Hello, I’m Stevie Nix and welcome to Song Sung New, the podcast where we take a look at a song and … see if we can find some covers that don’t give you the creeps.
You know I’m not going to stop with these awful puns, don’t you.
Today we’re going to look at … actually no … before we begin I probably need to do something. I should apologise in advance to Thom Yorke, Radiohead frontman, for what we’re going to do today.
Because Thom hates the song we’re going to talk about – and he’s allowed to - he wrote it.
So, Thom, I sincerely apologise for the fact we are going to play and promote Creep today.
Is there anything you’d like to say before we begin?
[Play audio]
Mmm. OK. He took that better than I thought he would.
Thom’s not alone in hating a song he’s been forced to sing though. Sinead O’Connor refuses to perform Nothing Compares 2 U, Madonna won’t play Like A Virgin (and, Madonna, that’s fine by us), Brian Johnson refuses to sing It’s A Long Way To The Top and Liam Gallagher gags at the thought of singing Wonderwall.
But why does Yorke hate Creep? What has Creep done to deserve this?
I have two theories and both of them exonerate Creep. Theory one is Thom Yorke hates this song because it takes him back to when he made a video for it. And every time he sees the video all he can see is what the rest of us see – his haircut. You don’t even hear the song. You just see the blonde rinse and a haircut that he seems to have given himself with some kitchen scissors.
I realise this isn’t a visual medium so if you need a reminder, do a bit of YouTubing.
Theory two may be more plausible, however. It’s entirely possible the embarrassment
I have a hunch Yorke doesn’t like it because he stole the melody from Albert Hammond’s 1972 hit The Air That I Breathe.
Here’s Creep
[Play]
And here’s The Air That I Breathe
[Play]
If you still need some convincing The Moon Loungers might be able to help. In 2012 they put the songs together and showed just how easily they intersect each other.
[Play]
Hammond’s publisher sued Radiohead and won so Hammond and co-writer Mike Hazlewood now get a share of the royalties.
There would be another legal twist in this tale too. In 2017, Lana Del Rey released her sixth album, Lust For Life, which closed with the track Get Free.
Radiohead heard the song and thought it sounded rather familiar. Rather familiar to Creep.
So they sued, seeking 100% of the royalties. Del Ray countered by offering 40%, despite telling journalists she hadn’t plagiarised Creep.
The outcome of that lawsuit has never been made public, but Del Ray, Rick Knowles and Kieren Menzies retain sole songwriting credit, so Del Ray may have got her way.
But in the court of Song Sung New Del Ray is guilty as charged.
Here’s Get Free.
[Play]
Who is she trying to kid, saying there are no similarities?
Creep was never intended to see the light of day. Yorke actually wrote it in the late 80s at uni and kept in his back pocket, figuratively speaking of course.
In 1992, when Radiohead started rehearsing in the studio for what would become Pablo Honey, Creep wasn’t on the list of songs. But one day they spontaneously started to play it. The producers liked what they heard and, later, when the band got stuck trying to record a couple of other songs, the producers told them to play Creep again – which the band did. Once.
Creep was recorded in a single take.
So what’s it about exactly? Well, Yorke once said Creep is about a drunken man who follows a woman around trying in vain to get her attention. He doesn’t have the confidence to walk up and introduce himself.
Which explains the lines: “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.”
Later that year, 1992, EMI released the song as a single but it didn’t take off at first. In fact the BBC wouldn’t play it because it was too depressing, apparently.
A year later, the label tried again and this time Creep took hold and made it all the way up to #7 on the UK chart.
The song was also a hit in the US, so much so that when Radiohead toured there to support it audience members would scream for them to play Creep and, once they’d finished, the crowd would leave.
Maybe that’s another reason Yorke hated it.
He couldn’t let the song go – even when he had let it go. In late 1994 Radiohead decided to cut the song from their set list because, according to guitarist Ed O’Brien, quote
"We seemed to be living out the same four and a half minutes of our lives over and over again. It was incredibly stultifying.” end quote
But Yorke was still stewing about the song and vented his anger in a song that would appear on their second album, The Bends. The song was My Iron Lung and it contained this particular Fuck You:
[Play]
It’s a bit hard to hear exactly what he’s singing there but the lyric reads:
"This is our new song
just like the last one
a total waste of time
my iron lung.”
Creep has been covered about 100 times and a lot of those are just rudimentary
run-throughs – karaoke in other words.
But a few artists have tried to give it fresh skin so let’s have a look at some of those.
