"Lucky" is a song by Radiohead

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

. In December 1997, the song was released as a promotional single in France.

Recording and release

In 1995, Radiohead—singer Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke

Thomas "Thom" Edward Yorke is an English musician who is the lead vocalist and principal songwriter for Radiohead. He mainly plays guitar and piano, but he has also played drums and bass guitar...

, guitarists Jonny Greenwood

Jonny Greenwood

Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...

 and Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien

Edward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...

, bassist Colin Greenwood

Colin Greenwood

Colin Charles Greenwood , is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the rock band Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling on the electronic side of Radiohead...

 and drummer Phil Selway

Phil Selway

Philip James "Phil" "The Graf" Selway is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of English rock group Radiohead. He also drums and provides backing vocals, along with occasional guitar and lead vocals, for 7 Worlds Collide...

—were on tour in promotion of their second album, The Bends

The Bends

The Bends is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead, released on 13 March 1995 by Parlophone. The Bends was produced by John Leckie at EMI's studios in London, and engineered by Nigel Godrich, who would go on to produce all future albums by the band...

. During some June 1995 concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

s in Japan, O'Brien would make a high-pitched strum

Strum

In music, a strum or stroke is an action where a single surface touches several strings of a string instrument, such as a guitar, in order to set them all into motion and thereby play a chord...

ming sound at soundcheck

Soundcheck

A soundcheck is the preparation that takes place before a concert, speech, or similar performance, when the performer and the sound crew run through a small portion of the upcoming show on the venue's sound system to make sure that the sound in the venue's "Front Of House" and stage monitor sound...

s. A few weeks later, this sound had developed into a full song that became part of the set list

Set list

A set list, or setlist, is a document that lists the songs that a band or musical artist intends to play, or has played, during a specific concert performance...

. At this time, producer Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

 contacted Radiohead to contribute a song to The Help Album

The Help Album

The Help Album is a 1995 charity album devoted to the War Child charity's aid efforts in war-stricken areas, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina...

, a charity compilation

Charity record

A charity record is a release of a song for a specific charitable cause. Some of the earliest charity records came from the Music for UNICEF Concert, with ABBA's Chiquitita and the Bee Gees' Too Much Heaven among them released as singles, with all the royalties going to UNICEF...

 organized by War Child

War Child (charity)

War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...

 to benefit children affected by the Bosnian War

Bosnian War

The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...

. The Help Album sessions were to take place over the course of only a single day, 4 September 1995, and rush-released later that week. That day the band recorded the song "Lucky" in five hours with producer Nigel Godrich

Nigel Godrich

Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band...

. All the band members believed that "Lucky" was the strongest song they had written at that time in their career.

Composition

The song is a soft, ballad style song that starts off slowly with guitar strumming and gentle ride ticking before building into an anthem-style chorus. Throughout the entirety of the song, Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien

Edward John O'Brien is an English musician, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Radiohead. He is also responsible for harmony vocals during live concerts and on many tracks from the band's albums...

strums above the nut of the guitar. The verse is then repeated, albeit more upbeat. After a second chorus the song builds into an instrumental before finishing the last line from the chorus.