“High and Dry/Planet Telex”
Single by Radiohead from the album The Bends
Released	February 1995
Recorded	1992-1993
Genre	Pop, Rock
Length	4:20
Label	Parlophone (UK) Capitol (US)
Writer(s)	Radiohead
Producer	John Leckie Radiohead
Radiohead singles chronology
"Stop Whispering" (1993) "High and Dry"/"Planet Telex" (1995) "Fake Plastic Trees" (1995)
The Bends track listing
"The Bends" (2) "High and Dry" (3) "Fake Plastic Trees" (4)

"High and Dry" was the second single taken from the Radiohead album The Bends, and appeared as a double A-side with the album opener "Planet Telex". It was released in the UK on 5 March 1995 and peaked at only number 17 in the UK singles chart, despite being one of the band's most well known radio tracks.

The song was actually recorded during the Pablo Honey sessions but was dismissed by the band, who thought that it sounded "like Rod Stewart".^[1] However, during the sessions for The Bends it was rediscovered, dusted off and re-mastered, as it was felt that it worked well with the rest of the album's content. The version that appears on the album is simply the original demo; it was never re-recorded.

It is widely regarded as Radiohead's most accessible pop hit, and was a live favourite, though it has not been performed in a decade. There was speculation this was mostly due to the demands of the vocal part on Thom Yorke's voice. However, in a recent interview Thom said he "had his arm twisted... to put [the song] anywhere" and described it in the following words: "It's not bad, you know. It's not bad... it's very bad. [Laughs]".^[2]

In the early 2000s as the band's style became less conventional, Moby and Courtney Love both lamented that Radiohead no longer wrote "songs like 'High and Dry'."^{[citation needed]}

There were 2 versions of High & Dry/Planet Telex released. CD 1 with a red cover and CD 2 with a blue cover.

The song is played in the background during a scene in the 2007 film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

CD Singles

CD 1

1. "High & Dry" - [4:17]
2. "Planet Telex" - [4:18]
3. "Maquiladora" - [3:27]
4. "Planet Telex (hexidecimal mix) - [6:44]

CD 2

1. "Planet Telex" - [4:18]
2. "High & Dry" - [4:17]
3. "Killer Cars" - [3:02]
4. "Planet Telex" (l.f.o. jd mix) - [4:40]

Netherlands

1. "High & Dry" - [4:16]
2. "Creep" (live) - [4:13]
3. "My Iron Lung" (live) - [4:42]
4. "Stop Whispering" (live) - [5:28]
5. "Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong" (live) - [5:02]

U.S.

1. "High & Dry" - [4:16]
2. "India Rubber" - [3:26]
3. "Maquiladora" [misspelled "Maquilladora"] - [3:26]
4. "How Can You Be Sure" - [4:21]
5. "Just" (live at the forum) - [3:47]

Music videos

Version 1

Produced to air in the United States and directed by Paul Cunningham. The band arrive at a diner and order. The rest of the people on the diner are involved in dramas of their own, which are revealed through the use of flashbacks. A couple and the diner's cook are involved in an unspecified crime. A businessman is hiding something in his briefcase. In the end, the two dramas are resolved when the guilty parties are betrayed, the cook gives the couple a time bomb and the businessman is ambushed and killed (though the murder is only suggested).

Version 2

Produced to air in the United Kingdom, it shows the band performing in a desertic setting amidst trucks and filming equipment. By the end of the video, it rains on the band, but they continue playing. It was shot in black and white and directed by David Mould. This was actually the first version of the video produced, but the band expressed dissatisfaction with it, leading to the other video. Only the US version appears on their 1998 video compilation 7 Television Commercials.

Cover versions

A cover version of the song appears on English pop-jazz singer Jamie Cullum's album Pointless Nostalgic, and on some international versions of his subsequent album Twentysomething. Cullum's version was also released as a single, along with a video (featuring Cullum playing piano on the rooftop of a building, with a woman trying to stop a man from jumping off the roof.).

Uruguayan singer Jorge Drexler covers the song on his 2006 album 12 Segundos de Oscuridad. American pop/punk band Yellowcard covered this song for AOL Sessions Under Cover. Canadian R&B band Jacksoul covered the song on their 2006 album mySoul. American neo-soul singer Bilal has also covered the song.

Liberty X performed a version of this song on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge on Radio One, and on tv programme Re:covered. They had wanted to release it as a b-side but Radiohead wouldn't let them.

Go Home Productions spliced this song with Marvin Gaye's Sexual Healing for the bootleg "Sexual High".

Tanya Memme, co-star of A&E's Sell This House released a cover version of High and Dry on her debut CD, Gemini.

Christian Linke the bassist from Panik the german band also did a cover for the sons and posted the song on his profile.

References

1. High and Dry lyrics.
2. Interview with Thom Yorke.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "High and Dry". Image Credit.

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