Thom Speaks

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Here's an interview with Thom Yorke from The Guardian from a bit ago that I apparently missed.

"But there seems to be a song with even more sobering content than 'And it Rained All Night', which expresses the fear of catastrophic flooding. Is the song 'Harrowdown Hill' really about the suicide of weapons inspector and government scientist Dr David Kelly?

'It is,' says Yorke with some reluctance. 'But I've got this thing where I don't want to make a big deal out of that because I'm very sensitive to the idea of digging up anything that the Kelly family...'

As he often does, Yorke lets a sentence fizzle out just as another barges in. His speech, like his actions and his responses to issues that he cares about, is impulsive and scattershot. Or, as per the title of the song on 2003's Hail to the Thief, 'Scatterbrain'.

'I don't really think it's appropriate for me to say, "Yes, it's about that",' he continues, 'because I'm sure they're still grieving over his death.'

But Harrowdown Hill is the name of the Oxfordshire woods where Kelly's body was found in July 2003. I remind Yorke of the lyrics: 'You will be dispensed with when you've become inconvenient... up on Harrowdown Hill... that's where I'm lying down... did I fall or was I pushed...'. That's quite direct stuff.

'It's the most angry song I've ever written in my life,' he nods grimly. 'I'm not gonna get into the background to it, the way I see it... And it's not for me or for any of us to dig any of this up. So it's a bit of an uncomfortable thing.'"

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