High and Dry / Planet Telex

The Radiohead songwriter, Thom Yorke, performed an early version of "High and Dry" with another band, Headless Chickens, while attending the University of Exeter in the late 1980s.{{Cite web |title=Rare Footage Surfaces of Thom Yorke Performing "High and Dry" With Pre-Radiohead Band |url=http://pitchfork.com/news/60375-rare-footage-surfaces-of-thom-yorke-performing-high-and-dry-with-pre-radiohead-band/ |access-date=16 July 2015 |website=Pitchfork|date=13 July 2015 }} He said the lyrics were about "some loony girl I was going out with", but became "mixed up with ideas about success and failure".{{cite magazine |last=Bambarger |first=Bradley |date=17 February 1996 |title=The Modern Age |magazine=Billboard}}

In 1993, Radiohead recorded a demo at Courtyard Studios, Oxfordshire, with their live engineer, Jim Warren.{{cite web |last=Randall |first=Mac |date=15 May 2015 |title=Radiohead's 'The Bends,' 20 Years Later: Reexamining a Modern Rock Masterpiece |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/high-dive-look-radioheads-bends-20-years-later |access-date=20 September 2019 |website=Guitar World}} They dismissed it as "too Rod Stewart". However, the demo was rediscovered and remastered for inclusion on their second album, The Bends (1995). In 2006, Yorke said "High and Dry" was "very bad" and that Radiohead's record label at the time, EMI, had pressured him into releasing it.{{cite web |last=Plagenhoef |first=Scott |date=16 August 2006 |title=Pitchfork: Interviews: Thom Yorke |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/6402-thom-yorke/ |access-date=3 March 2010 |website=Pitchfork}}

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 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 his vocals drunk, slumped in a corner. According to the producer, John Leckie, "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 trademark.{{Cite book|last=Randall|first=Mac|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0q9bTJp2Bi4C&q=My+Iron+Lung+Live+at+the+Astoria&pg=PT203|title=Exit Music: The Radiohead Story Updated Edition|date=1 February 2012|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-1-4584-7147-5}}

The first music video for "High and Dry" featured Radiohead performing at the Vasquez Rocks outside Los Angeles. For the American market, Radiohead's American record label, Capitol, commissioned a new video inspired by the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, set in a roadside diner. After MTV objected, the video was edited to remove a shot of an exploding car.

Pete Stanton from Smash Hits gave "High and Dry" four out of five, writing: "It has a Suede-ish vibe to it, minus the whining, and is a mellow-but-not-boring track."{{cite magazine|first=Pete|last=Stanton|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/54270186774/in/album-72177720323207180|title=New Singles|work=Smash Hits|date=1 March 1995|page=53|access-date=9 February 2025}} In 2017, Pitchfork credited "High and Dry" and another Bends song, "Fake Plastic Trees", for influencing the "airbrushed" post-Britpop of Coldplay and Travis.{{cite web |date=29 March 2017 |title=The 50 Best Britpop Albums |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/?page=5 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602164010/http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/10045-the-50-best-britpop-albums/?page=5 |archive-date=2 June 2017 |access-date=30 May 2017 |website=Pitchfork}} The Irish Times said that "High and Dry" had "essentially invented Coldplay".{{Cite news |last=Power |first=Ed |date=12 March 2020 |title=Why Radiohead's The Bends is the worst great album of all time |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/why-radiohead-s-the-bends-is-the-worst-great-album-of-all-time-1.4199850 |access-date=9 September 2020 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}

{{Track listing

| headline = CD1

| title1 = High and Dry

| length1 = 4:17

| title2 = Planet Telex

| length2 = 4:18

| title3 = Maquiladora

| length3 = 3:27

| title4 = Planet Telex

| note4 = Hexidecimal Mix

| length4 = 6:44

| total_length = 18:46

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = CD2

| title1 = Planet Telex

| length1 = 4:18

| title2 = High and Dry

| length2 = 4:17

| title3 = Killer Cars

| length3 = 3:02

| title4 = Planet Telex

| note4 = L.F.O. JD Mix

| length4 = 4:40

| total_length = 16:17

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 12" vinyl

| title1 = Planet Telex

| note1 = Hexidecimal Mix

| length1 = 6:44

| title2 = Planet Telex

| note2 = L.F.O. JD Mix

| length2 = 4:40

| title3 = Planet Telex

| note3 = Hexidecimal Dub

| length3 = 7:32

| title4 = High and Dry

| length4 = 4:17

| total_length = 22:14

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 1996 US release

| title1 = High and Dry

| length1 = 4:16

| title2 = India Rubber

| length2 = 3:26

| title3 = Maquiladora

| length3 = 3:26

| title4 = How Can You Be Sure?

| length4 = 4:21

| title5 = Just

| note5 = live at the Forum

| length5 = 3:47

| total_length = 19:12

}}

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Radiohead

• Colin Greenwood
• Jonny Greenwood
• Ed O'Brien
• Philip Selway
• Thom Yorke

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Production

• John Leckie – production (except "High and Dry"), mixing ("Maquiladora")
• Nigel Godrich – engineering (except "High and Dry")
• Steve Osborne – remixing ("Planet Telex (Hexidecimal Mix)")
• Chris Brown – engineering ("Maquiladora")
• Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie – mixing ("Planet Telex", "High and Dry", "Killer Cars")

Artwork

• Stanley Donwood
• Thom Yorke

{{col-end}}

{{col-begin}}

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=single|artist=Radiohead|title=High and Dry|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1995|certyear=2022|access-date=6 October 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Radiohead|title=High and Dry|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=2021|access-date=2 November 2021|note=sales since 2009}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|title=High and Dry|artist=Radiohead|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1995|access-date=December 15, 2024|certyear=2022|certref={{cite web|url=https://www.radioscope.co.nz/2024/00/00/single-cert-search/|title=New Zealand single certifications – Radiohead – High and Dry|publisher=Recorded Music NZ|access-date=December 15, 2024}}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|type=single|artist=Radiohead|title=High and Dry|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=2024|access-date=3 July 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Radiohead|title=High & Dry|award=Platinum|relyear=2006|certyear=2024|id=15625-1730-1|access-date=21 November 2024}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|7qFfFVSerQo|"High and Dry" video }}

{{Radiohead}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:High And Dry}}

Category:Radiohead songs

Category:1995 songs

Category:1995 singles

Category:Parlophone singles

Category:Capitol Records singles

Category:Songs written by Thom Yorke

Category:Songs written by Colin Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Jonny Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Philip Selway

Category:Songs written by Ed O'Brien

Category:Song recordings produced by John Leckie

Category:Black-and-white music videos