Sunspots

Album:With Teeth

Length:4:06

Tempo:104 BPM

Versions:Sunspots
Sunspots (Instrumental)

Live:NIN 2022

"Sunspots" is the tenth track on the 2005 release With Teeth.

Song Credits

• Live Drums: Dave Grohl

Appearances

Halos

• With Teeth

Seeds

• The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts

Versions

Sunspots

This is the original album version. Driven throughout by consistent drum and bass parts, Trent Reznor's layered vocals and muted guitars soon join. The higher, melodic verses are followed by lower pitched vocals in the pre-choruses, then higher again as the choruses are sung in falsetto. The choruses also feature a different chord progression played by bass and distorted guitars, similar to the choruses of "Love Is Not Enough." The second chorus and following bridge also feature a synthesizer lead that sounds very similar to a blender, perhaps the song's most notable characteristic. The song ends after two repeated choruses with different lyrics and 16 bars of the verse bassline and drums, which stop together just as they began.

Sunspots (Instrumental)

Released exclusively through Apple Music.

Live

"Sunspots" was never performed live until 2022, perhaps due to Reznor's fear of straining his voice too much, but eventually made its live debut on June 21, 2022 in Brixton Academy, London. It has also been performed at soundchecks and rehearsals with vocals. One of those soundchecks can be heard here. Starting in 2013, "Sunspots" was interpolated into the outro of "Sanctified" by Alessandro Cortini.

Lyrics

    Sunspots cast a glare in my eyes
    Sometimes I forget I'm alive
    I feel it coming and I've got to get out of its way
    I hear it calling and I come cause I can't disobey
    I should not listen and I shouldn't believe but I do
    Yes I do
    
    She turns me on
    She makes it real
    I have to apologize
    For the way I feel
    
    My life it seems has taken a turn
    Why in the name of God would I ever want to return?
    Peel off our skin we're gonna burn what we were to the ground
    Fuck in the fire and we'll spread all the ashes around
    I want to kill away the rest of what's left and I do
    Yes I do
    
    She turns me on
    She makes it real
    I have to apologize
    For the way I feel
    And nothing can stop me now
    And there is nothing to fear
    And everything I'd ever want
    Is inside of here
    
    Now I just stare into the sun
    And I see everything I've done
    I think I could have been someone
    But I can't stop what has begun
    When everything is said and done
    And there is no place left to run
    I think I used to be someone
    Now I just stare into the sun

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