How to Disappear Completely

"How to Disappear Completely" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead from their fourth studio album, Kid A (2000). It was produced by the band with their producer, Nigel Godrich, and was released as a promotional single in the US, Poland and Belgium.

Radiohead wrote "How to Disappear Completely" in mid-1997 during the tour for their third album, OK Computer (1997). The title derives from Doug Richmond's 1985 book How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found. Radiohead first performed it in 1998 during the tour, and an early soundcheck performance appears in their documentary Meeting People Is Easy (1998).

"How to Disappear Completely" is an acoustic ballad backed by orchestral strings and guitar effects. Radiohead recorded demos in various studios before recording it at their Oxfordshire studio in January 2000. The following month, the strings were recorded and performed by the Orchestra of St John's in a church near the band's studio, arranged by the multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood on an ondes Martenot.

"How to Disappear Completely" was included on the special edition of Radiohead: The Best Of (2008). The isolated string track was included on the compilation Kid A Mnesia (2021).

Inspiration and writing
One of the earliest songs written for Kid A (2000), "How to Disappear Completely" was written primarily by the Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, during the tour for their third album, OK Computer (1997). Yorke began writing it in Toronto, Canada, in June 1997. Later that month, Radiohead performed their then-biggest-ever show at the RDS Arena in Dublin, Ireland. The performance was held in windy and rainy conditions. The song was inspired by a dream Yorke had on the night of this show, in which he was running naked down Dublin's River Liffey and being pursued by a tidal wave.

According to the guitarist Ed O'Brien, "How to Disappear Completely" was inspired by the RDS performance and the stress the band members, especially Yorke, experienced on tour. Yorke's experience performing with Radiohead at the 1997 Glastonbury Festival, a week after the RDS performance, was another inspiration. After technical problems, Yorke almost abandoned the show, but continued after urging from O'Brien. Yorke recalled: "I just needed a break. And in fact I didn't get one for another year and a bit, by which point I was pretty much catatonic."

In an interview with Terry David Mulligan in Canada in July 1997, Yorke said he had written a song the previous month that contains the chorus: "I'm not here / This isn't happening". The chorus stems from advice given to Yorke by his friend, the R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, through a telephone conversation on how to deal with his stress from touring by repeating the phrase "I'm not here, this isn't happening" to himself. In turn, "How to Disappear Completely" inspired Stipe to write the song "Disappear" from the R.E.M. album, Reveal (2001); Stipe recounted in 2004 telephoning Yorke to apologize for stealing the concept behind the song, only to find Yorke responding that he was originally the one who inspired him to write "How to Disappear Completely".

In late August 1997, Yorke performed an early acoustic version during a soundcheck in New York; footage from this performance features in the 1998 documentary Meeting People Is Easy. Radiohead performed further versions during the OK Computer tour in 1998. The versions are purported to be between seven and ten minutes in length; the final studio version would be last at six minutes, as Radiohead had shortened earlier songs such as "Just" (1995) and "Paranoid Android" (1997). Melody Maker likened the version in a 1998 review to Radiohead covering Unbelievable Truth, an acoustic band led by Yorke's younger brother, Andy.

Yorke cited "Once in a Lifetime" (1980) by Talking Heads as a reference for writing the song. It had the working titles "This Is Not Happening" and "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found". The second title is taken from that of Doug Richmond's 1985 book, which explains how to erase personal identity and assume a new one, with a focus on taking a French leave. According to some accounts, the song was dedicated to the Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, who disappeared in February 1995 and was declared dead in November 2008.

Recording
After the OK Computer tour ended, Yorke suffered from writer's block and could not finish writing new songs on guitar. "How to Disappear Completely" was one of the few songs that was almost completely written prior to the Kid A and Amnesiac recording sessions. In early 1999, Radiohead attempted to record a version at Guillaume Tell Studios in Paris, but Yorke dismissed it, saying: "That sounds great, but it sounds like old Radiohead." On 27 July, during their sessions at the Batsford Park mansion in Gloucestershire, Radiohead recorded a new demo version. In September, O'Brien denied in his online diary a rumour that Radiohead was collaborating with the post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor for the song.

Within the same month, after it had finally been renovated, Radiohead moved to their Canned Applause studio, in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, where they recorded some songs for OK Computer in 1996. On 1 December 1999, Radiohead recorded Philip Selway's drums in preparation for a collaboration with the Orchestra of St John's. The band chose the orchestra as they had performed pieces by the composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Olivier Messiaen. Yorke said he had no involvement with the song after recording this demo, and that the multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood had completed it by himself.

The 1998 early version was more guitar-driven; instead, Radiohead rearranged the song by replacing their rock-tinged arrangement with an "extensive" string section. On 2 December 1999, with assistance from the producer, Nigel Godrich, Greenwood, the only Radiohead member trained in music theory, began composing the string arrangement. He worked by multi-tracking his ondes Martenot, inspired by Messiaen, who popularised the instrument, and finished after two intermittent weeks the following month.

