How to Disappear Completely
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| "How to Disappear Completely" | ||
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| Song by Radiohead | ||
| from the album Kid A | ||
| Released | October 2, 2000 | |
| Recorded | January 1999 – April 2000 | |
| Genre | Experimental rock, Ambient music, Pop music, Art rock | |
| Length | 5:55 | |
| Label | EMI Parlophone KIDA1 Capitol |
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| Producer(s) | Nigel Godrich and Radiohead | |
| Kid A track listing | ||
| "The National Anthem" (3) |
"How to Disappear Completely" (4) |
"Treefingers" (5) |
"How to Disappear Completely" is the fourth track on the 2000 album Kid A by the English band Radiohead.
The song was written during the OK Computer tour and was played twice in 1998, originally titled "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found", after a book on changing identities.
The early version of the song was starker than both the final studio and live versions. In the studio, Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood developed the song in a different direction from the band's earlier work - arranging a string section (played by the Orchestra of St. John's), and himself playing the Ondes martenot, an early electronic instrument popularized by the works of Olivier Messiaen. The recording was pieced together over months during the experimental and sometimes contentious recording sessions for Kid A, in which coproducer (with the band) Nigel Godrich also played an important role. According to Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, "When Jonny did the strings on 'How to Disappear Completely,' that was absolutely his thing. Nigel [Godrich] helped him, and that was it. The rest of us were not involved in that at all".
At the same time, "How to Disappear" was seen as one of the most accessible tracks on Kid A. Already near the end of the album's first half, it was noted by some reviewers as the first song with guitar. Underpinning the song's string orchestrations and electronic effects are Thom Yorke's minor key acoustic part, Colin Greenwood's bassline, Ed O'Brien's watery electric guitar riffs, and Phil Selway's drums.
Thom Yorke, who wrote and sings the song, says the inspiration for "How to Disappear Completely" came from two things, in particular Radiohead's tremendously popular appearance at Glastonbury Festival in 1997 and the feeling of disconnection he felt on the subsequent tour, and a dream set in Dublin, Ireland in which he was chased by a wave of water from the River Liffey:
"I dreamt I was floating down the Liffey and there was nothing I could do. I was flying around Dublin and I really was in the Dream. The whole song is my experiences of really floating"
R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe partially inspired "How to Disappear Completely" when he advised Thom Yorke after the strain of touring OK Computer became too much. "That song is about the whole period of time that OK Computer was happening. We did the Glastonbury Festival and this thing in Ireland. Something snapped in me. I just said, 'That’s it. I can’t take it anymore'. And more than a year later, we were still on the road. I hadn’t had time to address things. The lyrics came from something Michael Stipe said to me. I rang him and said, 'I cannot cope with this'. And he said, 'Pull the shutters down and keep saying, 'I'm not here, this is not happening'. Yorke can be seen writing himself such a reminder in the documentary Meeting People Is Easy, during a scene where Scott Walker's music play. Later, Stipe was himself influenced by Radiohead, asking Yorke's permission to name his own song "Disappear".[1]
The documentary film Meeting People Is Easy (released in 1999) documents Radiohead's near-burnout on their 1997-1998 tour, including the appearance at Glastonbury, where Yorke tells the stage crew to turn the lights on the audience so he can see the endless crowd. The film also has a scene in which Yorke sticks a piece of paper on which he has written what would later become the lyrics "I'm not here / This is not happening" on his hotel window, while a Scott Walker song, "On Your Own Again", plays on the film's soundtrack. Interestingly, the music for "How to Disappear Completely" was said to be influenced by Scott Walker, as well as by Messiaen and Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki.
The song is often played live, where it has appeared in the encore and is considered a favourite of fans. "How to Disappear Completely" is about two minutes longer live, beginning with a lyrical instrumental introduction on Jonny's ondes martenot, and more audible bass and acoustic guitar. The album's string section is not heard, with the ondes playing the part instead. A version was also performed for a Canal+ TV special in 2001 with Yorke's solo acoustic performance accompanied by several ondes martenots.
In 2006, Thom Yorke said it was the song that he would like Radiohead to be remembered by, and that "it was the most beautiful thing we had ever done", in an interview on the BBC's Culture Show.
| Radiohead |
|---|
| Thom Yorke • Jonny Greenwood • Ed O'Brien • Colin Greenwood • Phil Selway |
| Discography |
| Albums: Pablo Honey • The Bends • OK Computer • Kid A • Amnesiac • Hail to the Thief • TBA |
| EPs: Manic Hedgehog • Drill • Itch • My Iron Lung • No Surprises/Running from Demons • Airbag/How Am I Driving? • I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings • COM LAG |
| Singles: "Creep" • "Anyone Can Play Guitar" • "Pop Is Dead" • "Stop Whispering" • "My Iron Lung" • "High and Dry"/"Planet Telex" • "Fake Plastic Trees" • "Just" • "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" • "Lucky" • "Paranoid Android" • "Karma Police" • "No Surprises" • "Pyramid Song" • "Knives Out" • "There There" • "Go to Sleep" • "2 + 2 = 5" |
| DVDs: Live at the Astoria • 7 Television Commercials • Meeting People Is Easy • The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth of All Time |
| Related articles |
| Nigel Godrich • Stanley Donwood • Dead Air Space • Covers of Radiohead songs • Trivia |
| Other projects |
| Bodysong • The Eraser • Spitting Feathers |
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