Rice referred to Yorke's voice in the song as an "innocent and youthful falsetto" the NME said his singing is "subdued to the point where you really need to read the lyrics". Both Luke Lewis of NME and Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly likened the lyrics to Wilfred Owen's First World War-era poem Dulce et Decorum est. Several lines, including "Give your leaders each a gun and let them fight it out themselves" and "The next will be chemical, but they will never learn", are adapted from quotations by Patch. The lyrics are from the perspective of a soldier in the midst of First World War trench warfare.
#MEM PATCH MEANING PATCH#
While Radiohead has expressed anti-war sentiments in the past-including a contribution to the 1995 War Child charity compilation The Help Album-"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" marks the first time that a Radiohead song explicitly refers to war in its lyrics, marking a departure from Yorke's typically abstract writing. Andrea Rice of American Songwriter wrote that the song's style was far removed from "anything emblematic of Radiohead". Critics from Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Daily Telegraph drew comparisons to Greenwood's score to the film There Will Be Blood however, Jim Fusilli of The Wall Street Journal believed that the two works " no resemblance". Pitchfork writer Mark Richardson compared the track to Gavin Bryars' 1971 composition Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet and Samuel Barber's 1936 Adagio for Strings. There is a bridge described as a "grim, delicately furious peak" halfway through the song.
#MEM PATCH MEANING SERIES#
Strings introduce the song with a series of repeated arpeggiated notes, which continue as Yorke's singing begins. "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" has no standard rock instrumentation, and instead comprises Yorke's vocals and an orchestral string arrangement composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood.
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The Patch family voiced their approval of the song's message and the band's charitable use of the proceeds.Īudio sample featuring the prominent orchestration in the main section and the beginning of the song's bridge. While reception to the song was generally positive, with many critics praising the song's message, others criticised it as too sombre. The lyrics are from the perspective of a soldier in the First World War, and include modifications of quotations from Patch.
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Recorded in an abbey shortly before Patch's death, the song consists of Thom Yorke's vocals and a string arrangement composed by Jonny Greenwood, absent of Radiohead's typical mix of rock and electronic instrumentation. It was rereleased as a single on Remembrance Day 2016, with new artwork by longtime Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood. Radiohead self-released it on 5 August 2009 as a downloadable single for £1 from their website, with all proceeds donated to the Royal British Legion. The song is a tribute to the British supercentenarian Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches during World War I. " Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead.