There There (song)

Radiohead worked on "There There" during the sessions for their fourth album, Kid A (2000).{{Cite journal|last=Robinson|first=John|date=10 May 2003|title=Bagpuss, ex-lax, and the angriest thing we've ever written|journal=NME|pages=34–35}} They recorded it for their sixth album, Hail to the Thief, with their longtime producer, Nigel Godrich.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/r/radiohead/news_feature_061903/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030806111415/http://www.mtv.com/bands/r/radiohead/news_feature_061903/|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 August 2003|title=Radiohead: A New Life|date=19 June 2003|publisher=MTV|access-date=28 March 2007|author=Wiederhorn, Jon}} They recorded a version at Ocean Way in Los Angeles in 2002, but were not satisfied with the results. According to the guitarist Jonny Greenwood, "Sometimes it doesn't work at all, because you haven't got the real volume of a live concert ... That just doesn't really work coming out of speakers in your front room ... It just sounded a bit like we were trying to make a worthy 'live band playing together' recording."{{cite interview|title=Radiohead Hail to the Thief – Interview CD|year=2003}} Promotional interview CD sent to British music press.

The singer, Thom Yorke, feared Radiohead had lost the song. However, they returned to the UK and recorded an alternative version in their Oxfordshire studio. Yorke said he cried with relief when he heard Godrich's mix, saying he had dreamed of how he wanted the song to sound: "And one day you walk into the studio and there it is. But you've not been standing there with a hammer and trying to beat it out of the desk or your guitar, it's not necessary. It's just there one day." A demo was released as the B-side to Radiohead's 2003 single "2 + 2 = 5".{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}}

"There There" is a rock song with layered percussion that builds to a loud climax.{{Cite book|title=Everything in its Right Place: Analyzing Radiohead|last=Osborn|first=Brad|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016}} It was influenced by Can,{{cite web|url=http://www.xfm.co.uk/Thom-Yorke-on-Hail-To-The-Thief|title=Thom Yorke on 'Hail to the Thief'|date=2 July 2003|publisher=Xfm London|access-date=20 February 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419002457/http://www.xfm.co.uk/Thom-Yorke-on-Hail-To-The-Thief|archive-date=19 April 2012}} Siouxsie and the Banshees{{cite web|url=http://www.capitolmusic.ca/artist_page.asp?artist_id=1154|title=Radiohead Biography|work=capitolmusic.ca|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060629064700/http://www.capitolmusic.ca/artist_page.asp?artist_id=1154|archive-date=29 June 2006|url-status=dead|access-date=8 July 2012|quote=Colin Greenwood remembers: 'The first single we're releasing is actually the longest song on the record. ("There There"). It was all recorded live in Oxford. We all got excited at the end because Nigel was trying to get Jonny to play like John McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees.'}} and the Pixies.NME, 10 May 2003 Yorke said it was "supposed to be comforting – 'It's alright, you're just imagining it.'" The subtitle, "The Boney King of Nowhere", refers to a song from the animated series Bagpuss, which Yorke watched with his young son.{{Cite journal|last=Odell|first=Michael|date=July 2003|title=Silence! Genius at work|journal=Q|pages=82–93}}

Yorke asked Oliver Postgate, the creator of Bagpuss, to create the music video for "There There", but Postgate declined as he was retired. Instead, a stop-motion-animated video was created by Chris Hopewell.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3594733/OK-no-computers.html|title=OK, no computers|last=McLean|first=Craig|date=16 May 2003|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=28 April 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}} Yorke instructed him to make a video similar to the folk tales of the Brothers Grimm and the Czech animator Jan Švankmajer. Hopewell described it as "fifties East European genre animation, overlaboured and naive". The video debuted on the Times Square Jumbotron in New York on 20 May 2003, and received hourly play that day on MTV2.{{cite magazine |last=Cohen |first=Jonathan |date=14 June 2003 |title=Web Leak Fails to Deter Capitol's Radiohead Setup |magazine=Billboard}} In 2020, Greenwood said it was Radiohead's best video.{{Cite web |last=Lake |first=Alex |date=January 24, 2020 |title=Here are Radiohead's personal discoveries from their public library |url=https://floodmagazine.com/73643/here-are-radioheads-personal-discoveries-from-their-public-library/ |access-date=1 July 2024 |website=Flood Magazine |language=}}

In the video, Yorke enters a forest and walks around a town consisting entirely of animals. He sees numerous events play out, such as a wedding, and finds a golden jacket and a pair of golden shoes. He puts them on, awakening a group of crows, who chase and attack him. The shoes give Yorke super speed, but the effect wears off when the crows fly away and his feet become tangled in ivy. He breaks free, but the shoes fall off. His feet become tree roots, and Yorke becomes a tree. The crows rest on the branches.

"There There" was released as the lead single from Hail to the Thief on 21 May 2003.{{cite web |title=Single 'There there.' |url=http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/radiohead/release/index_j.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030801073428fw_/http://www.toshiba-emi.co.jp/radiohead/release/index_j.htm |archive-date=1 August 2003 |access-date=2 September 2023 |publisher=Toshiba EMI |language=ja}} The Guardian described the choice of a more conventional rock song as "diplomatic" following the divided response to Radiohead's previous albums Kid A and Amnesiac.{{cite news |last=Monroe |first=Jazz |date=23 January 2020 |title=Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/23/radioheads-40-greatest-songs-ranked |access-date=24 January 2020 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}} The single reached number four on the UK singles chart and number one in Canada. It also received airplay on US modern rock stations, reaching number fourteen on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}} The music video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction at the 2003 MTV Video Awards.{{cite magazine |title=2003 MTV Video Music Awards Winners |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/69353/2003-mtv-video-music-awards-winners |access-date=22 January 2018 |magazine=Billboard}} In 2020, the Guardian named "There There" the 27th-greatest Radiohead song, writing that its "hooks and arrangement were deceptively crafty ... making its turbulent climax hard to shake".{{cite news |last=Monroe |first=Jazz |date=23 January 2020 |title=Radiohead's 40 greatest songs – ranked! |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/23/radioheads-40-greatest-songs-ranked |access-date=24 January 2020 |work=The Guardian |issn=0261-3077}}

Standard CD and 12-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=There There|others=Radiohead|year=2003|type=UK CD single liner notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=CDR 6608, 7243 5 52336 2 2}}{{cite AV media notes|title=There There|others=Radiohead|year=2003|type=UK 12-inch single sleeve|publisher=Parlophone|id=R 6608, 7243 5 52336 6 0}}

1. "There There" – 5:24
2. "Paperbag Writer" – 3:58
3. "Where Bluebirds Fly" – 4:31

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Radiohead

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

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Additional personnel

• Nigel Godrich – production
• Darrell Thorp – engineering
• Stanley Donwood – artwork

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{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|7AQSLozK7aA|"There There" video}}
• [http://www.ateaseweb.com/songs/therethere.php At Ease Web song info entry]
• [http://www.ateaseweb.com/discography/therethere/index.php At Ease Web Discography entry]

{{Radiohead}}

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Category:2003 singles

Category:Canadian Singles Chart number-one singles

Category:Music videos directed by Chris Hopewell

Category:Number-one singles in Portugal

Category:Parlophone singles

Category:Radiohead songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich

Category:Songs written by Colin Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Ed O'Brien

Category:Songs written by Jonny Greenwood

Category:Songs written by Philip Selway

Category:Songs written by Thom Yorke

Category:Stop-motion animated music videos