Difference between revisions of "March Of The Pigs (song)"

Revision as of 03:07, 1 June 2009

Album:The Downward Spiral

Length:2:58

Tempo:{{{BPM}}} BPM

Versions:March Of The Pigs
March Of The Pigs (Instrumental)
March Of The Pigs (Clean)
All The Pigs, All Lined Up
March Of The Pigs (And All That Could Have Been)
March Of The Pigs (Beside You In Time)

Live:Self Destruct Warm-up through present

"March of the Pigs" is the fourth track on 1994's The Downward Spiral. It has one of the most unique metres of any song to enjoy popular radio play, alternating three measures of 7/8 time with one measure of 4/4 time in the verses (in effect, a 29/8 time signature). The chorus is in the common 4/4 time signature. As a result, with eighth notes getting the count, the song has a BPM rate of 269.

Lyrically, the song could be about society or NIN's fans, but Trent Reznor has stated in the interview titled Disturbed that the "pigs" in this song refer mainly to "anywhere from the media to people he thought were friends around him." Furthermore, he said, "The issue I was addressing was... when we attained a certain level of success, it was surprising to see the legion of people starting to fuck with you, can't wait to see you fail, hoping that you'll fuck up, ripping you off, trying to use you... The fact that American media, in 'underground world,' you go from being the darling to 'well, we accidentally started selling some records,' so they have to turn their backs on us."

The chorus of this song shares its chord progression with the bridge of "Wish."

Appearances

Halos

March Of The Pigs
The Downward Spiral
Closure
And All That Could Have Been (CD/DVD/VHS)
Beside You In Time

Seeds

Video Games

Rock Band (available for download)

Versions

March Of The Pigs

This is the original album version. Like much of the album, this song is structured around contrast: the loud and fast, oddly-metered and screamed verses are juxtaposed with the moodier, quieter bridge and piano-led chorus.

March Of The Pigs (Clean)

The radio edit deletes the word "fuck," making it safe to air on American radio stations.

March Of The Pigs (Instrumental)

Released by Reznor through his remix.nin.com account, this is an unmastered and vocalless version of the album cut.

All The Pigs, All Lined Up

This version is entirely in 4/4 and has en extended ending that incorporates the lyric "Don't you feel a whole lot better?"

March Of The Pigs (And All That Could Have Been)

Typical of how the song has usually been performed live since the Self Destruct Tour, this live version incorporates an extended ending based on that of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up."

March Of The Pigs (Beside You In Time)

Like the version that appears on And All That Could Have Been, this live version incorporates the ending of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up." However, the introduction is arranged differently, and features different vocal improvisation during the ending.

Music Video

A music video was made for this song, directed by Peter Christopherson ("Wish" and the Broken Movie) and released in March of 1994. The video features the band performing the song live in front of a white wall backdrop. Reportedly, around a dozen takes were done, and the final video take was the one that "did not suck." It's filmed in one shot, a rare occurrence for music videos. This video was the last video to be played on MTV2's Increase the Beat, on Memorial Day weekend 2002. At 269 BPM, it had the fastest tempo of the 400+ videos that were played that weekend.

A previous version of the video was partially shot but abandoned, and is included in glimpses on the Closure DVD. The band performs the song in a red, cave-like set with water at their feet, with a troll-like midget in costume running in and out of the set.

Live

Being a staple NIN song with its high energy segued by two piano breakdowns, there is a live performance video of "March of the Pigs" on each of their live releases. In the live set, the band extends the song by including an amped up version of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up" at the end of almost every performance. In most performances in the pre-With Teeth eras, the songs starts with similar high pitched squeals as it does in the performance music video for the song. The With Teeth Tour arrangement started with Alessandro Cortini playing the synthesized bassline twice, stopping for Josh Freese to play eight bars of the drum pattern before the band launched directly into the first verse. Reznor typically starts the song with the spoken lyrics "C'mon you pigs... march!".

Lyrics

    Step right up march push
    Crawl right up on your knees
    Please greed feed (no time to hesitate)
    I want a little bit I want a piece of it I think he's losing it
    I want to watch it come down
    Don't like the look of it don't like the taste of it don't like the smell of it
    I want to watch it come down
    
    All the pigs are all lined up
    I give you all that you want
    Take the skin and peel it back
    Now doesn't that make you feel better?
    
    Shove it up inside surprise! Lies
    Stains like blood on your teeth
    Bite chew suck away the tender parts
    I want to break it up I want to smash it up I want to fuck it up
    I want to watch it come down
    Maybe afraid of it let's discredit it let's pick away at it
    I want to watch it come down
    
    All the pigs are all lined up
    I give you all that you want
    Take the skin and peel it back
    Now doesn't that make you feel better?
    The pigs have won tonight
    Now they can all sleep soundly
    And everything is all right

External Links

"March Of The Pigs" (uncensored music video)
"March Of The Pigs" live from Beside You In Time
Direct link to Disturbed interview audio

Previous track - "Heresy"

Track 4 from The Downward Spiral

Next track - "Closer"

