Recollections of sitting alone in a cafe having a bite for lunch. One of the staff was mucking about on a laptop creating a mix of music for the patrons to enjoy or endure. All of a sudden, amidst the non-descript singer-songwriters with their whimsical ballads with a twist of indie-folk, this came blaring out:-
mp3 : Radiohead – Bones
It’s the fourth track on the 1995 LP The Bends. In some ways it is a sort of forgotten Radiohead classic. It is squeezed onto the album right after two hit singles – High And Dry and Fake Plastic Trees, and right before one of their best loved songs and then another hit – (Nice Dream) and Just. But there’s no way that Bones should ever be regarded as a filler track.
Great tune. Killer chorus. And an ambiguous enough lyric to spark a debate. Is it merely about growing old or is it about the physical pain that a mental breakdown brings? Who knows? And who really cares?? Just turn the volume up and enjoy the music. It’s rock, it’s pop, it’s indie all at once. It’s also magnificent.
Especially played live.
Enjoy
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
If the boss of the cafe came in that moment and heard this, the poor person responsible would probably have been fired on the spot. It’s law for these sorts of places to bore us rigid with their “non-descript singer-songwriters with their whimsical ballads with a twist of indie-folk” (perfect description). Could have been worse mind – he could have played something from the last three Radiohead albums. Would have emptied the place.
The song sounds weird by itself. What I mean is that you get used to hearing it in its place, along with the other tracks on the album. But out on its own it seems to become “less” of a song. Loses its strength. In its natural habitat in The Bends though, a great piece in the work of art.