Radiohead booked a three-hour session at Dorchester Abbey, a 12th-century church about five miles from their studio, where strings were recorded and performed by the Orchestra of St John's, conducted by John Lubbock. The orchestration was influenced by Penderecki, who, like Messiaen, is an influence on Greenwood. According to Godrich, when Greenwood introduced his score to the orchestra members, "they all just sort of burst into giggles, because they couldn't do what he'd written, because it was impossible — or impossible for them, anyway." Nonetheless, Lubbock encouraged the orchestra to experiment and work with Greenwood's ideas.

According to Greenwood, the orchestra followed a technique for recording the strings that differed from most string sessions for rock songs in that they would not play consecutive half or long notes because they likened this to making "a row of balloons". The strings and Greenwood's ondes Martenot parts were recorded in one take using some microphones and an Apple G3 computer owned by Godrich. The concerts director, Alison Atkinson, said the session was "more experimental" than the orchestra's usual bookings. An isolated string track, titled "How to Disappear into Strings", was included on the Kid A reissue Kid A Mnesia (2021).

Music
"How to Disappear Completely" is an acoustic-driven ballad backed by "forlorn" strings and "compelling" guitar effects, with elements of orchestral and ambient music. Several writers described it as a ballad;  others classified it as post-rock. Ryan Pinkard of Tidal Magazine described it as a "majestic" pop ballad. Jazz Monroe of The Guardian categorised the song as avant-garde balladry, calling it a "masterpiece" that "orchestrates a stage-fright reverie with fragments of Robert Wyatt and Penderecki". Stephen Dalton of Uncut called it a "sumptuous" orchestral ballad. Steve Lowe of Q called it a "ghostly waltz-time" folk song with influences from the Smiths' album Meat Is Murder (1985).

"How to Disappear Completely" is the first Kid A track that features Yorke's vocals clearly, with no processing effects, unlike the album's first three tracks: "Everything in Its Right Place", "Kid A" and "The National Anthem". It features strummed acoustic guitar, a Chris Squire-influenced bassline, and a base layer of strings that progresses to "paranoid" electronica and "lush" orchestration, influenced by the music of the Moody Blues. The song is played in the key of F♯ minor in a time signature with a tempo of 102 beats per minute (BPM), while Yorke's vocals span a range of C♯4 to A5, which he performed in a "long-drawn-out" falsetto. The chord progression follows a sequence of Cadd9–Em–Em6–G–Gsus4–D–Dadd4–EM6.

The song begins with a discordant string harmony, then a strummed D ninth chord acoustic guitar played by Yorke, backed by B♭ string tunes, creating a dissonant noise that moves between the D major and F♯ minor chords. O'Brien used guitar reverbs and delay effects, creating a melody that sinks between the A and E chords. The bassline enters at 0:23, playing chords of F♯–A–B–E–C♯, followed by two separate chords of E and F♯. The B♭ note ends at 1:37, the beginning of the chorus. The strings are attached to Yorke's vocals throughout the song. By the end of the song at 5:23, all instruments join together to produce a high-pitched note ranging from A to F♯. Greenwood's ondes Martenot parts appear low in the mix because of the string sounds. Jamie Kahn of Far Out praised the string section for blending with acoustic guitar and Yorke's "haunting" vocals to create an "eclectic, harmonious" mix.

The string section was inspired by Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1961), which previously inspired the string section on the OK Computer track "Climbing Up the Walls". However, the author Peter Carney wrote: "It is true that guitarist Jonny Greenwood writes many atonal fragments after Penderecki's style, but structurally, 'How to Disappear Completely' mixes atonal exceptional fragments into tonal architecture." Carney explained that Greenwood derived the style from the jazz of Charles Mingus more than Penderecki.

Lyrical interpretation
The lyrics address themes of escape, social alienation, the search for peace, emotional turmoil, and dissociation, which is sometimes used as a way to deal with stress or trauma. John Hugar of Uproxx wrote that the song is "about being so miserable you just want to escape into the void, into the nothingness, having never been part of this universe to begin with." The lyrics are poetic and referential, with no literal interpretations, as in the lines: "Strobe lights and blown speakers / Fireworks and hurricanes / I'm not here / This isn't happening". James Oldham of NME wrote that the chorus, "I'm not here / This isn't happening", reflects Yorke's mental state of what he and the rest of the band experienced from their tour for OK Computer.

Release and media usage
"How to Disappear Completely" was released as the fourth track on Kid A, released on 27 September 2000. The music press predicted that the song would be released as a single due to its potential to be a hit, but Radiohead eventually did not release singles from the album. However, "How to Disappear Completely" was released in 2000 as a CD promotional single in Poland on Parlophone and in Belgium on EMI Belgium. In the US, it was released as a double A-side promotional single with "Idioteque" on Capitol Records.

