Man of War (song)

"Man of War" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released as a download on 22 June, 2017. Radiohead wrote it during the sessions for their second album, The Bends (1995), and performed it on the Bends tour; singer Thom Yorke described it as a homage to James Bond themes. Radiohead worked on it during the sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), and recorded a version for the 1998 film The Avengers, but the recordings were abandoned.

This article is about the Radiohead song. For the Prince song, see Man'O'War (song).
"Man of War"
Single by Radiohead
from the album OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017
Released22 June 2017
GenreAlternative rock
Length4:29
LabelXL
Songwriter(s)Radiohead
Producer(s)
Radiohead singles chronology
"I Promise"
(2017)		 "Man of War"
(2017)
Music video
"Man of War" on YouTube

Years later, Radiohead submitted "Man of War" for the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, but it was rejected as it had not been written for the film. It remained unreleased until 2017, when it was included on the OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017.

History

"Man of War", which had the working title "Big Boots",[1] was written during the sessions for Radiohead's second album The Bends (1995). The band performed it several times on tour in 1995.[2] Singer Thom Yorke said it was a "melodramatic" homage to James Bond themes;[3] Radiohead covered "Nobody Does It Better", the theme from the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, on the same tour.[4] Radiohead considered recording "Man of War" as a B-side for the Bends single "Street Spirit (Fade Out)".[3] Instead, they recorded a version in the first sessions for their third album, OK Computer (1997), with producer Nigel Godrich, but it went unreleased.[5]

In March 1998, Radiohead and Godrich recorded a version containing electronic elements in Abbey Road Studios for the 1998 spy film The Avengers,[6] but this was abandoned. Footage of the session appears in the 1998 documentary Meeting People Is Easy.[7] Yorke said: "We were so messed up and we went in, tried to do the track, but we just couldn't do it. It was actually a really difficult period of time. We had a five-week break and all the shit was coming to the surface ... It was a real low point after it."[8]

Years later, Radiohead were commissioned to write the theme song for the 2015 James Bond film Spectre, and submitted "Man of War".[9] In September 2015, conductor Robert Ziegler, who had worked with Radiohead on their 2011 album The King of Limbs, tweeted photos of the band recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[10] The Spectre production team liked the song, but rejected it when they discovered it had not been written for the film and would be ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[9] Radiohead suspended work on their ninth album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016), to record another song for the film, "Spectre", but this was rejected as too melancholy.[11][9] In June 2017, Radiohead released "Man of War" on the OK Computer reissue OKNOTOK 1997 2017 alongside two other previously unreleased tracks: "I Promise" and "Lift".[12]

Composition

Rolling Stone described "Man of War" as a "crisp mid-tempo ballad" with strings, piano, and "shards of distressed electric guitar".[12] It opens with a guitar figure before a distorted chorus.[13] The lyrics are "anxious" and "nerve-wrecking", with the refrain "the worms will come for you".[12]

Music video

The "Man of War" music video, directed by Colin Read, was released in June 2017 on YouTube. The video alternates from day to night, with the mood shifting from "cheerful to paranoid". It follows a man walking from a park who appears carefree by day but "seems to be hiding something" at night.[12]

Reception

PopMatters praised "Man of War" as the strongest of the new tracks released on OKNOTOK, and argued that it could have appeared on the original OK Computer.[13] The PopMatters critics awarded it an average score of 8.3 out of 10.[14] Drowned in Sound described it as "grandiose-bordering-on-OTT" and the "opposite" of Radiohead's other Bond theme, "Spectre".[15]

Personnel

Radiohead

Additional personnel

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak
position
France (SNEP)[16] 178
gollark: Clever!
gollark: It runs slowly, is highly subjective, generally has people who have no idea what programming actually is running half of it, and, more importantly, *can only punish you after the fact*.
gollark: * mistakes
gollark: It's an AWFUL tool for dealing with programming mistkaes.
gollark: Well, for a perfect mistake-removing thing yes, but we have things which just *sort of* do that by enforcing some rules, like static typing.

References
  1. "Watch Radiohead's new video for previously unreleased track 'Man Of War' - NME". NME. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  2. "Radiohead share video for previously unreleased song "Man of War" — watch". Consequence of Sound. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  3. "Turn Your Radiohead On!". NME. 18 November 1995.
  4. Greene, Jason (22 June 2017). "Radiohead: OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 Album Review". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  5. "The Music Producers | Word Magazine". 3 July 2011. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  6. Mejia, Paula. "The Secret History of Radiohead's OK Computer". Vulture. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  7. "19 Unreleased Radiohead Songs That Could Be on Their Next Album - The Pitch - Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  8. "Radiohead's 'Man of War': Everything You Need to Know About the 'OK Computer' Bonus Tracks". Diffuser.fm. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
  9. "Sam Mendes, Sound and Vision - BBC Radio 6 Music". BBC. 5 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  10. Minsker, Evan (6 September 2015). "Radiohead Appear in New Studio Photos". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  11. Greene, Andy (8 June 2017). "19 Things We Learned Hanging Out With Radiohead". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  12. Leight, Elias (23 June 2017). "See Radiohead's Paranoia-Inducing 'Man of War' Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  13. "'OKNOTOK' and the Nostalgic Radiohead". PopMatters. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  14. "Radiohead - "Man of War" (Singles Going Steady)". PopMatters. 28 June 2017.
  15. "Album Review: Radiohead - OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017". DrownedInSound. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  16. "Radiohead - Man Of War" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
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