"Burn the Witch" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, the lead single from their ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool (2016). It features a string section playing with guitar plectrums, producing a percussive sound. Radiohead first worked on the song during the sessions for their fourth album, Kid A (2000), and developed it for over a decade.
"Burn the Witch" was released as a download on 3 May 2016 on Radiohead's website, followed by 7-inch single released exclusively in independent record stores. It was accompanied by a stop-motion animated music video that pays homage to the Trumptonshire series of 1960s British children's television programmes and the 1973 horror film The Wicker Man. Critics interpreted the lyrics and video as a warning against groupthink and authoritarianism.
"Burn the Witch" was named one of the best songs of the year by Rolling Stone, Billboard and the Village Voice, and was nominated for Best Rock Song at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. It was one of the bestselling UK vinyl singles of 2016.
Background
Radiohead worked on "Burn the Witch" during the sessions for their albums Kid A (2000), Hail to the Thief (2003) and In Rainbows (2007). The title appears in the Hail to the Thief album artwork. The singer, Thom Yorke, mentioned the song in a 2005 post on Radiohead's blog and posted lyrics in 2007. He briefly played chords from the song in performances in 2006 and 2008, but told the audience that Radiohead would perform it "when we get the orchestra".
Asked in 2013 about "Burn the Witch" and Radiohead's other unreleased songs, Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich responded: "Everything will surface one day... it all exists... and so it will eventually get there, I'm sure." He cited the song "Nude", released in 2007 but written 12 years prior, as an example of a song that took several years to complete.
Recording
According to the guitarist Jonny Greenwood, who arranges Radiohead's string sections, "Burn the Witch" was written with strings in mind. He said: "We left it unfinished on purpose and left lots of room for the strings and we never do that usually. Usually the strings are the icing on top."
The strings were recorded at RAK Studios in London. They were performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra and conducted by Hugh Brunt; Greenwood had worked with both before on his score for the 2012 film The Master. Rather than bowing the strings, the orchestra players used guitar plectrums, creating a percussive effect.
Godrich's father died on the day of the recording. According to Godrich, "I literally left him on a fucking table in my house and went and recorded. And it was a very, very emotional day for me. He was a string player as well so it was one of those things where it felt like he would want me to go and just do this."
Music and lyrics
"Burn the Witch" was described by The Atlantic as an orchestral pop song and by The Guardian as an art rock song. According to Pitchfork, the string section "alternates between sumptuous flourishes and the darkest corners of The Shining's score". The Atlantic critic Spencer Kornhaber likened the strings to heavy metal, "chugga-chugga-chugga-ing the entire time". In the second half, the strings "gradually disintegrate"; while the cellos and basses adhere to a conventional chord progression, the higher strings become "deathly" and "horrid". The song also features electronic percussion.
The lyrics direct the listener to "abandon all reason / avoid all eye contact / do not react / shoot the messengers / burn the witch". Yorke said the lyrics were inspired by the News of the World newspaper publishing the names and addresses of sex offenders in 2000.
Video
The "Burn the Witch" music video was directed by Chris Hopewell, who previously directed the animated video for Radiohead's 2003 single "There There". It uses stop-motion animation in the style of the Trumptonshire trilogy, a series of 1960s English children's television programmes. According to the son-in-law of Trumptonshire creator Gordon Murray, the family was not asked permission to use the style and saw it as a "tarnishing of the brand". The video was conceived and finished in 14 days and released on YouTube one week later on 3 May 2016.