Hail to the Creep
Recently when we were in California, Chris and I were drifting around in a little record store (of course!) and the sweet little babies who worked there were playing Radiohead’s “The Bends” record. It sounded kinda great to me. It got me thinking about the fact that when they came down the pike, I was rather oblivious to Radiohead, other than a few snippets I heard here and there. I think in the early 90s I was busy educating myself about Thelonious Monk and the wealth of music from New Orleans made in the 40s, 50s, and 60s (hat tip to my buddies Mark and Alice Trehus, here!). I have to confess that I am guilty of resisting THE NEW sometimes, when it comes to literary fiction and music. I just keep reading the same Russian novels over and over again, HAHAHA!
Anyway, I certainly paid a bit more attention when Kid A and OK Computer came out, and I think the first thing I actually bought by Radiohead was Hail to the Thief. It wasn’t a matter of me not liking them, oddly enough they were just sort of one of those bands that I always meant to get around to listening to because I did like what I heard when I heard ‘em. I sheepishly admit that it’s still on my to-do list.
This is all a roundabout way for me to get to what I really wanted to blather about here, which is the phenomenon that is CREEP.
Has there been a more covered song in recent history? I don’t know, honestly, but MAN there are a lot of heartfelt covers of this song. I remember the first time I heard it, thinking that it reminded me of Chrissie Hynde’s sometimes harsh, self-deprecating lyrics, and…well, I guess Chrissie thought the same because she covered it. I like the way it sort of opposes Brass in Pocket’s “I’m special, so special” bravado with the perhaps more honest “I wish I was special…you’re so fucking special…” Anyway, the first time I heard it, long after it was released, I thought: “Wow, what a great stinkin’ song! Who hasn’t felt like this?!” Specifically this bit: “What the hell am I doing here? I don’t belong here.” Plus, multiple big fat F-Bombs—what’s not to love?
Apparently, very few people have dodged feeling like this, judging by the number of people who feel a need to make this song their own. I find it oddly sweet, the universality of this song. And speaking of sweet, look at these little babies, Josefin and Mimi giving it all of their anguish on some teen talent show, nearly 30 years after Thom Yorke birthed it. The harmonies are pretty luscious on that one.
What is it about the song, beyond the simple “we’ve all felt like a creep at one point or another” factor? It is such an odd sentiment to strike such a chord with multiple generations over the last 31 years. Are we all so full of self-loathing?! Chris and I talked last night about the draw of self-loathing, and specifically compared this song to some of Kurt Cobain’s ominous oeuvre. Is there something a little less painful about Creep because (my take on it) it’s only a moment of this feeling as opposed to Kurt Cobain’s ongoing self-hate and self-harm that led to his sad end? Is it just because I know the histories of both he and Thom Yorke that I think this? I found a crappy AI version of Kurt Cobain doing Creep, but I’m gonna spare you that.
Here’s a whole women’s choir singing it.
Here’s a swinging big-band version of it by Postmodern Jukebox.
I find Prince’s cover especially bizarre, because he pulls a big switcheroo: YOU’RE a creep. You wish YOU were special. He’s the one who’s floating like a feather. What are YOU doing here? YOU don’t belong here.
I’m just not sure if he is being incredibly clever and making it seem that the imagined protagonist of the song can’t quite admit that he feels this universal self-doubt, or if Prince himself refuses to go there. It does progress to more of a “we” sentiment, and he does say “I believe that you’re special”. I don’t think he ever even says the word “creep”.
He certainly made it his own, but somehow the first time I heard Prince’s version, I felt totally cheated out of that delicious, relateable freedom of just admitting that you do not feel adequate, let alone special, and you just want to get the hell out of here to go home and wallow.
I don’t know about you, but I would much rather live on the Island of Misfit Toys than on some perpetual red-carpet treadmill having roses flung at me. The beautiful ones always smash the picture, always…every time. Right, Prince?
WINNING!!!
Oof, here’s MACY GRAY’s version, pretty straightforward but we love you Macy, so it’s extra special to hear your version! “I Try” made me feel a similar sensation to Creep, in fact, because it’s a person just flat out admitting how hard it is to front in the face of feeling some serious compare-despair. :)
Here’s a SUPER CREEPY non-version by Billie Eilish, who’s own “Bad Guy” song revels in being a creep for the modern era . It’s creepy because it is an AI pretending to be Billie covering it. I can’t even get my head around that. But don’t fret too much on that, because here’s the real Billie singing what came to mind when she was given the word prompt, “When”. Yep, you guessed it: “When you were here before, I couldn’t look you in the eye…” This is two seconds long and pretty worth watching, because she clearly LOVES Creep.
I asked two of my favorite teenagers, Mick and Joey, their thoughts on why it’s so universally loved this morning, and I think they hit it on the head: “It’s dramatic. It really makes you FEEL.” Joey: “It’s like Bohemian Rhapsody, it totally takes you on a journey of feelings”. Every time you hear it. Mick had me listen to his favorite, Thom Yorke’s acoustic version. Yep, feeling the feels. I do like Thom’s voice best on it…I mean, he invented it!
It’s been said, from the horse’s mouth I think, that Radiohead hate this song at this point. I find this hard to believe, not because it has likely made them a big, huge pile of money, I don’t think they care much about that, but because it has to feel at least a little bit good knowing that you hit a vein straight to the hearts of so many people with your own little lonely missive. I get it, these things can be an albatross, but c’mon, Thom (Chris and I say “Thumb”), you won by losing.
Here’s Radiohead’s 2021 remake, which is worth listening to all the way through, because the years in between then and now find their way into the reinterpretation…it’s almost like he’s singing the song to the song itself, and dragging it waaaaaaaay down into the mire. It’s like they’re trying to drive a stake through it’s heart. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the creep!!! HAHAHA!
It’s interesting, and the video is mesmerising and wonderful, but I still like the first one the best, best, best of all!
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for this week.
You are all so f!#king special. And you really do belong here…
Not really a creep at all, just a lovable weirdo