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These Are My Twisted Words

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Wikipedia article




"'These Are My Twisted Words'" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead. It was leaked via BitTorrent on 12 August 2009, possibly by the band, and released on 17 August as a free download from the Radiohead website.

Release



On 12 August 2009, "These Are My Twisted Words" appeared unannounced on What.CD, a BitTorrent tracker. A text file included in the torrent file contained ASCII art, a cryptic poem and a reference to a release date of 17 August. Commentators including the 'Guardian' and 'Rolling Stone' speculated that Radiohead had leaked the song themselves following the unconventional pay-what-you-want release of their album 'In Rainbows' (2007).

On 17 August, Radiohead released "These Are My Twisted Words" as a free download from their website and as a torrent file hosted by Mininova. The download included several pieces of artwork by Yorke and longtime Radiohead collaborator Stanley Donwood, with the suggestion to print them on tracing paper. In a blog post announcing the song, guitarist Jonny Greenwood said the song had been recently completed; the post made no mention of the leak. Radiohead performed "These Are My Twisted Words" on their 2012 'King of Limbs' tour.

Composition



"These Are My Twisted Words" is composed in a time signature. It opens with a beat from the drummer, Philip Selway, before Thom Yorke's vocal enters. Daniel Kreps of 'Rolling Stone' noted a krautrock influence and likened the song to the 'In Rainbows' track "Weird Fishes / Arpeggi". Bill Bradley of 'Vanity Fair' said it had a "signature eerie Radiohead sound". Matthew Schnipper of 'The Fader' described it as a "simple song" with "a plodding, stubborn forward spirit".

Reception



Brian Parks of 'PopMatters' gave "These Are My Twisted Words" seven out of ten, describing it as "the most recent in a long line of unconventionally beautiful songs for which Radiohead is renowned". Bradley of 'Vanity Fair' wrote that "all the converted" would like the song. Ryan Dombal of 'Pitchfork', however, wrote that its "nauseous guitars, featherweight motorik beat and vaguely whiny lyrics almost read as parody" and concluded that it "isn't as enticing as its method of distribution". In 2016, 'Rolling Stone' included it on its list of "20 insanely great Radiohead songs only hardcore fans know".

References




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