I Promise (Radiohead Song)

"I Promise" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released in 2017. Radiohead performed it several times in 1996 while touring in support of Alanis Morissette. They recorded it during the sessions for their third album, ''OK Computer'' (1997), but felt it was not strong enough to release. In June 2017, "I Promise" was included on the ''OK Computer'' reissue ''OKNOTOK 1997 2017'' and released as a download with a music video.

History

Radiohead first performed "I Promise" on 27 March 1996 at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and played it several times that year while touring in support of Alanis Morissette. Bootleg recordings were widely circulated.

Radiohead recorded "I Promise" during the sessions for their third album, ''OK Computer'' (1997), but felt it was not strong enough to release. In 1998, the guitarist Ed O’Brien suggested that Radiohead could rerecord "I Promise" for their next album, but it remained unreleased. After the release of their seventh album, ''In Rainbows'' (2007), O'Brien said they had abandoned it.

On 23 June 2017, Radiohead released a 20th-anniversary ''OK Computer'' reissue, ''OKNOTOK 1997 2017'', featuring "I Promise" and two other new tracks. "I Promise" premiered on BBC Radio 6 on 2 June. The host, Steve Lamacq, said that Radiohead believed it was lost and had been pleased to rediscover it. That day, Radiohead released a music video on their website and made "I Promise" available to download to those who had pre-ordered ''OKNOTOK.''

On tour in June 2017, Radiohead performed "I Promise" for the first time in 21 years. The songwriter, Thom Yorke, told the crowd: "What a bunch of nutters we were, and probably still are ... One of the crazy things we did was not release this song, because we didn't think it was good enough."

Composition

"I Promise" features strummed acoustic guitar, marching band-like drums, and orchestral Mellotron tones. The lyrics have Yorke "listing off vows like a shopping list", with themes common to ''OK Computer'' including loneliness, alienation, paranoia and heartache. O'Brien likened it to Roy Orbison, while Yorke likened it to Joy Division. ''NME'' described "I Promise" as "Radiohead at their most direct" before they moved into more experimental music.

Music video

The "I Promise" music video was directed by Michal Marczak, who had previously directed a video vignette for Radiohead's ninth album, ''A Moon Shaped Pool'' (2016), and the video for "Beautiful People" by Mark Pritchard, featuring Yorke. The video depicts a nighttime bus journey through Warsaw, with one passenger as a detached animatronic head. Robin Hilton of NPR interpreted the video as a reference to the isolation and gruelling schedule Yorke experienced on the ''OK Computer'' tour.

Reception

''Pitchfork'' named "I Promise" the week's "Best New Music". The critic Marc Hogan wrote that, unlike the "technological lyrical themes and gloomy production" of ''OK Computer'', it was similar to Radiohead's earlier album ''The Bends'' and "stunning all the same". He speculated that, had Radiohead released it in 1997, it "might've been inescapable in dorm rooms, at open mic nights, and wherever else sensitive guys with guitars are found".

Charts

Personnel

Radiohead

*Colin Greenwood
*Jonny Greenwood
*Ed O'Brien
*Philip Selway
*Thom Yorke

Additional personnel

*Bob Ludwig – mastering
*Stanley Donwood – illustrations
*Nigel Godrich – production, engineering
*Nick Ingman – conducting
*Jim Warren – production, engineering

References

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2017 songs
Radiohead songs
Song recordings produced by Nigel Godrich
Songs written by Thom Yorke
Songs written by Jonny Greenwood
Songs written by Colin Greenwood
Songs written by Ed O'Brien
Songs written by Philip Selway
XL Recordings singles