The Becoming

Album: The Downward Spiral

Length:5:31

Tempo:150 BPM

Versions:The Becoming
The Becoming (Instrumental)
The Becoming (Still)

Live:Dissonance
Performance 2007
Wave Goodbye Tour
NIN 2014 Europe/UK Tour
Cold And Black And Infinite Tour through present

"The Becoming" is the seventh track on the 1994 album The Downward Spiral. A semi-acoustic version can be found on Still, which has an accompanying performance video released at the time on nin.com. The bassline on this track was done with a prototype of the Oberheim OB-Mx synthesizer.[1] Trent Reznor stated in an interview[2] that the idea for the metaphor of a person becoming a machine was inspired by Shinya Tsukamoto's Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

Annie

In a 2004 interview for Alternative Press, Reznor was asked about the use of the name Annie in this song.

Oh, and "Annie" was abstractly referring to a college sweetheart/ heartbreak situation that, at the time I was writing that song, was a valid source of emotional pain to draw from. Her real name is Andrea Mulrain, and her phone number is [number deleted for privacy purposes. -Patriot Act Ed.]

—Reznor [3]

Song Credits

• Production: Flood and Trent Reznor
• Mixing Engineer: Alan Moulder
• Ring Mod Guitar: Adrian Belew
• ARP2600: Flood

Appearances

Halos

• The Downward Spiral (1994)
• And All That Could Have Been (Deluxe Edition CD; 2002)
• Still

Seeds

• The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts

Versions

The Becoming

This is the original album version. It begins in a 13/8 time signature with a manipulated piano line, then bursts into drum and sample loops of screams taken from the film Robot Jox. The drum loop pattern is also nearly identical in "The Way Out Is Through". At the 3-minute mark, it mellows into an acoustic guitar-led passage in 6/8, with machine-like loops and synthesized chorus pads sampled from Reznor's voice. The quiet portions of the song also contain a backwards sample from the film Angel Heart where the character is repeatedly yelling "I know who I am!" There is a final outburst of noise and screaming before returning to the acoustic section, which crossfades with the opening of "I Do Not Want This".

The Becoming (Instrumental)

Running Time: 6:24

Released by Reznor via his remix.nin.com account, this unmastered instrumental version is extended in length, as it does not fade out the ending, rather looping the acoustic guitar riff many times until stopping.

The Becoming (Still)

Running Time: 4:30

This version appears on the Still CD, which was disc two of the Deluxe Edition CD of And All That Could Have Been. Simpler in its instrumentation and without the sample loops, it transitions immediately from the end of "The Fragile" and ends suddenly after the final "noisy" section. Though he is absent from the credits, Danny Lohner is clearly seen performing in the video.

Song Credits

• Performance: Trent Reznor, Jerome Dillon
• Mix engineering: Alan Moulder
• Engineering: Alan Moulder
• Second Engineering: Leo Herrera
• Programming: Keith Hillebrandt

Live

This song, played live frequently on the Dissonance Tour and relegated to rarity status until its brief return on the Performance 2007 Tour, was resurrected for the Wave Goodbye Tour, during which it was characterized by Robin Finck's use of an acoustic guitar throughout. However, the structure of the song stayed close to the album version, with distortion used on the acoustic guitar for the loud parts. These performances also dropped the Robot Jox sample loop.

Lyrics

    I beat my machine it's a part of me it's inside of me
    I'm stuck in this dream it's changing me I am becoming
    The me that you know had some second thoughts
    He's covered with scabs he is broken and sore
    The me that you know doesn't come around much
    That part of me isn’t here anymore
    
    All pain disappears it's the nature of my circuitry
    Drowns out all I hear no escape from this my new consciousness
    The me that you know used to have feelings
    But the blood has stopped pumping and he's left to decay
    The me that you know is now made up of wires
    And even when I'm right with you I'm so far away
    
    I can try to get away but I've strapped myself in
    I can try to scratch away the sound in my ears
    I can see it killing away all my bad parts
    I don't want to listen but it's all too clear
    Hiding backwards inside of me I feel so unafraid
    Annie, hold a little tighter I might just slip away
    
    It won't give up it wants me dead
    Goddamn this noise inside my head

External Links

• "The Becoming" (Still) music video
• "The Becoming" live from on stage at the Sasquatch Festival, 5.24.09
• "The Becoming" (Instrumental) at archive.org

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