as a bruised piano ballad and ends somewhere much louder.
What it is about is not hidden: “the lunatics have taken over the asylum”, and “we'll feed you to the hounds / to the Daily Mail”. Vulture described the shape as “a piano ballad that grows, bolstered by fury… into a swaggering anthem”.
19 dec 2011
released
It went out as a download on 19 December 2011 with “Staircase”, both taken from the From the Basement session, which makes them live recordings released as studio tracks.
2011–2025
still played
First performed at Glastonbury on 24 June 2011, thirty-four times in 2012, and the archive counts 49 nights in all, the most recent London on 22 November 2025.
the session
From the Basement.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →
takes(2)
Live history
| Times played | 49 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 24 June 2011 · Pilton |
| Last played | Saturday 22 November 2025 · London |
| Longest absence | 7 years · back on Wednesday 5 November 2025 · Madrid |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources4
- Ed O'Brien, Zane Lowe Sessions, BBC Radio 1, 13 December 2011.
- “Radiohead take festive pop at the Daily Mail”, The Independent, 14 December 2011.
- “Check out: Radiohead, ‘The Daily Mail’ and ‘Staircase’”, Consequence of Sound, 19 December 2011.
- Marc Hogan, “I might be wrong: every Radiohead song, ranked”, Vulture, 28 March 2019.