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Yesterday, as everyone is no doubt aware, Radiohead released the digital edition of their new record The King of Limbs. I’m infatuated with it, which is not terribly surprising given my love for this band over the past fifteen years or however long it’s been.

One thing I particularly like is the second track on the album: Morning Mr Magpie. It’s a song that’s been around for a very long time indeed, and was first played in 2002, as part of their Radiohead TV Christmas Webcast, prior to the release of Hail to the Thief. I remember being sat up late at night, curled up in a desk chair in my university digs, watching a tiny, pixelated show of bizarre films, DJ sets and obscurity over the course of a few hours (until my connection dropped and never recovered.) This was during their two titles per song phase, and was introduced as ‘Good Morning Mr. Magpie (Good Morning M’Lord)’. It’s not really a very good recording (ripped from a Realplayer stream as it is) and it’s not one of Radiohead’s finest bootleg gems either, but I’ve attached here, for historical note, perhaps.

It’s a song they’ve carried for ten years, reworked and sounding as fresh and brilliant as if they’d just written it.

You can also listen to it on Hype Machine, which you want to do, since it scrobbles.