Many artists have given it a jazz arrangement and, despite the lyric, the song suits the medium.
Here’s Argentinian singer, songwriter and producer Karen Souza in 2006
[Play]
This arrangement papers over some of the lyrics however, particularly the chorus, which reads:
“I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo, what the hell am I doing here, I don’t belong here.”
British singer Arlo Parks stripped it back even further in 2020 delivering a gorgeous acoustic piano version, which tries to honour the chorus, but I’m not sure it fully fleshes out the disturbing narrative.
Canadian singer Ally Cribb gave the song a similar treatment a year later. She says, at its core, Creep is, quote:
“a song about fragility and vulnerability and I wanted to communicate those delicate emotions with simple piano and exposed vocals.” end quote
Here’s a combination of the two, beginning with Cribb.
[Play]
The Stories is an LA duo who make acoustic covers with the cream of LA’s vocalists sitting third wheel. In 2020 that third wheel was Olivia Kuper-Harris and together, they nailed the eerie elements of this song.
[Play]
And it gets better. Here’s Harris when she gets a full head of steam.
[Play]
We may be hearing more from her.
Joel Harper-Jackson is an English actor/slash/singer who released his debut album, So What Happens Now at the beginning of lockdown in 2020.
The record had a couple of covers - Wicked Game was a standout, as was this duet with Lauren Byrne. It’s another acoustic arrangement, but this one is more menacing. It has a stalking rhythm, accentuating fear and entrapment, and finishes with a soaring chorus.
Enjoy.
[Play]
A year earlier, in 2019, Macy Gray paid a visit to Howard Stern, picked up the pace, and delivered an Unplugged version which would have had listeners tapping on their steering wheel right across the States. The song first appeared on Gray’s 2012 album, Covered.
[Play]
In 2001, someone had the idea that anyone could play a Radiohead song and, to prove the point, asked a bunch of people to record a song, put them all together and released the record Anyone Can Play Radiohead. The guy tackling Creep was industrial artist Aleister Einstein and here’s what he came up with.
[Play]
Brandon Lowry is better known to most as singer, songwriter, producer Sterling Fox and in 2015 he covered Creep. If you were looking for a version that fully encapsulated the menacing tone set out in the lyrics here was your song.
[Play]
And if you thought Fox’s version wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Netflix Nordic noir soundtrack, have a listen to Ember Island.
[Play]
One of the things that originally hampered Creep’s airplay was one of the words it contained. Fucking. The band were forced to record two versions, one replacing the F-bomb with the word “very”. Personally, I prefer fucking over very.
Speaking of very, a lot of these covers are very one pace. But that’s just my fucking opinion. Sorry. Where were we. Oh yes, I think we need to change gears.
Let’s take a look at a sample. Gregg Gillis is a hip hop artist/slash/DJ who goes by the stage name Girl Talk. No idea why, but he does. Maybe he thinks the girls are talking about him.
Either way, in 2010, he sampled Creep on his song Jump On Stage.
[Play]
Jerick Hoffer is better known as American drag queen Jinkx Monsoon. The actor/slash/comedian/slash singer won the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, just in case you were wondering, and, in 2014 released her first album, The Inevitable Album. The record contained a couple of covers, one of which was this lively version of Creep.
[Play]
Lena Hall featured in Episode 4 and she’s about to feature again. In 2018, she released a series of EPs every month in 2018. June was Radiohead month and track five, the final track, was this stop you in your tracks cover of Creep.
[Play]
Now I said earlier that while Radiohead weren’t in love with this song, many others were – as we’ve heard. But by far the biggest compliment the song ever received – and it could be argued one of the biggest compliments any song could receive – was having Prince cover it.
And that’s exactly what he did in 2008, when he delivered a stunning 8-minute version during his set at Coachella.
Unfortunately a proper recording was never made, but the Soundboard audio survives and Radiohead has given its permission for it to be published.
So thankyou Radiohead.
As was his want, Prince could turn pretty much any song into his own. And, on stage, he always did.
This song starts off pretty straightforward. The audience isn’t expecting the song so Prince just lets the band introduce it before finally stepping to the microphone one and a half minutes later.
[Play]
After the first line the audience has cottoned on that, yes, this is prince covering Creep, and yell out a roar of approval.
Prince rides this wave but keeps the first verse low key. There’s another six minutes to go so he’s in no rush.
He sings the first verse arms free. He’s got a guitar slung around his neck, but it’s hanging down his back.
But as he get ready to sing the chorus, he brings the guitar, a Fender, around in front of him and starts to play.
