Radiohead: "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)"

Pink Floyd were always a primary influence on Radiohead, no matter the period: Dark Side of the Moon (1974) to OK Computer (1997); Atom Heart Mother (1971) to Kid A (2000); etc. So it’s no surprise that the stand-alone single “Harry Patch (In Memory Of)” recalls the Floyd’s “When the Tigers Broke Free,” an outtake of The Wall (1979) which found its way in the film and as a 45 to promote it (then, much later, placed on the 2005 reissue of The Final Cut). Both songs recall specific instances of wartime carnage, and both rely on heavily cinematic, almost shmaltzy string arrangements to beef up simple chord changes. Roger Waters’ song is about his father, a British soldier who perished in the Second World War, while Harry Patch was the last known living veteran of World War I who passed away this year. No matter how affected Thom Yorke may have been by Patch’s story, it suffers when compared to Waters’ song—I’m aware of few moments in pop that are as harrowing as Waters-as-inner-child-as-omniscient-narrator shouting how British Command “took my daddy from me.” Yorke-as-Patch-floating-up-to-heaven, however, only sighs that “the next [war] will be chemical, but they’ll never learn,” and one imagines Nigel Godrich instructing the singer in the booth to try it “one more time, with detachment.”

Nevertheless, Yorke can sing circles around Waters, and if he rediscovered his voice on In Rainbows (2007) then “Harry Patch” is his victory lap. His performance here comes off like an update of the Kid A song, “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” only replacing that song’s self-conscious and mannered take with serenity and effortless mastery. If it lacks empathy, it also avoids shallow emotional manipulation. That’s more than could be said for Jonny Greenwood’s strings, which features some elements of dissonance less for the sake of the song, or even dissonance’s own sake, but more to remind you that you’re listening to a Radiohead song. An inessential Radiohead song, to be sure, but still a worthwhile listen, and one that lends a pound to the British Legion. They’ve had worse ideas.