Morning Bell Song from Kid A Album/EP Kid A Release date 2nd October 2000 Length 4:35

Morning Bell is the ninth track on Kid A.

History

Thom Yorke said about Morning Bell:

“It’s very, very violent. Extremely violent. The really weird thing about that was I wrote the song with all the words pretty much straight away, which is basically the only one I did that with. I recorded it onto MiniDisc and then there was a lightning storm, and it wiped the MiniDisc and I lost the song. I completely forgot it. Then five months later, I was on a plane, knackered for 24 hours, I was just falling asleep, and I remembered it. It was really weird, I never had that before. It’s gone in and took a long time to come out again. The lyrics are really… they’re not as dramatic as they sound, you know? Except “Cut the kids in half”, which is dramatic no matter which way you read it.”

An alternative version of Morning Bell is found on Amnesiac, called Morning Bell/Amnesiac. O'Brien explained:

"We often record different versions of songs and the new one is the first time it has been strong enough to bear hearing again. Most of the other versions often get scrapped halfway through."

On Radiohead's official website, Yorke wrote that Morning Bell/Amnesiac was released on Amnesiac because:

"It came from such a different place from the other version. Because we only found it again by accident after having forgotten about it. Because it sounds like a recurring dream. It felt right."

Lyrics

[Verse 1]

Morning bell

Morning bell

Light another candle

Release me

Release me



[Verse 2]

You can keep the furniture

A bump on the head

Howling down the chimney

Release me

Release me

Please...

Release me

Release me



[Verse 3]

Where'd you park the car?

Where'd you park the car?

Clothes are on the lawn with the furniture

Now I might as well

I might as well

Sleepy jack the fire drill

Run around, around, around, around, around



[Bridge]

Cut the kids in half

Cut the kids in half

Cut the kids in half



[Outro]

The lights are on but nobody's home

Everybody wants to be a friend

The lights are on but nobody's home

Nobody wants to be a slave

Walking, walking, walking, walking

Walking, walking, walking, walking

Walking, walking, walking, walking

Walking, walking, walking, walking