This song had been written long before it saw release on the album of the same name. The band had been soundchecking gigs with this before Pablo Honey came out, but it wasn't recorded for the debut album and instead held in the can for the second record.
This slow 4-track demo, featuring a recorder solo by Jonny, was released on the Long Live Tibet compilation and was recorded in mid 1992 about the time that sessions for Pablo Honey took place:
This slow 4-track demo, featuring a recorder solo by Jonny, was released on the Long Live Tibet compilation and was recorded in mid 1992 about the time that sessions for Pablo Honey took place:
Throughout 1993 the song was titled 'The Benz', a little wordplay, which would be discarded ultimately. This acoustic performance for Signal Radio comes from february 11th 1993:
A studio demo was recorded at Courtyard Studios in march 1993 during the same session that also produced the released version of 'High & Dry'. It became available on the Radiotick bootleg along with studio demos of 'Nice Dream', 'Pop Is Dead' and 'Banana Co.':
The song was played regularly throughout 1993 while the band was touring for Pablo Honey. This performance comes from the "Black Session" in Paris, France on february 23rd 1993, and was actually released under the title 'The Benz' on a French Creep EP:
The sounds at the beginning of the studio version on The Bends were recorded by Thom during Radiohead's first US tour in july 1993. A marching band practised on the street outside his window when he was staying in a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona towards the end of that tour.