Originally written two years before The Bends when they were recording Pablo Honey, the song started out life over a stolen Soul II Soul rhythm. They then decided to do a version of it. They had just had a new skin put on their bass drum, so Phil was messing about with it, and that is how the drum beat came up. Thom played the opening bit acoustic, for a laugh, and everyone thought it sounded like Rod Stewart. Bits got recorded and added, but it soon got discarded pretty quickly.

About at the time that they were recording The Bends, someone found it again, and they were surprised at how well it fitted in. They then put it on the album, not bothering to re-record it. The album version is the original demo version, just remixed. This song is one of the only occasions on which it was not all recorded together - as the band came in separately, and recorded their own sections before it was all put together.

It is widely regarded as perhaps Radiohead's most accessible pop hit, and was a live favourite, though it hasn't been performed in a decade. There was speculation this was mostly due to the demands of the vocal part on Thom Yorke's voice. However, in a recent interview Thom said he "had his arm twisted... to put [the song] anywhere" and described it in the following words: "It's not bad, you know. It's not bad... it's very bad. [Laughs]"

Thom has frequently dedicated this song to the "older people, who don't like loud music". There are two videos for this song - one for the release in the UK featuring the band in a desert, and one for release in the USA with a story revolving around a Pulp Fiction-esque diner.