Main Index Pablo Honey The Bends OK Computer Kid A Amnesiac Hail to the Thief In Rainbows The King of Limbs A Moon Shaped Pool Thom Yorke Jonny Greenwood Ed O'Brien Colin Greenwood Philip Selway
From circa 2004 onwards, this piece of text appeared in the 'scrapbook' section of Dead Air Space. It seems to be early material for the lyrics of this song. Lines like "tell the truth", "how can we lose", "fat chance" or the reference to animal life at the end clearly indicate this:

From circa 2005 onwards, two further pieces appeared in the 'scrapbook'. These provide some background for the "jumped the queue/you're back again" lyrics:

This picture belongs to a series, which can be found in full in the page for Down Is The New Up:

In August 2005, the band worked on this song, initially titled 'A Pig's Ear' or just 'Pigsee', during their six-day session at Hook End, and two posts from Dead Air Space from that period mention it:

Later the same day, Thom also made a post with a reference to the song, including a photo of a sheet with early lyrics, which are transcribed below and combined with the lines Thom included in the text of the post:


the tides are high

close but no coconut
a split second late
you got away with it
but we lie in wait

there are black birds flying in the lobby
there's a black sea of sticky saudi oil
and the governers/commaner in chief
are/is planning their/his escape

you made a pigs ear
you made a mistake
paid off security
and got through the gate
you got away with it
The official 2006 Radiohead calendar contained a page which featured related lines (click to enlarge):
'A Pig's Ear' 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:
'A Pig's Ear' was notably absent on the second blackboard posted on march 8th 2006, which contains songs considered for the upcoming tour. Indeed it would not be played yet during that year.
On February 25th 2010, after being retitled 'The Daily Mail', the song had its live debut as a solo piano rendition at Thom's Cambridge gig:
1. february 25th 2010 Corn Exchange Cambridge UK Link
In 2010, as part of the initial touring for the "Atoms For Peace" project, the song was played twice during Thom's solo section, and then twice with the full band as part of the final section of the set:
Live performances #6 to #8 during the touring for The King of Limbs:
6. circa may 26th 2011 From the Basement London UK Link
7. june 28th 2011 Glastonbury Festival Pilton UK Link
8. september 26th 2011 The Colbert Report New York City, NY USA Link
Live performances #9 to #29 during the touring for The King of Limbs:
  The King of Limbs tour (1st half) 09/'11 02/'12 march 2012 april 2012 05/'12 june 2012
Supercollider [10] 29 11 12 17 29 31 01 03 06 08
The Daily Mail [21] 28 29 27 29 01 05 06 07 09 11 15 09 11 12 14 29 31 01 05 08 15
Staircase [25] 28 29 27 29 01 05 06 13 11 12 14 17 18 21 29 31 01 03 05 06 08 10 11 13 15
These Are My Twisted Words [5] 03 07 09 12 05
Live performances #30 to #43 during the touring for The King of Limbs:
  The King of Limbs tour (2nd half) july 2012 september 2012 october 2012 november 2012
Supercollider [7] 11 29 30 11 14 18 06
The Daily Mail [14] 13 22 23 25 26 29 06 08 09 12 15 09 13 17
Staircase [17] 10 15 29 20 22 23 26 29 30 08 09 11 12 16 09 12 16
These Are My Twisted Words [6] 29 06 08 15 12 17
  2016 A Moon Shaped Pool tour may 2016 06/2016 july 2016 august 2016 sept./oct. 2016
The Daily Mail [1] 20
  2017 A Moon Shaped Pool tour march/april 2017 june 2017 july 2017
The Daily Mail [2] 07 09
These Are My Twisted Words [1] 08