My Iron Lung
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| My Iron Lung | ||
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| EP by Radiohead | ||
| Released | October 24, 1994 (Canada) January 31, 1995 (UK) |
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| Recorded | 1993-4 | |
| Genre | Alternative rock | |
| Length | 28:23 | |
| Label | Parlophone/Capitol | |
| Producer(s) | John Leckie Nigel Godrich Radiohead |
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| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead chronology | ||
| Pablo Honey (1993) |
My Iron Lung (1994) |
The Bends (1995) |
| The Bends track listing | ||
| "Just" (7) |
"My Iron Lung" (8) |
"Bullet Proof... I Wish I Was" (9) |
My Iron Lung is an EP by the band Radiohead, released in 1994 and including the song of the same name (also included on their 1995 album The Bends). My Iron Lung EP also contains outtakes from then-ongoing recording sessions for The Bends, compiling songs that were issued as B-sides on two separate "My Iron Lung" CD singles in the UK and other markets. My Iron Lung was originally released in EP form with all eight songs only in Australia (and interestingly was given away there with early pressings of 1997's OK Computer to help stimulate sales of that album) but is currently in print worldwide. It is usually seen as a bridge between the simplicity of their first album, Pablo Honey, and the sonic depth and introspectiveness of their later '90s work.
The title track is notable for having been recorded live (the 1994 Astoria, London performance later released as a home video), with only the vocals later overdubbed. The song as it appears on the singles/EP is virtually identical to the version that appeared the next year on The Bends, with only some barely audible changes in mixing levels.
"My Iron Lung", the song, was Radiohead's reaction to "Creep", their massive hit of 1993 which also became something of a millstone. Singer Thom Yorke described the iron lung as a metaphor for the way "Creep" had both sustained the band's life and constrained them, as evidenced in his caustic self-reflexive lyrics ("this is our new song / just like the last one / a total waste of time / my iron lung"). The music is perhaps consciously a parody of "Creep", and has also been frequently noted for its resemblance to the riff and loud-soft dynamics of "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana. Comparison with that band was both commercially helpful and acutely painful to Radiohead in 1994, given Kurt Cobain's recent death and attempts by the UK rock press to portray Yorke as his successor; they refused to talk about Nirvana, with whom they shared many musical influences, in interviews. An acoustic version of "Creep" appears at the end of the EP.
Other songs on the EP chart a course away from the emotional grunge-pop of Pablo Honey, toward increasingly layered production and more inventive guitar parts, especially evidenced in the ethereal "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong", and Sonic Youth homage "Permanent Daylight" whose lyrics are hidden in a wall of noise. The title track, along with fan favorite "The Trickster", almost approaches a metallic sound, while "Lewis" is musically a successor to Pablo Honey's punky "How Do You" and lyrically a precursor to "Just" from The Bends, both serving as warnings to seemingly oblivious friends on the verge of breakdown. The acoustic "Lozenge of Love" uses unconventional tonality and is inspired by a Philip Larkin poem, while "You Never Wash Up After Yourself" is another quiet, desolate track for acoustic guitar and voice; these two are the only completely acoustic studio-recorded songs the band would release commercially until the B-side "Gagging Order" in 2003.
In Britain and most of the world, this EP was available instead as two "My Iron Lung" singles: the first, with a blue cover, featured the title track backed by "The Trickster", "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong", and "Lozenge of Love"; the second, with a red cover, had "Lewis (Mistreated)", "Permanent Daylight", and "You Never Wash Up..." as B-sides. "Creep (Acoustic)" (which had also closed the earlier Itch EP) only appears on the EP release, and many people see this as a form of closure for the song which almost branded them as one hit wonders.
The "My Iron Lung" single charted at #24 in the UK, a decline from "Creep"'s eventual peak of #7. It also received little radio or MTV attention in the United States, especially as compared with "Creep". "My Iron Lung" remains the least known of the five released singles from The Bends (and the earliest, preceding the album by almost six months), but attracts fans with Jonny Greenwood's intense guitarwork. It continues to be played live on occasion (as recently as August 2006), unlike many songs from that era. "Permanent Daylight" also remains one of the few B-sides still sometimes played live by the band.
[edit] Track listing
- "My Iron Lung" – 4:36
- "The Trickster" – 4:40
- "Lewis (Mistreated)" – 3:19
- "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" – 4:40
- "Permanent Daylight" – 2:48
- "Lozenge of Love" – 2:16
- "You Never Wash Up After Yourself" – 1:44
- "Creep (Acoustic)" – 4:19
| 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 (2plus2isfive) 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) | 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 |
| Covers of Radiohead songs | Dead Air Space | Nigel Godrich | Stanley Donwood | Trivia | Scott Tenorman Must Die |
| Other projects |
| Bodysong | The Eraser | Spitting Feathers |
