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Harrowdown Hill

"Harrowdown Hill" is a song by the English musician Thom Yorke, released on 21 August 2006 as the first single from his first solo album, The Eraser. Yorke wrote it about the death of David Kelly, a British weapons expert who told a reporter that the British government had falsely identified weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "Harrowdown Hill" reached number 23 on the UK singles chart. A music video was released in July 2006.

"Harrowdown Hill"
Single by Thom Yorke
from the album The Eraser
B-side
  • "Jetstream",
  • "The Drunkk Machine"
Released21 August 2006
GenreAlternative rock, electronic
Length4:38
LabelXL
Songwriter(s)Thom Yorke
Producer(s)Nigel Godrich
Thom Yorke singles chronology
"Black Swan"
(2006) 		"Harrowdown Hill"
(2006) 		"Analyse"
(2006)

Writing

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"Harrowdown Hill" was released on Yorke's first solo album, The Eraser (2006), which he recorded while his band Radiohead were on hiatus.[1] Yorke said it had existed during the sessions for Radiohead's sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), but could not have worked as a Radiohead song.[2]

According to The Globe and Mail, "Harrowdown Hill" resembles a love song with a sense of "menace" and "grim political showdown".[3] The lyrics are about David Kelly, a British weapons expert who allegedly killed himself in 2003 after telling a reporter that the British government had falsely identified weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Kelly's body was found in the woods of Harrowdown Hill, near Yorke's former school in Oxfordshire.[4] The 1990 poll tax riots were also an inspiration.[4] Yorke felt "Harrowdown Hill" was a "poetic" name that sounded like the site of a historic battle.[4]

Yorke was uncomfortable about the subject matter and conscious of Kelly's grieving family, but felt that "not to write it would perhaps have been worse".[3] He told The Globe and Mail: "The government and the Ministry of Defence were implicated in his death. They were directly responsible for outing him and that put him in a position of unbearable pressure that he couldn't deal with, and they knew they were doing it and what it would do to him."[3] Yorke said "Harrowdown Hill" was the angriest song he had written.[5]

Music video

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The "Harrowdown Hill" music video was directed by Chel White. It features stop-motion eagle animation by David Russo, time-lapse footage by Mark Eiffert and an early use of tilt–shift photography. It was released on 31 July 2006 and was first played on Channel 4.[6][7][8] The video won the jury award for best music video at the 2006 South by Southwest festival.[9]

Release

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"Harrowdown Hill" was released as a single on 21 August 2006, and reached number 23 in the UK singles chart.[10] In 2008, to celebrate the election of US President Barack Obama, Yorke released a remixed version of "Harrowdown Hill" as a free download.[11] The Los Angeles Times critic Ann Powers wrote that "'Harrowdown Hill' makes its point through startling sounds and shards of emotionally charged speech; it's as political as a private, even secret, moment can be. Its startling beauty is typical of The Eraser."[4]

Track listings

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  • Promo CD
  1. "Harrowdown Hill" (Early Fade)
  2. "Harrowdown Hill" (Full Length)
  • 7" XLS238, limited to 5,000 copies
  1. "Harrowdown Hill" - 4:38
  2. "Jetstream" - 3:44
  • CD XLS238CD, limited to 10,000 copies
  1. "Harrowdown Hill" - 4:38
  2. "The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07
  3. "Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01
  • 12" XLT238, limited to 3,000 copies
  1. "Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01
  2. "The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07
  • 12" XLT238US
  1. "Harrowdown Hill" (extended mix) - 7:01
  2. "The Drunkk Machine" - 4:07
  3. "Jetstream" - 3:44

References

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  1. ^ Fricke, David (1 June 2006). "Radiohead's Thom Yorke on going solo". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 July 2006.
  2. ^ "Thom Yorke: 'Why I made a solo album'". NME. 2 July 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Evert-Green, Robert (14 June 2006). "Radiohead retooled". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Powers, Ann (28 June 2006). "Thom Yorke, free agent". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
  5. ^ Mclean, Craig (18 June 2006). "All Messed Up". Observer Music Monthly. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2006.
  6. ^ "Harrowdown Hill". 28 July 2006. Archived from the original on 10 August 2006. Retrieved 6 August 2006.
  7. ^ "'Itty,' 'Billy' win SXSW jury awards". The Hollywood Reporter. 14 March 2007.
  8. ^ Vankin, Deborah (4 July 2012). "Tilt shift's shrinking technique is a growing effect". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  9. ^ "SXSW Film Awards Archive". SXSW. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Harrowdown Hill | Full Official Chart History". UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  11. ^ Kreps, Daniel (6 November 2008). "Thom Yorke Celebrates Obama Victory With Free Track". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
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