destiny, destiny, protect me from the world /
destiny, hold my hand, protect me from the world //
here we are with our running and confusion /
and I don't see no confusion anywhere //
and if the worm does turn /
and if London burns /
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar /
I wanna be in a band when I get to heaven /
and anyone can play guitar /
and they won't be a nothing anymore //
grow my hair, grow my hair, I am Jim Morrison /
grow my hair, I wanna be, wanna be, wanna be Jim Morrison //
here we are with our running and confusion /
and I don't see no confusion anywhere /
and if the worm does turn /
and if London burns /
I'll be standing on the beach with my guitar /
I wanna be in a band when I get to heaven /
and anyone can play guitar /
and they won't be a nothing anymore
The following recording is said to be a 4-track demo, but it sounds too much like a studio recording to be one. It might after all be mislabelled and stem from an unidentified radio broadcast:
Thom: "It's kind of a song about being in a band. Sort of all the positive and negative sides at the same time. And also, it's a reaction against, um, hair bands. People that wear leather trousers and therefore think that when they come offstage they're entitled to a blow job because they're in a band and all that sort of thing. We still meet people in bands who are living out this rock and roll legend thing that just DIED years ago. If people are still living it out then they obviously need to go into therapy or something. So there's all that side of it. But there's also the really positive side of being in a band, and, just really honest, we really enjoy it."
Anyone Can Play Guitar was Radiohead's second single and first top 40 chart hit in the UK, reaching #32. Nonetheless it was denied any radio play by Radio One in England because - in Thom's words - "we were singing about playing guitars and stuff".
On january 28th 1993 the band performed this song (along with 'Creep') for ITV's 'The Beat' - the band's first appearance ever on television:
The song later became infamous, owing to a performance of it and 'Creep' for MTV's 'Beach House' on July 4th of the same year. After having to perform the former song four times in a row for the cameras to capture multiple angles, the band got fed up and started an impromptu performance of 'Anyone Can Play Guitar'. This performance is known for Thom's agitation during the second verse, where he takes extra pointed jabs at Jim Morrison, before proceeding to scream into the camera. After the chorus that followed, he jumped into the swimming pool on set.
Since touring for The Bends Thom sang "I want to be in this band when I get to heaven".
