"Harrowdown Hill" is a song by the singer

Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...

, released on 21 August 2006 as the first single from his debut solo album ''

The Eraser ''The Eraser'' is the debut solo album by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 10 July 2006 through XL Recordings. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, the longtime producer for Yorke's band Radiohead. ''The Eraser'' comprises electronic ...

''. Yorke wrote it about the death of David Kelly, a British weapons expert who told a reporter that the British government had falsely identified

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

in Iraq. "Harrowdown Hill" reached number 23 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. A music video was released on 31 July 2006.

Writing

"Harrowdown Hill" was released on Yorke's debut solo album, ''

'' (2006), recorded while Yorke's band

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...

were on hiatus. According to the ''

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', it resembles a love song with a sense of "menace" and "grim political showdown". Yorke said the song had been "kicking around" during the sessions for Radiohead's sixth album, ''

Hail to the Thief ''Hail to the Thief'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released on 9 June 2003 through Parlophone internationally and a day later through Capitol Records in the United States. It was the last album released ...

'' (2003), but that it could not have worked as a Radiohead song. The lyrics are about David Kelly, a British weapons expert who is presumed to have committed suicide in 2003 after telling a reporter that the British government had falsely identified

in Iraq. Kelly's body was found in the woods of Harrowdown Hill, near Yorke's former school in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. Yorke was uncomfortable about the subject matter and conscious of Kelly's grieving family, but felt that "not to write it would perhaps have been worse". In an interview with the ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in con ...

'', he said it was "the most angry song" he had ever written. He told the ''Globe and Mail'': "The government and the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

were implicated in his death. They were directly responsible for outing him and that put him in a position of unbearable pressure that he couldn't deal with, and they knew they were doing it and what it would do to him."

Music video

The "Harrowdown Hill" music video was directed by

Chel White Chel White (born May 30, 1959) is an Americans, American film director, composer, screenwriter and visual effects artist. In his independent films and music videos, White is known for his stylized, often experimental use of images, animation and ...

BENT Image Lab BENT IMAGE LAB (or BENT) is a production company and animation studio specializing in story development, television, commercials, visual effects, music videos, short films, experimental techniques and tech development in augmented reality (AR). Lo ...

in 2006. It features

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

eagle animation by David Russo,

time-lapse Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

footage by Mark Eiffert, and a technique known as Smallgantics. It was released on 31 July 2006 and was first played on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

Release

"Harrowdown Hill" was released on 21 August 2006, peaking at #23 in the

. To celebrate the 2008 election of US president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

, Yorke released a remixed version of "Harrowdown Hill" as a free download.

Track listings

*Promo CD #"Harrowdown Hill" (Early Fade) #"Harrowdown Hill" (Full Length) *7" XLS238, limited to 5,000 copies #"Harrowdown Hill" - 4:38 #"Jetstream" - 3:44 *CD XLS238CD, limited to 10,000 copies #"Harrowdown Hill" - 4:38 #"The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07 #"Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01 *12" XLT238, limited to 3,000 copies #"Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01 #"The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07 *12" XLT238US #"Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01 #"The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07 #"Jetstream" - 3:44

References

External links