"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" is a song by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. The song is a tribute to the British supercentenarian Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier to have fought in the trenches during World War I. Radiohead self-released it on 5 August 2009 as a downloadable single for £1 from their website, with all proceeds donated to the Royal British Legion. It was rereleased as a single on Remembrance Day 2016, with new artwork by longtime Radiohead artist Stanley Donwood.
Recorded in an abbey shortly before Patch's death, the song consists of Thom Yorke's vocals and a string arrangement composed by Jonny Greenwood, absent of Radiohead's typical mix of rock and electronic instrumentation. The lyrics are from the perspective of a soldier in the First World War, and include modifications of quotations from Patch. While reception to the song was generally positive, with many critics praising the song's message, others criticised it as too sombre. The Patch family voiced their approval of the song's message and the band's charitable use of the proceeds.
Recording
According to a post by Yorke on Radiohead's blog Dead Air Space, "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" was inspired by a "very emotional" 2005 interview with Harry Patch on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. Yorke wrote that "The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me." The song was recorded live in an abbey, only a few weeks before Patch died on 25 July 2009, aged 111.
Composition
"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" has no standard rock instrumentation, and instead comprises Yorke's vocals and an orchestral string arrangement composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Strings introduce the song with a series of repeated arpeggiated notes, which continue as Yorke's singing begins. There is a bridge described as a "grim, delicately furious peak" halfway through the song. Pitchfork writer Mark Richardson compared the track to Gavin Bryars' 1971 composition Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet and Samuel Barber's 1936 Adagio for Strings. Critics from Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and The Daily Telegraph drew comparisons to Greenwood's score to the film There Will Be Blood; however, Jim Fusilli of The Wall Street Journal believed that the two works "[bear] no resemblance". Andrea Rice of American Songwriter wrote that the song's style was far removed from "anything emblematic of Radiohead".
While Radiohead has expressed anti-war sentiments in the past—including a contribution to the 1995 War Child charity compilation The Help Album—"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" marks the first time that a Radiohead song explicitly refers to war in its lyrics, marking a departure from Yorke's typically abstract writing. The lyrics are from the perspective of a soldier in the midst of First World War trench warfare. Several lines, including "Give your leaders each a gun and let them fight it out themselves" and "The next will be chemical, but they will never learn", are adapted from quotations by Patch. Both Luke Lewis of NME and Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly likened the lyrics to Wilfred Owen's First World War-era poem Dulce et Decorum est. Rice referred to Yorke's voice in the song as an "innocent and youthful falsetto"; NME said his singing is "subdued to the point where you really need to read the lyrics".
Release
"Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" premiered on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on the morning of 5 August 2009, one day before Patch's burial. It became available for purchase later that day on Radiohead's online store W.A.S.T.E. as a download for £1, or US$1.68 at the time of release. All proceeds are donated to the Royal British Legion, a charity supporting those who are serving or have served in the British Armed Forces. The track could also be streamed from the Today section of BBC Online, where it was posted along with a description and the lyrics. Based on internet traffic data for Radiohead's website taken from Alexa Internet, The Guardians Chris Salmon believed that if the single had been released conventionally it would have likely entered the UK Singles Chart top ten.