The Tragic Story Behind Radiohead’s “How to Disappear Completely”
February 10, 2022
In 1997 Radiohead went from a small local band to one of the biggest bands in the world overnight. With the release of their album Ok Computer, Radiohead was thrown into the spotlight at full force and lead singer, Thom Yorke, couldn’t take it. During all of the chaos of touring, performing, and working on their next hit album, Yorke was ready to give up completely on the band, almost quitting on stage. While he and the rest of the band were working on other music, Yorke put all of his stress into one song; How to Disappear Completely. It’s a song of dissociation, confusion, and anguish. The part of the song that resonates most with people is the repeating line, “I’m not here, this isn’t happening” The infamous line was inspired by a piece of advice Michael Stipe, lead singer of REM, gave Yorke. He told him to, “Pull the shutters down and say ‘I’m not here, this isn’t happening’” Many interpret his advice differently but the way I see it is he’s telling Yorke that when he’s under pressure to disconnect himself from the situation. To make himself feel like he has a 3rd person view of whatever he’s going through. I also see it as talking back to the voices in his head that are telling him to quit and give up. Most of the anxieties Yorke was experiencing weren’t because of anything bad happening in the real world, it was coming from his head. By saying, “I’m not here, this isn’t happening”, Yorke could remove himself from the situation and the voices in his head. The way he put all of this into song is harrowing. The song opens with droning quiet synths and an acoustic guitar, opposite of how most of their songs sounded at the time. The lyrics discuss being in a dream-like state. “I walk through walls, I float down the Liffey” This lyric describes an actual dream Yorke had, “I dreamt I was floating down the Liffey and there was nothing I could do.” In verse two he discusses leaving. “ In a little while, I’ll be gone. The moment’s already passed” This lyric can be seen as him telling people that his time is limited so they should just enjoy the music or as a way of expressing how people let him slip into a deep depression. The song closes with him crying out “I’m not here,” over and over again, the background music gets louder and louder until the last few seconds where he is louder than the noise overtaking him, finally overcoming his depressed and empty state.
P. Mercer • Jul 26, 2022 at 5:58 pm
Thank you for taking the time to write about this wonderfully beautiful song (and Band). Well done.
V Bates • Mar 26, 2022 at 2:37 pm
Say, Marley, since you like to write about music, I’d love to suggest some artists! It seems you’ve only written twice, but I quite enjoy your taste.
I think you’d enjoy trying to dissect the nonsensical sound and lyrics of Jack Stauber. He’s like if you put Oingo Boingo and into a blender and added more modernly used pop samples.
Speaking of, Oingo Boingo is a pretty good and silly band, but they’re a tad more adult-oriented. The subject matter they use in their songs are not only easy to understand and pick apart, but not always so kid-friendly.
A good prog-rock band I can recommend would be King Crimson, which I highly recommend to anyone who’d be willing to chill and vibe to a fairly long song. They tend to go on from 5-8 minutes, but to me, that length is welcome. It makes good background music for an artist who doesn’t want to have to check their music every 2-4 minutes.