Street Spirit (Fade Out)

"Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
Single by Radiohead
from the album The Bends
Released	22 January 1996
Format	7" vinyl, CD
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:12
Label	Parlophone
Writer(s)	Radiohead
Producer	John Leckie
Radiohead singles chronology
"Just" (1995) "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (1996) "Paranoid Android" (1997)
The Bends track listing "Sulk" (11) "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (12)

"Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (commonly referred to as "Street Spirit") is a song by English alternative rock band Radiohead, featured on their second studio album The Bends, which was released in 1995. Noted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Thom Yorke as "one of [the band's] saddest songs" and describing it as "the dark tunnel without the light at the end", "Street Spirit" was released as the band's ninth single and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, the highest chart position the band achieved until "Paranoid Android" from OK Computer, which reached number three in 1997.

Yorke has suggested that the song was inspired by the 1991 novel The Famished Road, written by Ben Okri, and that its music was inspired by R.E.M. The track is built around a soft melody in A minor with an arpeggio (broken chord) guitar part. The single is also acclaimed for the quality of its B-sides; for example, "Talk Show Host" rose to prominence after it was remixed by Nellee Hooper for the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, since becoming a regular at Radiohead concerts.

Music video

The black-and-white music video for "Street Spirit" was filmed during two nights in a desert just outside Los Angeles. It premiered in February 1996^{[citation needed]} and was directed by Jonathan Glazer, who said, "That was definitely a turning point in my own work. I knew when I finished that, because they found their own voices as an artist, at that point, I felt like I got close to whatever mine was, and I felt confident that I could do things that emoted, that had some kind of poetic as well as prosaic value. That for me was a key moment." Glazer would later direct the video for "Karma Police".

Track listing

CD 1

1. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" – 4:13
2. "Talk Show Host" – 4:41
3. "Bishop's Robes" – 3:25

CD 2

1. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" – 4:13
2. "Banana Co." – 2:20
3. "Molasses" – 2:26

Covers

• The Darkness often cover this song live. Their version is delivered in a faster tempo, with significantly heavier guitar, and with lead singer Justin Hawkins' signature falsetto.
• Stream of Passion have recorded this song on their 2009 album The Flame Within. It is sung by Marcela Bovio and adds a burst of heavy guitar playing.*
• Romanian Alternative Rock band Luna Amară covers the song as a bonus track on their album Loc lipsă. It is played at a slow pace with a background trumpet performed by Mihai Iordache.
• Joe Budden had this song sampled on the track "Never Again" off of the 2009 album Escape Route.
• Peter Gabriel's album Scratch My Back features a cover of the song.
• The Eden House cover it on the 2010 album The Looking Glass.
• Korea cover it on the 2010 album The Delirium Suite.
• Sasha Lazard and Shawna Stone cover this song on their collaboration album Siren.

External links

• "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (disc 2) at MusicBrainz
• Article from The Guardian with Jonathan Glazer talking about the video