"High and Dry" and "Planet Telex" are songs by the English rock band Radiohead. They were released as a double-A side single from their second studio album, '' The Bends'' (1995), on 5 March 1995. "High and Dry" was recorded as a demo during the sessions of Radiohead's first album, ''

Pablo Honey ''Pablo Honey'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 22 February 1993 in the UK by Parlophone and on 20 April in the US by Capitol Records. It was produced by Sean Slade, Paul Q. Kolderie and Radiohead's co-m ...

'' (1993)'','' and remastered for inclusion on ''The Bends.'' "Planet Telex" developed from studio experimentation with

drum loops In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

. Two music videos were produced for "High and Dry".

Recording

The Radiohead songwriter,

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 descri ...

, performed an early version of "High and Dry" with the band Headless Chickens while he was a student at the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

in the late 1980s. He said the lyrics were about "some loony girl I was going out with", but became "mixed up with ideas about success and failure". In 1993, Radiohead recorded a demo version with their live engineer, Jim Warren, but dismissed it as "too Rod Stewart". The demo was rediscovered and remastered for inclusion on their second album, '' The Bends'' (1995). In 2006, Yorke said that Radiohead's record label,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

, had pressured him to release it and that it was a "very bad" song. Radiohead wrote and recorded "Planet Telex" in a single session at RAK Studios while working on ''The Bends''. It developed from experiments with a

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

taken from another song, the B-side "Killer Cars", to which Radiohead added piano processed with multiple delay effects. The band had recently returned from a restaurant, and Yorke recorded the vocals drunk, slumped in a corner. According to the producer,

John Leckie John William Leckie (born 23 October 1949) is an English record producer and recording engineer. His production credits include Magazine's ''Real Life'' (1978), XTC's ''White Music'' (1978) and Dukes of Stratosphear's ''25 O'Clock'' (1985), t ...

, "We had the whole thing down within a couple of hours, which was really refreshing and fun to do." The original title was "Planet Xerox", but Radiohead were denied permission to use the

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

trademark.

Legacy

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' credited ''Bends'' songs as such as "High and Dry" and "

Fake Plastic Trees "Fake Plastic Trees" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on their second album, '' The Bends'' (1995). It was the third single from the album in the UK, and the first in the US. It charted on the UK Singles Chart, ...

" for anticipating the "airbrushed"

post-Britpop Post-Britpop is an alternative rock subgenre and is the period in the late 1990s and early 2000s, following Britpop, when the media were identifying a "new generation" or "second wave" of guitar bands influenced by acts like Oasis and Blur, but ...

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University ...

and Travis. The ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' said that "High and Dry" had "essentially invented Coldplay".

Music videos

Two music videos were created for "High and Dry": one for the British market, featuring Radiohead in a California desert, and one for the USA, set in a diner. Only the US version appears on the band's 1998 video compilation '' 7 Television Commercials.'' Both appear on the '' Radiohead: The Best Of'' DVD, released in 2008 by

Track listing

Personnel

Radiohead *

Colin Greenwood Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969) is an English musician and the bassist for the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays upright bass and electronic instruments. With his younger brother, the Radiohead guitari ...

* Jonny Greenwood * Ed O'Brien *

Philip Selway Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the English rock band Radiohead. Along with the other members of Radiohead, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Selway released his deb ...

Production *

– production (except "High and Dry"), mixing ("Maquiladora") *

Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). ...

– engineering (except "High and Dry") *

Steve Osborne Stephen John "Steve" Osborne (born 1963) is a British record producer, living in Bath, England. He has worked with a wide variety of musicians, including Suede, the B-52s, A-ha, New Order, Elbow, U2, Happy Mondays, Placebo, Gregory Porter, Do ...

– remixing ("Planet Telex (Hexidecimal Mix)") *Chris Brown – engineering ("Maquiladora") *

Sean Slade Sean Slade (born 14 November 1957) is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. On many of his productions he worked in partnership with Paul Q. Kolderie. Career Slade was born in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He graduated from Y ...

and Paul Q. Kolderie – mixing ("Planet Telex", "High and Dry", "Killer Cars") Artwork * Stanley Donwood *

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:High And Dry Radiohead songs 1995 singles Parlophone singles Capitol Records singles Songs written by Thom Yorke Songs written by Colin Greenwood Songs written by Jonny Greenwood Songs written by Philip Selway Songs written by Ed O'Brien Song recordings produced by John Leckie Black-and-white music videos