Cuttooth
I want to lead a wallpaper life
Or run away to the foreign legion
I want to lead a wallpaper life
Or run away to the foreign legion

And as the tanks roll into town
As the tanks roll into town
A little bit of knowledge will destroy you

And as the tanks roll into town
As the tanks roll into town
A little bit of knowledge will destroy you

I don't know why I feel so tongue-tied
I don't know why I feel so skinned alive

Hold you till my arms are sore
Until you cannot feel it any more
Hold you till my arms are sore
Until you find an open door

I build you up to pull you down
Tie you to your feet, and watch you drown
A little bit of knowledge will destroy you
A little bit of knowledge will destroy you
I build you up to pull you down
Tie you to the stake, and watch you burn in hell
 
I don't know why I feel so tongue-tied
I don't know why I feel so skinned alive
 
I'll find another skin to wear
I'll find another skin to wear...
version originale
7 août 2001, Knives Out
5:24

Cette chanson, appelée aussi Tongue Tied, a été passée par Bernard Lenoir sur France Inter. Il l'a alors appelée Hunting Bears, parce que le morceau devait être à l'origine sur Amnesiac et que le disque promo qu'il avait entre les mains (par Hilda) était un des tout premiers...

Certaines des paroles sont communes avec Myxomatosis.

http://www.radiohead.com/syn003.html

Ed
[...] anyhow move onto a new song 'cuttooth' - its got a 'neu' thing about it - long and hypnotic.... [...]
journal, mardi 3 août 1999
Ed
kick off with 'cuttooth', the song with little structure and the only certainty is a bass riff. it makes you wonder how 'neu' did their thing - it always sounds spontaneous on those 12 minute epics, but did they have to rehearse intensely? did it require a degree of editing? [...]
Nous attaquons avec 'cuttooth', la chanson avec peu de structure et dont la seule certitude est un riff de basse. Ça fait se demander comment 'neu' faisait leurs trucs - ça sonne toujours spontané sur ces morceaux épiques de 12 minutes, mais est-ce qu'ils devaient répéter intensément ? Ont-ils eu besoin d'un peu de post-production ?
journal, mardi 31 août 1999
Ed
[...] run through 'optimistic', cuttooth', and 'up on the ladder' for nige, who's down for the day to do some wiring and 'studio arranging'.
journal, mercredi 1er septembre 1999
Ed
we spend almost the entire rehearsal working on 'cuttooth' (the song with no arrangements up until now) and surprise, surprise, it already sounds a lot better. when you have a song that does not have the usual distinction between verse/chorus/middle eight, there need to be other markers that define the way the song progresses. and we're getting there.
nous avons passé presque toute la répétition sur Cuttooth (la chanson sans arrangements jusqu'à maintenant) et surprise, surprise, elle sonne déjà bien mieux. Quand on a une chanson qui n'a pas la distinction habituelle entre couplet/refrain/pont, on a besoin d'autres repères pour définir la progression de la chanson. Et on y arrive.
journal, vendredi 3 septembre 1999
Ed
spent an hour playing around with cuttooth. came in and heard phil on drums and thom on rhodes going through it. it's one of those moments when you hear something being played and all you want to do is pick up a guitar and join in. so i did......it's only three chords so not too taxing even on my very limited music theory. [...]
journal, 7 décembre 1999
Ed
started by playing 'cuttooth' again - the song needs stamina - sounding better than yesterday....just have to keep playing it. one of those days when it doesn't feel as though we've done much. maybe it's because everyone's tired. [...]
journal, 8 décembre 1999
Ed
nigel wants to get his teeth stuck into mixing, so we decided to set up and record 'cuttooth'. this at eight and a half minutes (by the end) is the long one - did five or six takes of which a couple are pretty good. [...]
journal, 21 février 2000
Ed
listen to 'cuttooth' and it sounds fucking great. [...]
 
journal, 23 février 2000
Ed
more work on 'cuttooth'...........jonny did his guitar thing...feedback,backwards guitar.......it was good to hear. it sometimes seems as though not much guitar has been played so far, which is probably bollocks. there has been a fair amount, but in the quest for different sounds we haven't first turned to the trusted and tried six-string. thom did some work on a track upstairs, which sounded great. lots of editing on the computer to make the track in question more coherent. am i sounding boring?....apologies, just tired that's all....on to thursday...
journal, 24 février 2000
Ed
more good things added to 'cuttooth'........sounds. its one of those classic situations where the temptation is to continually embellish whats on there and it's one of those songs that you could get away with it. but in doing that, you often lose the essence of what was great about it in the first place. i guess the trick is to be absolutely ruthless on what is added................so at five in the morning having not savagely edited some of these overdubs the track sounded too overcooked..............
journal, 25 février 2000
Ed
[...] nigel was sidetracked last week by 'cuttooth' so he really really wants to do some mixing this week. [...]
 
journal, 28 février 2000
MaxK
yeah just got an email about it.
its an old song that was recorded at the end of last year but was written aages ago. going to be the b-side for 'knives out'. but its old. that explains why it doesnt sound new :)
rhmb, 20 mai 2001
listemenu