Songfacts®:

• Although none of the band members have disclosed the exact meaning of the song, it is widely accepted that it has suicidal overtones. The lines, "Red wine and sleeping pills" and "I will see you in the next life" support this theory. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  mike - Marrakesh
• Radiohead started writing this in 1987 around the same time as "Creep, and first performed it in 1996. The song lost a verse and underwent major changes by the time it made ti to Kid A.
• The version on Kid A lasts 3:18 but takes up about 7 minutes at the end of the CD. After 3:18, there is a minute of silence followed by the hidden track "Genchildren" which runs from 4:19 to 5:10 and is followed up by another 1:50 of silence.
• On stage, the harp is played by Jonny Greenwood on a synthesizer. For the OK Computer tour, the song was regularly played live, featuring only Thom Yorke on acoustic guitar. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 3
• In an interview with the Observer Music Magazine December 2007, Thom Yorke was asked if "Motion Picture Soundtrack," the last track on Kid A, ends with a suicide. The Radiohead vocalist replied: "No, 'Motion Picture Soundtrack' ends with little tweety angel noises, I seem to remember. [sings quietly] 'I will see you in the next life...' No, that could just be saying goodbye to someone dying. They don't have to be doing it themselves. You can read suicide into most things, can't you?"
• American dream-pop band Cigarettes After Sex released an ethereal cover on December 12, 2023. They originally recorded it in June 2015 in Brooklyn, New York.