AV: Thom, ¿cual es tu cancion favorita escrita por ti para Radiohead? (Thom: What is your favourite song you wrote for Radiohead?)
TY: Pause. Whatever... I'm finishing at the moment. Um, there's one called "Dawn Chorus" I'm trying to finish at the moment: that's really great... I think.
TY: Pause. Whatever... I'm finishing at the moment. Um, there's one called "Dawn Chorus" I'm trying to finish at the moment: that's really great... I think.
Thom: On a musical and sort of technical level, I was deliberately trying to find something as cold as possible to go with it. Like, I sing essentially one note, all the way through. And the chords just go 'round and 'round and 'round. There's nothing happening! Other than the words, there's nothing happening.
You said there's a deep fear in Dawn Chorus. I thought it was about grief.
Thom: It's not, strangely enough. It was written a really long time ago. Most people endure a crisis or shock at one point in their lives and they look back and wonder: what happened? It always turns out to be different than you thought. In the song the line "if you could do it all again" is followed by "a little fairy dust". Every time a sincere line is followed by a deeply sarcastic Disney-line. That's why the cumulative effect is so frightening. You are in a room with all the questions you ask yourself. You hang the questions on the wall and close the door. See it like that. For most people anger, irony or sarcasm are the first defenses if they are in crisis or something frightening happens. That's why Dawn Chorus fits so well with the rest of the album. The weird thing about it is: Dawn Chorus has no melody, it's a poem. There's only one note. And words. That's unusual for me. Normally I hide behind the melody, but for this song I refused to do that. It had to be what the words were. Very uncomfortable. That's probably why it took so long before the song found a home. It's been around since In Rainbows.
Thom: It's not, strangely enough. It was written a really long time ago. Most people endure a crisis or shock at one point in their lives and they look back and wonder: what happened? It always turns out to be different than you thought. In the song the line "if you could do it all again" is followed by "a little fairy dust". Every time a sincere line is followed by a deeply sarcastic Disney-line. That's why the cumulative effect is so frightening. You are in a room with all the questions you ask yourself. You hang the questions on the wall and close the door. See it like that. For most people anger, irony or sarcasm are the first defenses if they are in crisis or something frightening happens. That's why Dawn Chorus fits so well with the rest of the album. The weird thing about it is: Dawn Chorus has no melody, it's a poem. There's only one note. And words. That's unusual for me. Normally I hide behind the melody, but for this song I refused to do that. It had to be what the words were. Very uncomfortable. That's probably why it took so long before the song found a home. It's been around since In Rainbows.