The Bends (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "The Bends" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by Radiohead | ||
| from the album The Bends | ||
| Released | March 13, 1995 (UK) April 4, 1995 (U.S.) |
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| Recorded | August - November 1994 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock | |
| Length | 4:04 | |
| Label | Parlophone (UK) PCS 7372 (LP) CDPCS 7372 (CD) Capitol (U.S.) CDP 7243 8 29626 2 5 |
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| Writer(s) | Thom Yorke | |
| Producer(s) | John Leckie Radiohead Nigel Godrich |
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| The Bends track listing | ||
| Planet Telex (1) |
"The Bends" (2) |
High and Dry (3) |
The Bends is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from the the 1995 album The Bends. It was not a single in the UK, but was released to radio in some countries.
The song's instrumentation is primarily bass, drums and electric guitar, making use of Radiohead's three guitarists Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Thom Yorke.
This track was intially introduced as being about "knowing who your real friends are and when they're going to come to your gigs". Singer Thom Yorke soon simplified this to "knowing who your friends are". The song contains the lines "who are our real friends / have they all got the bends / am I really sinking this low?" and "baby's got the bends / we don't have any real friends". The song is highly emotional, reaching a climax with the lyrics "I wanna live, breathe, I wanna be part of the human race". However, according to Yorke it reflects Radiohead sense of humor, containing over-the-top lines about the CIA and the Marines. "The Bends" also contains the line, "I wish it was the sixties, I wish we could be happy". Yorke was often questioned about the line in the music press, and he said it was not a sincere wish.
Of the opening, Thom says, "The sound at the beginning comes from this caterwauling mayhem outside this hotel in the States. There was this guy training these eight-year-old kids, who were parading up and down with all these different instruments. The guy had this little microphone on his sweater and was going: 'Yeah, keep it up, keep it up.' So I ran out and taped it".
[edit] Trivia
- At the end of Massive Attack song "False Flags," distorted samples from the song "The Bends" can be heard with the line "Where do we go from here" sticking out the most.
