Radiohead - How to Disappear Completely

Memories are weird; I don’t know why but when I recollect the past I see a series of Polaroid pictures in my minds eye. Like a comic storyboard of sorts, that I wander into whenever the right sensory trigger is processed by my brain.

More often than not I amble into these memory comics because of hearing some random song on the radio or my ipod. So today when Radiohead’s ‘How to Disappear Completely’ purred its way onto my earphones, the memories came to me like a flood.

The song (from the bands masterpiece album Kid A) takes me back to a point in my life where I had just lost my father. During the first week of his passing everything felt so very surreal and I spent a great deal of time hiding (possibly wallowing) in this song as it help sooth my pain. Its eerie nature served as a soundtrack for the events that were unfolding and Thom Yorke wailing “I’m not here, this isn’t happening” became a mantra for me to cope, whilst I made arrangements for his funeral and estate.

9 years on and the song has evolved into a great source of comfort to me, a connection to happier memories of my time with my father. God knows what sort of state I’d be in without it.

How To Disappear Completely.mp3