The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)
'The Downward Spiral" is often referred to as the final part of The Downward Spiral's story in which the main character kills himself with a gun. The intro to the song contains a chromatic melody very reminiscent of the ending of "Closer" but it is in E Major rather than C Major.
Contents
Song Credits
- Production: Trent Reznor
- Mixing engineer: Alan Moulder
- Drums: Andy Kubiszewski
Appearances
Halos
- The Downward Spiral
- Further Down The Spiral
Seeds
Versions
The Downward Spiral
The final chapter in the album, The Downward Spiral incorporates white noise and the sound of flies, symbolizing the main character's arrival to "the bottom" of madness and self destruction. A single acoustic guitar is layered on top, playing the famous "Downward Spiral Motif." The music then begins to build up, culminating with sounds of Trent screaming in desperation. A heavy drum line is added onto the screaming and the lyrics are whispered on top. Finally, the song abruptly ends, with only the sound of white noise providing a segue into Hurt. This song marks the final appearance of the motif, played as follows:
The Downward Spiral (The Bottom)
This remix contains a percolating minor-key melody that incorporates the guitar part of the original album version. It can be found on Further Down The Spiral and the 2-disc Deluxe Edition of The Downward Spiral.
Live
When performed on the Self Destruct tour, the projection screen would show streams of blood slowly descending from the top. Once the screen was completely red, the curtain would rise, revealing the band performing the song. The vocals are absent from live performances, making it an instrumental lead-in, usually to "Wish."
Lyrics
He couldn’t believe how easy it was
He put the gun into his face
Bang!
(So much blood for such a tiny little hole)
Problems have solutions
A lifetime of fucking things up fixed in one determined flash
Everything’s blue
In this world
The deepest shade of mushroom blue
All fuzzy
Spilling out of my head
The fifth line was changed on the final album cut:
Problems do have solutions, you know
The seventh line is repeated twice:
Everything's blue...
Everything's blue in this world