Morning Bell

About this song

Morning Bell is the ninth track on Kid A and was later reworked on the follow-up album Amnesiac, where it appears as "Morning Bell/Amnesiac". Thom Yorke said in a 2000 MTV Q&A that he wrote it after buying an empty house following OK Computer, a house he felt had a friendly ghost in it. He had earlier recorded a MiniDisc of song ideas that was wiped by a lightning strike, and months later the song came back to him in full while he was on a flight back from Japan.

What it's about

A common reading of the lyrics is that the song is about a divorce or a married couple splitting up. Yorke has said it is really about being in that house rather than a breakup, though he has also acknowledged the divorce reading in another interview.

Fun facts

• Sampled in 1 other song, like “sburrcurrckwurrmblurr by jerimiawongo”.
• Covered 5 times, including “Morning Bell by Vitamin String Quartet”.
• Written by Thom Yorke, Ed O’Brien, Colin Greenwood, Jonny Greenwood and Philip Selway.
• Produced by Radiohead and Nigel Godrich.
• Recorded at Guillaume Tell and Medley.