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The oldest known roots for the lyrics of 'Kinetic' go back to early 1998. The artwork of the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP, released in april 1998, contains strange questionnaires, and one of those features the line "Words on a gravestone: I waited but you never came." (click image for full size):

The following images look like they were made when Thom and Stanley were creating the artwork for Amnesiac in late 2000/early 2001. They make use of a scan of two overlapping sheets, that appear to be old rough drafts for the questionnaires seen in the artwork of the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP.
The first of these appeared in the Dead Children Playing book that accompanied the exhibition of artwork that Stanley held at Iguapop Gallery in Barcelona in 2006. The one posted below appeared in the Scrapbook section of radiohead.com (click first image to enlarge):



The word "kinetic" appears three times in a row in this page, that appeared in radiohead.com during the Kid A period under the title 'try':





dapply sunlight from the trees planted 100 yrs ago/breese moves islands f snlight ver the clothes f th people lng dwn on the pavemenkinetic kinetic kinetic 1234567

"We've hit a few crops so far. It's not much fun. It's scary and physically hard work. You can lose your way in the dark and have to jump into ditches or nettle beds to avoid the police.
i go
:I dont do this out of an infantile need to be an environmental member of the SAS. I think there are about eight groups working like us. People pulling up crops range from the old left to the DIY culture. People really feel a sense of necessity and duty; I feel personally affronted and outraged.
If you believe in something you should act now."
.... ....















speak until the tape runs out
play back the tape
until the story is finished
The band worked on this track during a period of electronic experimentation in early 2000, and it is mentioned in three entries from Ed's Diary:
thursday, february 3rd 2000
bits and pieces are added to 'kinetic' - phil sets up his electric kit triggering samples, it works well and could be the basis of an interesting backing track. most of the day is spent preparing for tomorrow's string day.
tuesday, february 8th 2000
nigel got what seems like a good mix of 'dollars and cents'. more work on t+j's drum thing. did some playing this afternoon. upstairs at the moment nigel and thom are doing 'something' to kinetic. still can't find the master tapes to 'innocents civilian' and beginning to worry. worst case scenarios even being aired ie the u2 case when some of their rehearsal tapes went missing and ended up being sold as bootlegs.cozzie continues editing drums.
monday, february 28th 2000
had a funny old meeting last friday..............definitely nursing a hangover from it today.................

nigel was sidetracked last week by 'cuttooth' so he really really wants to do some mixing this week. 'egyptian song' then..........thom plays bass and it sounds pretty much finished. i haven't really been involved in this song so when i hear it i think i'm able to be fairly objective about it.........it has the feel of one of the tracks on the last mark hollis album and it is definitely one of the highlights so far. meanwhile downstairs...................jonny and i are let loose on fucking up phil's drum sound. hours of fun as coz might say. starts off by phil doing some drums on 'kinetic'...................keep getting that ground hogday sensation writing this diary. can't help feeling that this must be an exceptionally boring read except to maybe the diehard muso............
The samples mentioned in the first diary entry, that Phil used for the rhythm track, appear to have been taken from Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, an album that the band has often referred to as a major influence on their work. Below you can listen to the beginning of the relevant track from that album, 'Miles Runs The Voodoo Down' (Miles Davis is not credited for this sample in the production notes of the Pyramid Song single):
'Kinetic' was apparently considered for inclusion on Kid A for a while, and is said to have been replaced by 'Idioteque' at some point in the difficult process of finding the right tracklist for the album.
This stereo extraction (eliminating the center signal) from 'Kinetic' reveals a line that is hardly audible in the full mix, "Can't you stop the children screaming":
'Kinetic' was released as a b-side on the Pyramid Song single on may 21st 2001.
A few related bits of lyrics have been seen at the top of the Scrapbook section of radiohead.com since 2004: