The 2003 Radiohead song that became “a total nightmare” for Thom Yorke
From their first record onward, Radiohead have always been mad scientists whenever they entered the recording studio.
Although they may have gotten their start as a pseudo-grunge outfit on their debut Pablo Honey, they would spend the rest of their career reinventing their sound into new and eccentric directions, from the digitised sounds of Kid A to the bold soundscapes on A Moon Shaped Pool. Though they may have had excellent skills in the studio, Thom Yorke said this deep cut didn’t come without a few headaches.
That willingness to embrace complexity became one of Radiohead’s defining characteristics. Rather than repeating successful formulas, the band consistently challenged themselves, often prioritising artistic exploration over accessibility.
When looking through every one of the band’s projects, though, none of them were exactly easy to make. As far back as the sessions for their landmark album, OK Computer, the band were known to be visited by different spirits when making the project, leading to one night when Yorke ended up cutting off all his hair in a stupor.
While the results may have yielded some of the biggest hits of the band’s career, Yorke would later want nothing to do with the sound that made him famous. Returning to the studio for what would become the albums Kid A and Amnesiac, Yorke wanted to focus on the mechanics of rhythm in his sound, eventually crafting songs that were laser-focused on the digital aspect of recording like ‘Everything in Its Right Place’ and ‘Idioteque’.
“I never thought we’d get it off the ground because of all the counting, and the timing on it is really funny.”
Thom Yorke
Although Kid A would mark one of the most dramatic pivots a rock band has ever made, Yorke didn’t want to be confined to one particular genre throughout his career. By the time the band finished up the tour for the two records, Hail to the Thief was a reminder that the band could still kick ass when they wanted to, making songs that blended the artificial and caustic sides of their sound like ‘Myxomatosis’ and ‘There There’.
When putting together the song ‘Sail to the Moon’, though, Yorke ran into a problem translating the song to the rest of the band. Written on piano, the song would eventually feature some of the most inventive chord changes the band would ever make on a record, complete with cascading musical fragments and a loose sense of rhythm that makes the whole thing feel like it’s floating in the air.
Talking about the sessions, Yorke recalled being unable to articulate what he wanted it to sound like, saying, “I never thought we’d get it off the ground because of all the counting, and the timing on it is really funny. I mean, I guess you can’t hear it, maybe you can’t, people can’t hear it, but it was just a total nightmare”.
Regardless of the loose sense of timing, Yorke would later commend the rest of the band for making his song sound right, explaining, “Everyone’s having to count all the way through. ‘Ok, this one’s 7, this one’s 6, this one’s 5, bla bla bla’. But it doesn’t really sound like that, they made it sound really effortless. So I was really happy about that, I was really proud of that”.
Since the pulse of the song is constantly changing, the listener seems to put themselves in the position of the narrator, voyaging off into uncharted territory without knowing where the next second is going to lead them. That sensation mirrors many of the themes explored throughout Hail to the Thief. The album frequently examines uncertainty, instability and the feeling of navigating a world where familiar landmarks are constantly shifting.
While Radiohead has made a career out of writing songs about people who never feel quite at home, ‘Sail to the Moon’ is one of the first times where that discomforting feeling is applied to the listener in real time.
More than two decades after its release, ‘Sail to the Moon’ remains one of the most understated achievements in Radiohead’s catalogue. It may not enjoy the same recognition as some of their biggest singles, but it showcases the band’s remarkable ability to turn technical complexity into something deeply human and emotionally affecting.
