So there's maybe a new Radiohead song making the rounds─and, as Pitchfork and Stereogum have noted, if it's a fake, it's a damn good one. "These Are My Twisted Words" popped up on a fan site this morning, without any attribution or, um, attendant facts. But the looping weird melody and plaintive vocals are prime Yorke & Co. Hear it for yourself, before YouTube receives a copyright-infringement claim.

Fans at the unofficial site AtEaseWeb.com reportedly pulled the following gobbledygook from the leaked mp3 file:

    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiii radiohead - these are my twisted words iiiiiii
    iiiiiii iiiiiii
    iiii artist.......radiohead iiii
    iiii title........these are my twisted words iiii
    iiii label........?????????? iiii
    iiii cat.nr.......????????? iiii
    iiii style........'dificult' iiii
    iiii nr of tracks.1 iiii
    iiii total length..5.32 iiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiii audio source.CD Advance iiii
    iiii encoder......LAME 3.93 iiii
    iiii quality......320kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo iiii
    iiii size.........12,70 MB iiii
    iiii ripper.......sca[GG]er iiii
    iiii rls.date.....2009-08-17 iiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiii i just wanted to reassure readers iiii
    iiii that following representations iiii
    iiii seeking confirmation iiii
    iiii that before your very eyes iiii
    iiii behind the wall of ice iiii
    iiii that the box is not under threat iiii
    iiii however they are set to remove iiii
    iiii other boxes iiii
    iiii in fact i have the list in front of me iiii
    iiii i went to a briefing on their plans iiii
    iiii and challenged them to tell me iiii
    iiiii exactly what the cost would be iiiiiii
    iiiiii iiiiiiii
    iiiiiii they spoke in broad terms iiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiii we're looking for: talented puppeteers iiiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiii worms, disgruntled executives, sacked flies iiiiiiiiii
    iiiiiiii genres: doomcore, folktronica, ukf iiiiiiii
    iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
    

That reads like classic turn-of-the-century clause-spraying that Radiohead used to put on its official W.A.S.T.E. Web site, for what it's worth.

This, of course, comes on the heels of Thom's interview with The Believer magazine, in which he celebrates the demise of the CD, and says Radiohead is finished with releasing full-length albums, at least for the time being. (Read more of the interview here.) Leaking a solitary song to a fan site without much in the way of clarity would obviously fit with that plan. More important─even though we already expect the unexpected, business-side-wise, from Radiohead─this is a trick it hasn't yet pulled, which makes everyone talk about the band and keep its mystery/legend alive. If it's not going to release proper albums in the foreseeable future, it'll have to rely on a lot of stunts like this to keep everyone buzzing. Not a bad plan, though. And not a bad song, either.