Along with "Idioteque", "How to Disappear Completely" was included on the compilation album 2001: A Sound Odyssey, released in the US in 2000 on Capitol. The song was included on the special edition of the greatest hits album Radiohead: The Best Of (2008) and the Kid A Mnesia reissue. An audio live version, recorded on 15 November 2000 for broadcast on BBC Radio 1's Evening Session, was included on the Kid A "Special Collectors Edition" reissue in 2009. A 2001 live performance was also included on the 2009 DVD-disc of "Special Collectors Edition"; this televised performance was filmed on 28 April 2001 in Paris, France, for broadcast on the French TV channel Canal+.

"How to Disappear Completely" was featured in an episode of the American TV series Roswell (1999–2002). The music supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas, recalled:

"Jason Katims and Ron Moore were keen to get the track for an episode, but Radiohead for television—even great television—seemed so out of reach. It's hard to remember now, but the climate for licensing was different in 2000, and bands were much less apt to say yes. But we tried. I remember sending the scene to Capitol Records and waiting and waiting and following up endlessly. I'll never forget getting the call in my tiny office on Sunset and Cahuenga [Boulevards] overlooking an especially unseemly Jack-in-the-Box parking lot: They had approved."

"How to Disappear Completely" was featured in the American film Life as a House (2001). In 2004, the Argentine writer, Mariana Enríquez, published her Spanish-language novel, Cómo desaparecer completamente, which was named after the song. Along with other several Radiohead songs, "How to Disappear Completely" was featured in The Island President, a 2011 documentary about then-President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed.

Critical reception
In a 2000 article published prior to the release of Kid A, Melody Maker ' s Andre Paine described "How to Disappear Completely" as "several minutes of music that sounds like the Smiths produced by DJ Shadow". Reviewing Kid A in 2000, NME ' s Keith Cameron wrote that the song sees Radiohead's "return to the big ballad template, as massed strings swoon and Yorke's voice soars transcendentally for the first time". The Rolling Stone critic David Fricke wrote that the song "moves like an ice floe: cold-blue folk rock with just a faint hint of heartbeat." Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork stated that the song "boil[ed] down [OK Computer tracks] 'Let Down' and 'Karma Police' to their spectral essence", claiming it "comes closest to bridging Yorke's lyrical sentiment to the instrumental effect. [...] The strings melt and weep as the album shifts into its underwater mode."

Billboard called "How to Disappear Completely" "haunting", noting that "vocalist Thom Yorke is as tortured as ever, proclaiming 'I'm not here/This isn't happening' [...] as if he'd already vanished long ago." Cam Lindsay of Exclaim! described the song as "a moody acoustic number" and "the most radio compatible track" on Kid A, comparing it to the OK Computer track "Exit Music (For a Film)". Simon Reynolds of Uncut described the song as a "missing link" between Scott Walker's orchestral music and the "swoonily amorphous" ballads on My Bloody Valentine's album Isn't Anything (1988). He also likened it to a Walker ballad composed by Krzysztof Penderecki, in an article for another magazine, The Wire. Tom Coombe of The Morning Call likened the song's "haunting and calming" sound to the sound of the ocean. The author Greg Kot wrote that the song sounds like a "lost soundtrack" to Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo. The author Steven Hyden wrote that the song could have been on OK Computer if Walker had produced it. He also compared the acoustic guitar, which "slowly builds to an operatic emotional climax", to previous Radiohead songs such as "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Exit Music".

Personnel
Radiohead
 * Thom Yorke
 * Jonny Greenwood
 * Ed O'Brien
 * Colin Greenwood
 * Philip Selway

Technical
 * Nigel Godrich – production, engineering, mixing
 * Radiohead – production
 * Gerard Navarro – production assistance, additional engineering
 * Graeme Stewart – additional engineering

Cover
 * Stanley Donwood
 * Thom Yorke (credited as "Tchock")

Additional musicians
 * Orchestra of St John's – strings
 * John Lubbock – conducting
 * Sue Lynn – violin
 * Marjorie Hodge – violin
 * Jeremy Metcalfe – violin
 * Jan Schmolk – violin
 * Jill Samuel – violin
 * Ann Morfee – violin
 * Jonathan Strange – violin
 * Nicolette Brown – violin
 * Eleanor Mathieson – violin
 * Hilary-Jane Parker – violin
 * Kirsten Klingels – violin
 * Caroline Balding – violin
 * Jane Atkins – viola
 * Richard Nelson – viola
 * Esther Geldard – viola
 * Chris Pitsillides – viola
 * John Heley – cello
 * Jo Cole – cello
 * David Bucknall – cello
 * Jonathan Tunnell – cello
 * Tony Hougham – bass
 * Sarah Haynes – bass