Harry Patch (In Memory of) chords by Radiohead

Harry Patch (In Memory Of) is a standalone release in tribute to Harry Patch, the last surviving UK veteran of World War 1, who died on 25 July 2009 at the age of 111. The song was released as a download direct from Radiohead's website on Wednesday August 5th, 2009. The release was announced by Thom Yorke through a blog post: “Recently the last remaining UK veteran of the 1st world war Harry Patch died at the age of 111. I had heard a very emotional interview with him a few years ago on the Today program on Radio4. The way he talked about war had a profound effect on me. It became the inspiration for a song that we happened to record a few weeks before his death. It was done live in an abbey. The strings were arranged by Jonny. I very much hope the song does justice to his memory as the last survivor.” Lyrics "i am the only one that got through the others died where ever they fell it was an ambush they came up from all sides give your leaders each a gun and then let them fight it out themselves i've seen devils coming up from the ground i've seen hell upon this earth the next will be chemical but they will never learn" Radiohead have made available a new song for paid download at their Dead Air Spacewebsite. The song, "Harry Patch (in memory of)" is, you guessed it, a tribute to the memory of Harry Patch, the last surviving World War I combat soldier, who died at age 111 on July 25 and will be buried tomorrow. The download will cost £1 (appx. $1.70), with all proceeds going to the UK veterans' charity the Royal British Legion. It can also be streamed via the BBC. Patch, a plumber by trade, has long been a national figure in the UK. Known as "the last Tommy"-- a reference to a nickname given to British WWI soldiers-- Patch served from 1916-18, fighting on the battlefields of France in 1917. In the years after the war, Patch would survive two wives, a third female companion, both of his sons, and virtually his entire generation-- at the time of his death he was the third-oldest living man in the world. After decades of avoiding discussing the war, Patch, at age 100, became a sharp critic of WWI, and war in general, calling it "legalized mass murder" and comparing trench dogs picking over the dead bodies of the fallen to supposedly civilized nations like Britain and Germany fighting in the dirt of France. Even then, Patch was acutely aware of his fortunes and humble about his position as a living symbol to one of the most important moments in European history. In 2007, at a visit to a Flemish war memorial, he expressed alou d how frankly mind-blowing it must feel to have gone off to war, as tens of millions of people had in those years, and nearly a century later to be the last man standing. "Any one of them could have been me," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Millions of men came to fight in this war and I find it incredible that I am the only one left." There are now only three verified surviving World War I veterans. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.