The Becoming (Instrumental)
The Becoming (Still)
Performance 2007
Wave Goodbye Tour
"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 video released at the time on nin.com.
Contents
Meaning
The lyrics describe a man changing, from something other than himself. His new "becoming" is correlated to transforming into a machine without human characteristics and feelings. The fear and struggle to prevent this transformation is abandoned, thus the becoming of something new.
This is a rare example of Reznor directly referencing a name ("Annie") in his lyrics. Usually, he uses ambiguous pronouns. This may express the need for attachment, the need to interact intimately with another human despite the becoming of something different, OR it could also be interpreted as a demonstration of the responsibility for the transformation (Annie's fault).
Song Credits
- Production: Flood and Trent Reznor
- Mixing Engineer: Alan Moulder
- Ring Mod Guitar: Adrian Belew
- ARP2600: Flood
Appearances
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 Joxx. 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. 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)
Released by Reznor via his remix.nin.com account, this unmastered instrumental version is extended to six minutes in length, as it does not fade out the ending, rather looping the acoustic guitar riff many times until stopping.
The Becoming (Still)
This version appears on the Still CD, which was Disc 2 of the Deluxe Edition CD of And All That Could Have Been and is currently available through nin.com. 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.
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, where its arrangement was closer to the Still version, though with electric effects on the acoustic guitar during the verses.
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
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