The Bends

Album: The Bends (1995)
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Songfacts®:

  • The "bends" is a scuba diving term. It refers to a condition caused when a diver surfaces too fast.
  • Lead singer Thom Yorke: "We wrote this song before completing the first album. The sound at the beginning come from the cacophonous rumpus outside an hotel in the US. A guy was dragging 8-year-old kids to parade with all their instruments. This guy had a small mike on his sweater and he kept shouting: 'Yeah, keep it up, keep it up.' So I went outside and recorded him." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2
  • According to Q magazine April 2008, the band worked through several takes of this, as they were initially concerned that it sounded too bombastic. Jonny Greenwood tried many different guitar-and-amp combinations before returning to his original Fender set up at the Manor studios in Oxfordshire. There, the track was finally completed.
  • Thom Yorke in Melody Maker June 1995: "The song 'The Bends' is completely jokey, completely taking the piss. None of that stuff had ever happened to us when we wrote it."
  • John Leckie, the producer of The Bends, recalled to Q magazine April 2008 the recording of the album: "I love the album but by the end of the sessions I felt devastated. Without telling me, the band sent copies of the master tapes to the States to be mixed by the Americans who produced Pablo Honey. It was the first time it had happened to me. After 100 days' work I felt like I'd given birth to a dozen babies and had them all taken away. I wasn't even invited to the final playback. The band chose me as producer because I did the first Magazine album Real Life, which they were all big fans of. I suggested we use the Manor studio in Oxfordshire but they said it was 'too rock 'n' roll' and went for Mickie Most's RAK studio in London, where they worked solidly for nine weeks. Thom would be there when the studio opened at 9 o'clock, working on his own at the piano before the others turned up at 12. After that the band went off on a tour of the Far East. When they came back they weren't happy with a lot of what we'd done at RAK so they decided they would use the Manor after all. After that I went to Abbey Road to start mixing. I heard later the band said it was like the schoolteacher had left the room. Maybe it was an age thing, I was 20 years older than them. They felt more comfortable with RAK's assistant engineer, this young guy, Nigel Godrich."

Comments: 9

  • Maya from Los Angeles, Cawhere are my real friends? have they all got the bends
  • Andrew from Charles Town, Wv"Yeah, I agree with joe. I wish it was the sixties too, but thats because of all the music and peace movements and love..and drugs. Not because my life is boring. Thats probably what Thom Yorke meant. I bet he has a lot of passion. Yeah."

    "And I really do wish I'd never written that f--king song - it's become the bane of my life. Hundreds of journalists asking - every single f--king interview: 'Do you wish it was the sixties ?' No, I don't wish it was the f--king sixties - Levis jeans wish it was the sixties - I certainly f--king don't." - Thom
  • Jordan from Toronto, OnI totally agree with David.
  • Taylor from Yorkshire, EnglandJoe - There's a reson David wrote the words "i think" before he gace his interpretation of the lyrics...
  • Briana from Santa Monica, CaYeah, I agree with joe. I wish it was the sixties too, but thats because of all the music and peace movements and love..and drugs. Not because my life is boring. Thats probably what Thom Yorke meant. I bet he has a lot of passion. Yeah.
  • Joe from Dublindavid, what are you talkin' about?? i, myself, wish it was the sixties but i wouldn't say it was because i have no passion or excitement in my life. there was a better music scene around then, not to mention the drugs and free love that went with it. are u forming your opinions from interviews or anything, or is it just sheer speculation? i don't mean to start a fight or anything, but, as i said on the 'man who sold the world' page - it bugs me when people speculate about songs and then give their views like they're practically fact. 9 times out of 10, u can bet if the original author was to read jon doe's analysis of his lyrics, he/she would be surprised themselves.
  • David from Austin, Txben - i don't think this song is about bill hicks, but they did mention him on "the bends" album with the "thank yous" etc. i think this song is about how he's with his girlfriend and he feels emotionally dead, like he wants something meaningful to happen in the world. his monotonous relationship with her also contributes to this feeling. "i wish it was the sixties" refers to the excitement and passion of the sixties, and how he has no passion or excitement in his own life.
  • Ben from Sheffield, EnglandI have heard that this song is a tribute to Bill Hicks, does anyone else know of this?
  • Christian from Vancouver, CanadaThis is probly my favorite song of all time

    I can relate to it in so many different ways

    sometimes i think it was written just for me... I love hearing the stories about Thom and the media questioning him.
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