My Iron Lung

My Iron Lung is the third extended play (EP) by English alternative rock group Radiohead, released in October 1994. The title track later appeared on the band’s second studio album The Bends (1995). The EP also contains outtakes from then-ongoing recording sessions for The Bends, compiling songs that were issued as B-sides on two separate “My Iron Lung” CD singles in the UK and other markets. My Iron Lung was originally released in EP form with all eight songs only in Australia, but it is currently in print worldwide.

The record is seen as a bridge between the relative simplicity of their 1993 debut album Pablo Honey, and the greater sonic depth of Radiohead’s later work, beginning with The Bends. The “My Iron Lung” single charted at number 24 in the UK, a decline from “Creep“‘s peak of number 7. It also received little radio or MTV attention in the United States, especially as compared with “Creep”.

The title track “My Iron Lung” was recorded live, in the same 1994 London concert filmed for Live at the Astoria, with only singer Thom Yorke later overdubbed. The song as it appears on the 1994 singles/EP is virtually identical to the version that appeared the next year on The Bends, with only some barely audible changes in mixing levels.

“My Iron Lung” was Radiohead’s reaction to “Creep”, their massive hit of 1993 which also became something of a millstone for Yorke.