[Play]
It’s a relatively muted piece of playing, but Prince is just warming up. He’s teasing the audience. He knows there’s something straight after the second chorus that will be, to borrow from the lyric, “special”.
And it is.
Here’s the second chorus
[Play]
And here’s where Prince pulls out all stops.
This is Prince channeling Hendrix at Monterey. There’s a direct lineage.
But he’s not done yet. He wants to bring the audience into the song so does a little call and response
[Play]
The audience is now part of the performance. By now, they realise they are part of something that won’t come around again. This is a moment in time.
There’s only one way to bring this song home – another guitar solo – this one more ferocious than the first.
[Play]
For mine, this is the ultimate cover. No one can top this. It’s extraordinary. It’s such a pity proper audio doesn’t exist.
Not long after the performance, footage appeared on YouTube and word quickly spread. Including to Prince. Upon learning the song had been pirated, he ordered the clips be taken down, which they were.
And it was at this point that Radiohead discovered the performance had been blocked. So, given they owned the copyright, they allowed someone to repost it.
Six weeks later, Prince learned the clip was back up online and, being prince, he didn’t ask why … he tweeted a link to it.
The footage clearly caused Radiohead to rethink this song. If Prince liked it – and could have that much fun with it – maybe we should bring it out of the bottom drawer.
And they did. 12 months later, in 2009, Radiohead headlined the Reading Festival and the first song they played that night was Creep.
The audience went off.
For some reason, Radiohead put the song away again, but in 2016, during the tour to support A Moon Shaped Pool, they reintroduced it. And this time the song stood firm in the set list – night after night after night.
Just as it had back in 1992/93. Only this time, the audience didn’t leave once they’d heard the song.
Creep had come full circle. As it deserved to. It was once again being afforded its due recognition.
It’s a simple song with simple chords but they are so often the best.
At one point Radiohead thought it was beneath them to play it, but they later realised it wouldn’t bury them. Creep was a gift from above.
And whatever Thom Yorke’s misgivings were, Creep has had the last laugh.
To this day it remains Radiohead’s most successful single.
This song, indeed this story, had a surprising epilogue in 2021. On July 13, Thom Yorke did a very Thom Yorke thing. He threw a curve ball and released a very 2021 remix, quote unquote.
Just what he means by “very 2021” is not clear, but if the cover is any indication he could mean everything’s gone to hell. We’re living in a shit-storm.
The new version is nine-minutes long - and I mean long - and transforms the chorus into what one journalist described as, quote
“a terrifying panic attack of nostalgia and horror. It’s enjoyably unlistenable, and that seems to be the point.” end quote
Here’s the first verse and chorus:
[Play]
It doesn’t sound like Yorke has fallen back in love with the song. Here’s the second verse, chorus and bridge
[Play]
And let’s hear the ending:
[Play]
I’m sorry to say this Thom, but I love this. I like it even better than the original. It has character. And, you’re right, it’s very 2021.
“What the hell are we doing here? We don’t belong here.”
When Creep came out in 1992, nobody had heard of Radiohead - and there was nothing else on Pablo Honey, their first album, to suggest we’d ever hear from them again.
But Radiohead had other ideas. Lots of ideas, as it turned out, and their next album, The Bends, which came out two years after Pablo Honey was a quantum leap in quality and expertise.
Radiohead rewrote their profile with that album and everybody had no choice but to rethink their perceptions of this British band.
And they had to rethink them again and again with each subsequent album. OK Computer sounded nothing like The Bends, Kid A sounded nothing like OK Computer, In Rainbows sounded nothing like … well, you get the picture.
29 years after Creep came out, Radiohead is so successful it can do as it pleases. And it does. It’s been five years since A Moon Shaped Pool and in that time its members have not been idle.
Jonny Greenwood writes film scores, which is something Yorke has also done as well as release Anima, his third solo album. Drummer Phil Selway has also scored a movie, Ed O’Brien has released a solo album and Colin Greenwood has put his feet up.
In 2019, the band was inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame and O’Brien and, not surprisingly, three members didn’t turn up.
Despite their name, Radiohead has never been interested in radio or fame or awards nights - even when they are the star billing.
In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine published its list of the best 100 artists of all time. Radiohead was No.73, ahead of Hank Williams, Elvis Costello and Talking Heads, the band that gifted Radiohead its name.
Speaking of Rolling Stone, Radiohead has five albums in its list of the best 500 ever recorded. Kid A came in highest, at 20.
So, Thom, what do you make of all that?
[Play audio]
Indeed we do.
[Play]