Can't pay what you want, but you can pay £1.00 for a brand new Radiohead song titled "Harry Patch (In Memory of)," a tribute to the former last living WWI veteran. Released today via the band's official website, the track was written by Thom E. Yorkshire after he heard a 2005 BBC Radio 4 interview with Patch. It was recorded coincidentally just a few weeks before Patch's death last month. Proceeds will go to the Royal British Legion. According to Yorke:
Recently the last remaining UK veteran of the 1st world war Harry Patch died at the age of 111.I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio4.
The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me.
It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death.
It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny.
I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.
It would be very easy for our generation to forget the true horror of war, without the likes of Harry to remind us.
I hope we do not forget.
As Harry himself said
"Irrespective of the uniforms we wore, we were all victims".
You can actually hear the entire track on BBC Today, including the original Patch interview that influenced Yorke to write the song. And check out the song's lyrics at Radiohead's official website.
[Photo: Jim Ross]
