Released 26 May 2003 Genre Alternative rock | Format CD, 12" Label Parlophone | |
B-side "Paperbag Writer"
"Where Bluebirds Fly" Length 5:23 (Album Version)
4:44 (Radio Edit) | ||
"There there. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)", commonly referred to as "There There", is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was released as the lead single from their sixth album, Hail to the Thief (2003), on 6 May 2003. The song appears on Radiohead: The Best Of (2008).
Contents
Recording
Most of Hail to the Thief was recorded in six weeks at Ocean Way Recording studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, in 2002, with Radiohead's longtime producer Nigel Godrich. The band struggled to record a version of "There There" that satisfied them, and feared the song may be lost. After rerecording it in their Oxfordshire studio, Yorke was so relieved to have captured the song he wept, feeling it was the band's best work.
Composition
"There There" is a guitar-led rock song with layered percussion building to a loud terminal climax on new material. It was influenced by krautrock band Can, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Pixies.
Music video
Yorke asked Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate to create a music video for lead single "There There", but Postgate, who was retired, declined. Instead, a stop-motion animation video was created by Chris Hopewell. The video debuted on the Times Square Jumbotron in New York on 20 May 2003, and received hourly play that day on MTV2. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction at the 2003 MTV Video Awards.
Demo version
A demo version was released as the B-side to Radiohead's 2003 single "2 + 2 = 5".
Reception
"There There" reached number four in the UK Singles Chart and number one in Canada. It also received moderate airplay from US modern rock stations, peaking at number fourteen on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Track listing
CD & 12":
- "There There" - 5:23
- "Paperbag Writer" - 3:58
- "Where Bluebirds Fly" - 4:32