Several images from the 'scrapbook' section of radiohead.com are related to the song:
|
|
|
'Down Is the New Up' was one of the titles that appeared on the blackboard the band used during two weeks of rehearsals from september 19th to 30th 2005. At the end of that session, Colin posted a picture of this board on Dead Air Space on september 30th, unfortunately (and probably intentionally) in rather low resolution, so that some of it can't be deciphered:
In November 2005, Thom performed the song for the first episode of Nigel Godrich's From The Basement programme.
At this point, the song includes the line "what is up buttercup", this would be changed later. Thom also doesn't sing the "won't you be my girl" section, that perhaps didn't exist at this point, and on the final "down is the new up" he repeats the phrase twice before the final "is the new up", which was also changed for the full band performances in june. Another difference: the song ends with the "crawled off and left us/you bastards" section:
At this point, the song includes the line "what is up buttercup", this would be changed later. Thom also doesn't sing the "won't you be my girl" section, that perhaps didn't exist at this point, and on the final "down is the new up" he repeats the phrase twice before the final "is the new up", which was also changed for the full band performances in june. Another difference: the song ends with the "crawled off and left us/you bastards" section:
let the light pour in pour yourself a hot bath pour yourself a drink nothing's gonna 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 your so last week ladies and gentlemen without a safety net I shall now perform a 180 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 you crawled off and left us crawled off and left us you bastards you bastards you're on candid camera the chink in your armour topsy turvy town topsy turvy town shake your pockets out pass it on pass it down topsy turvy town topsy turvy town you crawled off and left us crawled off and left us you bastards you bastards crawled off and left us crawled off and left us |
On March 8th 2006, shortly after sessions with Mark Stent had come to an unfruitful end, another photo of a blackboard (and a perhaps slightly worried Ed) was posted on Dead Air Space. A tour had been scheduled for may and june to escape the frustration of the recent sessions and to breathe new life into the project. Rehearsals for the upcoming dates had begun recently, and this board shows which new songs were at this point considered for inclusion in the setlists. 'Down Is the New Up' was one of these, and would indeed be played (click image for full size):
On June 8th 2006, the full-band version was premiered live in Toronto. This video was edited for this website from multiple video sources:
| Unreleased/In Rainbows | may 2006 | june 2006 | august 2006 |
On June 15th 2007, Nigel posted a video on Dead Air Space, that showed the playback of a reel of assembled tape snippets, which were cut out during the editing process.
The reel contains 3 fragments from the finished recording of 'Down Is The New Up'. Below you find these fragments, two of which actually flow seemlessly into each other and can be combined if one switches the order around (first audio clip here):
The reel contains 3 fragments from the finished recording of 'Down Is The New Up'. Below you find these fragments, two of which actually flow seemlessly into each other and can be combined if one switches the order around (first audio clip here):
Click here for a more detailed description of this reel, including all 20 snippets in isolation.
Thom's November 2005 From the Basement solo piano performance of 'Down Is the New Up' was released as a b-side on the Jigsaw Falling Into Place single on January 14th 2008.
The studio version of 'Down Is the New Up' was released as a b-side on the Nude single on March 31st 2008.