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | album = ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]]''
 | length = 2:58
-| versions = March Of The Pigs<br>March Of The Pigs (Clean version)<br>All The Pigs, All Lined Up<br>March Of The Pigs (''[[And All That Could Have Been (halo)|And All That Could Have Been]]'')<br>March Of The Pigs (''[[Beside You In Time (halo)|Beside You In Time]]'')
+| versions = March Of The Pigs<br>March Of The Pigs (Instrumental)<br>March Of The Pigs (Clean)<br>All The Pigs, All Lined Up<br>March Of The Pigs (''[[And All That Could Have Been (halo)|And All That Could Have Been]]'')<br>March Of The Pigs (''[[Beside You In Time (halo)|Beside You In Time]]'')
 | live = [[Self Destruct Warm-up]] through present
-}}'''"March of the Pigs"''' is the fourth track on 1994's ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]].'' It has one of the most unique metres of any song to enjoy popular radio play, alternating three measures of 7/8 time with one measure of 4/4 time in the verses (in effect, a 29/8 time signature). The chorus is in the common 4/4 time signature. As a result, with eighth notes getting the count, the song has a BPM rate of 269.
+}}
+'''"March of the Pigs"''' is the fourth track on 1994's ''[[The Downward Spiral (halo)|The Downward Spiral]].'' It has one of the most unique metres of any song to enjoy popular radio play, alternating three measures of 7/8 time with one measure of 4/4 time in the verses (in effect, a 29/8 time signature). The chorus is in the common 4/4 time signature. As a result, with eighth notes getting the count, the song has a BPM rate of 269.
 Lyrically, the song could be about society or NIN's fans, but [[Trent Reznor]] has stated in the interview titled Disturbed that the "pigs" in this song refer mainly to "anywhere from the media to people he thought were friends around him." Furthermore, he said, "The issue I was addressing was... when we attained a certain level of success, it was surprising to see the legion of people starting to fuck with you, can't wait to see you fail, hoping that you'll fuck up, ripping you off, trying to use you... The fact that American media, in 'underground world,' you go from being the darling to 'well, we accidentally started selling some records,' so they have to turn their backs on us."
@@ Line 33: / Line 35: @@
 ==Versions==
 ===March Of The Pigs===
-This Is the original album version.
+This is the original album version. Like much of the album, this song is structured around contrast: the loud and fast, oddly-metered and screamed verses are juxtaposed with the moodier, quieter bridge and piano-led chorus.
-===March Of The Pigs (clean)===
+===March Of The Pigs (Clean)===
 The radio edit deletes the word "fuck," making it safe to air on American radio stations.
+===March Of The Pigs (Instrumental)===
+Released by Reznor through his remix.nin.com account, this is an unmastered and vocalless version of the album cut.
 ===All The Pigs, All Lined Up===
@@ Line 42: / Line 47: @@
 ===March Of The Pigs (''And All That Could Have Been'')===
-This live version incorporates an extended ending, based on that of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up."
+Typical of how the song has usually been performed live since the [[Self Destruct Tour]], this live version incorporates an extended ending based on that of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up."
 ===March Of The Pigs (''Beside You In Time'')===
-Like the version that appears on ''And All That Could Have Been,'' this live version incorporates the ending of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up." The major differences are that the introduction in this version is shorter and Reznor changes some of the vocal stylings.
+Like the version that appears on ''And All That Could Have Been,'' this live version incorporates the ending of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up." However, the introduction is arranged differently, and features different vocal improvisation during the ending.
 ==Music Video==
 A music video was made for this song, directed by [[Peter Christopherson]] ("[[Wish (song)|Wish]]" and the ''[[Broken Movie]]'') and released in March of 1994. The video features the band performing the song live in front of a white wall backdrop. Reportedly, around a dozen takes were done, and the final video take was the one that "did not suck." It's filmed in one shot, a rare occurrence for music videos. This video was the last video to be played on MTV2's ''Increase the Beat'', on Memorial Day weekend 2002. At 269 BPM, it had the fastest tempo of the 400+ videos that were played that weekend.
-A previous version of the video was partially shot but abandoned, and is included on the ''[[Closure]]'' DVD. The band performs the song in a red cave-like set with water at their feet (some speculate that it could have been a stomach), and a troll-like midget appears.
+A previous version of the video was partially shot but abandoned, and is included in glimpses on the ''[[Closure]]'' DVD. The band performs the song in a red, cave-like set with water at their feet, with a troll-like midget in costume running in and out of the set.
 ==Live==
-Being a staple NIN song with its high energy segued by two piano breakdowns, there is a live performance video of "March of the Pigs" on each of their live releases: ''Closure,'' ''And All That Could Have Been,'' and ''Beside You in Time.'' In the live set, the band extends the song by including an amped up version of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up" at the end of every performance.
+Being a staple NIN song with its high energy segued by two piano breakdowns, there is a live performance video of "March of the Pigs" on each of their live releases. In the live set, the band extends the song by including an amped up version of "All The Pigs, All Lined Up" at the end of almost every performance. In most performances in the pre-''[[With Teeth (halo)|With Teeth]]'' eras, the songs starts with similar high pitched squeals as it does in the performance music video for the song. The [[Live: With Teeth|With Teeth Tour]] arrangement started with Alessandro Cortini playing the synthesized bassline twice, stopping for Josh Freese to play eight bars of the drum pattern before the band launched directly into the first verse. Reznor typically starts the song with the spoken lyrics "C'mon you pigs... march!".
-In most performances in the pre-''[[With Teeth (halo)|With Teeth]]'' eras, the songs starts with the same high pitched squeal it does in the performance video for the song. Since the start of the [[Live: With Teeth|With Teeth Tour]], the song now starts with a synth line that matches the one played behind the second set of measures for the song originally. (This section now completely omitted from the song, the guitars coming in completely along with they synth after the first drum run through.)
-Trent typically starts the song with the spoken lyrics "C'mon you pigs... march!".
 ==Lyrics==