Author: joseph

On From the Basement, Thom Yorke performed “Down is the New Up,” a possible new Radiohead song. These may be the lyrics. Corrections are encouraged.

get yourself together
let the light pour in
pour yourself a hot bath
pour yourself a drink
nothing’s going to happen
without warning

down is the new up
what is up, buttercup?
down is the new up,
is the new up

your services are not required
your future’s bleak
you’re so last week

ladies and gentlemen
without a safety net
I shall now perform a one-eighty flip-flop
I shall now amputate
I shall now contort

because down is the new up
what if I just flip-flop

down is the new up
down is the new up
down is the new up
is the new up

crawled off and left us
crawled off and left us, you bastard
bastard

you’re on candid camera
the chink in your armor
topsy-turvy town
topsy-turvy town
shake your pockets out
pass it on, pass it down
topsy-turvy town
topsy-turvy town

crawled off and left us
crawled off and left us, you bastard
bastard

crawled off and left us
crawled off and left us

You can listen, but not see, here.

Today, “Videotape” was released via From the Basement.These may be the lyrics. Corrections are encouraged.

when I’m at the pearly gates
this’ll be on my videotape
when Mephistopheles is just beneath
and he’s reaching up to grab me

this is one for the good days
and i have it all here in red blue green
you are my centre when I spin away
out of control on videotape

this is my way of saying goodbye
’cause I can’t do it face to face
or talking to you
after it’s too late from my videotape

no matter what happens now
I won’t be afraid because I know
today has been the most perfect day
I’ve ever seen

You can listen, but not see, here.

From the Basement, Nigel Godrich’s online music series launches on the 18th December. One guest will be Thom Yorke singing two new Radiohead songs, “Videotape” and “Down is the New Up.”

In the trailer, Yorke sings lyrics previously posted to Dead Air Space on April 5, 2005:

when im at the pearly gates
thisll be on my videotape
when Mephistopholis is just beneath
and he’s reaching up to grab me
this is one for the good days
and i have it all here in red blue green
you are my centre when i spin away
out of control on videotape

And, presumably, these photos from February 6 show the band working on “Videotape.” Sasha Frere-Jones has described a live version of the song: “The lovely “Videotape,â€? which invokes death and Mephistopheles (Yorke opens with “When I’m at the pearly gates, this’ll be on my videotapeâ€?), slowly ramps up and then down, the guitars and the drums bobbing around Yorke’s piano chords, emphasizing different beats of the rhythm, as if three songs were slowly becoming one.”

The British Composer Awards 2006: “The winner of the 2006 Listeners’ Award is Jonny Greenwood, who receives £10,000 from the PRS Foundation towards a commission for a new orchestral work.” For more on what a superhet popcorn receiver is, see this message.

Stream: Superhet Popcorn Receiver.

On October 11, 2005 Thom posted the lyrics to an unreleased song, “Rubbernecks”:

their dotting all the tees
and crossing their eyes
welcome to the future
it opened up my eyes
its creeping up the car park
its coming up the drive
rubbernecks with cameras
petrol and bonfires(heres the loud bit)

we need to keep away the rubbernecks
we need to keep away the rubbernecks
me me my my

Gustave Flaubert defined “Rubbernecks” in his Dictionary of Accepted Ideas: “RUBBERNECKS. All Parisians are. But nine out of ten Parisians are from the provinces. In Paris, everybody gorms, nobody works.”

‘Dead Children Playing’; a Book of Pictures: “Unlike many commercial artists working in the field of record packaging, the elusive duo responsible for Radiohead’s artwork tend to start with huge canvases and big buckets of paint. For the last half-decade or so these paintings have featured in whole or in part on the shelves of record shops throughout the world. Containing almost all the paintings produced by the consistently paranoid Stanley Donwood and the persistently enigmatic Dr. Tchock between about 1999 and about 2005, this Picture Book also holds between its covers page after page of sketchbook pages, as well as a plethora of images found on now-defunct digital recording media; a cornucopia of never-before-seen artwork.”

There is also a signed version.

It was reported several places (NME and Dead Air Space) that Radiohead were working with a different producer, Spike Stent. Yet a recent Dead Air Space entry would suggest that the most recent recording sessions are being produced by Nigel Godrich.

Caption: “Il Spaghetti Nigelli di West Finchli.” Roughly, Nigel Spaghetti of West Finchley. Or perhaps: Nigel, the Spaghetti of West Finchley.

Today, Stanley posted an image on Dead Air Space:

This image resembles the image found here, an advertisement for the Anti-Noise League from 1935. A Wikipedia entry has been created, but it lacks sufficient information.