Having No Head by The 1975 Song Info
“Having No Head” is an instrumental track first played by the band’s drummer and producer, George Daniel, during an Instagram Live session on his birthday on March 22, 2020. On April 8, 2020, video advertisements for "Notes on a Conditional Form" started appearing on Instagram, featuring a soft ambient track with a piano playing over it. Reddit user /u/blue_moon_boy_ then used the Shazam app on the advertisement’s audio, which recognized it as Having No Head. It’s very similar to the intro of a track played at the end of George’s birthday live stream, which has a similar length to Having No Head (which has a length of 6:04). In The 1975’s Spotify commentary on “Having no Head”, Matty describes the song as “George’s long form statement on the record”, as well as his favourite song of the album. The song title, also coined by George, may be a reference to Douglas Harding’s 1961 book, titled "On Having No Head: Zen and the Re-discovery of the Obvious". George, who, according to Matty, is “very much into his Eastern philosophy” and meditation, may have taken inspiration from Douglas Harding’s state of “having no head”–that is, a state of being that is free of intruding thoughts and allows one to fully absorb and appreciate the beauty of one’s surroundings. "'This is George, man. All George. It’s the only thing that George titled as well; he’s very much into his Eastern philosophy. You can ask him what it’s about. I don’t fucking know. That’s just George meditating. That’s what that sounds like to me. That is how George gets it out, this big, sprawling ambience, his artwork, like tapestries.'" - Matty Healy, via Apple Music
