MORNING BELL

Released:
Oct 2000
Length: 4:37
Disc: Kid A
Tablature: Guitar | Bass

Other Versions:
Amnesiac Version - Amnesiac
Live @ Oxford - I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings

A very cool, predominantly keyboard and drums song. Thom's voice is extremely high pitched for this track's vocals, as he sings yet more randomly plucked from hat lyrics. Towards the middle of the song, guitar fizzles in and then all kinds of howling wind and distortion effects come in as Thom's singing turns to moaning and groaning. It all reaches a fast paced climax at the end of the song.

The back end of Morning Bell could be considered scary, I suppose. The mumbling of Thom, coupled with the screeching of the sound effects and the howling wind are quite spooky. And there's everything shocking about the lyric 'cut the kids in half'.

Morning bell
Morning bell
Light another candle and
Release me
Release me

You can keep the furniture
A bump on the head
Howling down the chimney
Release me
Release me
Please
Release me
Release me

Where'd you park the car?
Where'd you park the car?
Clothes are on the lawn with the furniture
Now I might as well
I might as well

Sleepy jack the fire drill
Round and round and round and round and round and round and round
And round

Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half

I wanted to tell you but you never listened
You never understand
I wanted to tell you but you never listened
You never understand
Cos I'm walking walking walking...

The lights are on but nobody's home
Everybody wants to be a
The lights are on but nobody's home
Everybody wants to be a slave
Walking walking walking...

The lights are on but nobody's at home
Everybody wants to be a
Everyone wants to be a friend
Nobody wants to be a slave
Walking walking walking...
Thom Yorke "It's very, very violent. Extremely violent. The really weird thing about that was I wrote the song with all the words pretty much straight away, which is basically the only one I did that with. I recorded it onto MiniDisc and then there was a lightning storm, and it wiped the MiniDisc and I lost the song. I completely forgot it. Then five months later, I was on a plane, knackered for 24 hours, I was just falling asleep, and I remembered it. It was really weird, I never had that before. It's gone in and took a long time to come out again. The lyrics are really... they're not as dramatic as they sound, you know? Except "Cut the kids in half", which is dramatic no matter which way you read it." - Thom
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