BIG IDEAS [DON'T GET ANY]

Released:
This track has yet to be released
Length: About 5 minutes long.
Disc: There's a clip on the Meeting People Is Easy video
Tablature: Guitar

"Nude" is actually the title that appeared on the band's setlists, though the song has never been referred to elsewhere by this name. This piece features both Thom and Jonny on keyboards (though when it was first played live -- in Tokyo, on 23 January 1998 -- there was just Thom on an acoustic guitar), and it is as gorgeous and mysterious as both Motion Picture Soundtrack and True Love Waits. Influenced by the notion that we live in a man's world, a place where men can get whatever they desire, the song also explores the guilt that men feel when they commit certain acts, like cheating on their partners.

Slow, and astoundingly beautiful, Big Ideas is another of the unreleased tracks that fans have waited to be released for an age, but the band have never gotten around to recording a proper version. There were speculations that the new b-side The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy could be Big Ideas, as it didn't have a title, and the word Orgy relates to the Big Ideas song. But this turned out to not be the case and The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy was a different (though quality) song altogether.

Maybe one day the fans will be given a recorded version of Big Ideas. Until then all we can do is wait, and listen to low quality bootlegs from live shows. You can see a good clip of the end of this song on the Meeting People Is Easy video, where Thom mentions he was thinking of calling this track 'Your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments', which is featured in the small print of most loan type advertisements in the UK...Thom feared it wasn't catchy enough.

Update: On the 24th of June 2001, Radiohead played this track live at Vancouver, Canada. They haven't played it live since 1998 (I think). Though it sounds a bit different, and they did get it wrong while they played, this surely confirms that the track is not dead and a future release is still possible. Let's hope...

Further Update: Big Ideas was played a further few times during the 2001 tour. I think it's confirmed, Big Ideas is not lost.

Don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen
You paint your house white
And feel the noise
But there'll be something missing

And just when you found it, it's gone
Just when you feel it, you don't
You've gone off the rails

She kisses you with tongue and pulls you to the bed
Don't go, you'll only want to come back again

So don't get any big ideas
They're not gonna happen
You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking

And now that you found it, it's gone
Now that you feel it, you don't
You've gone off the rails
  Go to - Lyrics & Song Info | Fitter Happier