Changes

| length = 4:33

| BPM = 130

| live = [[Fragility]] through [[Performance 2007]]<br>[[Wave Goodbye Tour]] through [[Tension 2013 Tour]]<br>[[NIN 2014 Europe/UK Tour]] through present

}}'''"The Day The World Went Away"''' is the second track on the Left disc of ''[[The Fragile (halo)|The Fragile]].'' It was released as a single preceding the release of ''The Fragile'' and received the designation of Halo 13.

===The Day The World Went Away===

This is the original album version, found on ''The Fragile.'' It follows the percussive and aggressive "[[Somewhat Damaged]]," and is one of NIN's most uniquely structured songs. Musically the opposite of "Somewhat Damaged" in almost every way, it lacks the use of any standard form of percussion, and begins with drones that fade in during the ending of "Somewhat Damaged." These soon give way to loud, distorted guitars and bass playing a simple five-chord progression. As it repeats, a synthesizer melody enters on top, ascending in intensity and pitch until it drops out along with the guitars. The bass continues playing the progression above the drones while Reznor sings the song's verse, backed with a distant harmony for the second half. The song features the use of a mandolin in this section, another first for NIN, and it is the mandolin alone that strums a bridge from the end of the verse and into the final section, characterized by a return of the loud guitar and bass playing a new progression, joined by group vocals singing a wordless melody. This all gives way at the end of the phrase to a quiet percussive sound that ends the song, repeating while fading out into the opening soundscape layers of "[[The Frail]]." The song's introductory guitar chords are extended by roughly 30 seconds on ''The Fragile'' vinyl version.

===The Day The World Went Away (Single Version)===