Let Down (Radiohead song)

Recording

Radiohead recorded "Let Down" at 3 am in the ballroom of St Catherine's Court in Bath, Somerset, with the producer Nigel Godrich. It was influenced by Phil Spector. It contains multilayered arpeggiated guitars and electric piano. Jonny Greenwood plays his guitar part in a different time signature to the other instruments, creating a phasing effect inspired by the American composer Steve Reich.

Thom Yorke originally recorded vocals for two additional verses, but neither felt right for the song. Instead, the band combined both vocals to create the final verse, with the overlapping "you know where you are with..." and "one day I am gonna grow wings" verses. Yorke and Greenwood felt the song was too long, and wanted to fade it out during the instrumental bridge, but were persuaded against it by Godrich and the other band members. Greenwood added an arpeggio generated with a ZX Spectrum computer.

Lyrics

Yorke said the lyrics were about a fear of being trapped, and "about that feeling that you get when you're in transit but you're not in control of it—you just go past thousands of places and thousands of people and you're completely removed from it". Of the line "Don't get sentimental / It always ends up drivel", Yorke said: "Sentimentality is being emotional for the sake of it. We're bombarded with sentiment, people emoting. That's the Let Down. Feeling every emotion is fake. Or rather every emotion is on the same plane whether it's a car advert or a pop song." Yorke felt that scepticism of emotion was characteristic of Generation X and that it had informed OK Computer. The guitarist Ed O'Brien described it as the "emotional heart" of OK Computer.

Release

Yorke fought to exclude "Let Down" from OK Computer, but O'Brien insisted. Plans to release it as a single were abandoned as the band were unhappy with the music video. "Paranoid Android" was released instead, which, along with "Karma Police", solidified Radiohead's popularity. "Let Down" reached No. 29 in the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. In 2006, it was covered by the Easy Star All-Stars on Radiodread, a cover album of OK Computer in ska, dub and reggae styles.

In June 2025, after it became popular on the social media platform TikTok, "Let Down" debuted at number 20 on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts. It was Radiohead's first entry on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart since their debut single, "Creep" (1992). "Let Down" also reached number 85 on the UK singles chart. In August, it debuted at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Radiohead's fourth entry on the Hot 100 and their first since their 2008 single "Nude". Yorke said the development was "bizarre". O'Brien said he was astonished, but that his children told him: "What do you expect? Teenagers are depressed. It's depressing music!"

The song appears in the season 1 finale of The Bear, "Braciole".

Live performances

Radiohead have rarely performed "Let Down" live. After a 2006 performance, it was not performed until the tour for Radiohead's album A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). Radiohead performed "Let Down" on their 2025 tour. The multi-track recording used in the studio version makes the song difficult to recreate live, especially the layering of multiple vocal parts by Yorke. Yorke has typically opted to skip the final verse and sing the background vocal part instead.

Track listing

CD promo single

1. "Let Down" – 4:59
2. "Let Down" (edit) – 4:27
3. "Karma Police" – 4:21

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography

References

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