The Day The World Went Away (song)
The Day The World Went Away (Quiet)
The Day The World Went Away (Porter Ricks mix)
The Day The World Went Away (And All That Could Have Been)
The Day The World Went Away (Still)
"The Day The World Went Away" is the second track on the Left disc of The Fragile. It was released as a single preceding the release of The Fragile and received the designation of Halo 13.
Contents
Meaning
The song's lyrics are rumored to be about the death of Trent Reznor's maternal grandmother, which occured before The Fragile was recorded. Analysis of the lyrics do support the theory of this song being about death, but no one can say with any certainty what Reznor's inspiration was.
Structure
"The Day The World Went Away" follows the percussive and aggressive "Somewhat Damaged." It is one of Nine Inch Nails' most uniquely structured songs and it is musically the opposite of "Somewhat Damaged" in almost every way, actually lacking the use of any percussion. It also features the use of a mandolin, another first for NIN.
Song Credits
- Backing chants by the Buddha Debutante Choir: Melissa Daigle, Judy Miller, Christine Parrish, M. Gabriela Rivas, Heather Bennett, Fae Young and Martha Wood
- Additional vocals on “Quiet:” Kim Prevost
Appearances
Halos
- The Day The World Went Away
- The Fragile
- We're In This Together
- And All That Could Have Been (CD/DVD {Easter egg on the DVD})
- Still
Seeds
Other
- Both the single and quiet versions became available via streaming links on nin.com the preceding day to Halo 13 release date. (The RealMedia versions are still available: TDTWWA|TDTWWAQ)
- The song was used in the trailer for Terminator: Salvation, released in 2009. It can be viewed here.
Versions
The Day The World Went Away
This is the original album version, found on both The Day The World Went Away (in edited form and with a different vocal take) and The Fragile. Its introductory guitar chords are extended by roughly 30 seconds on The Fragile vinyl version.
The Day The World Went Away (Single Version)
In this version, the ambient noise fades in at the beginning, and the first abrasive guitars kick in seven seconds later than they do in the CD album version. The final part is only half as long, though.
The Day The World Went Away (Quiet)
This is a very different version of the song. The structure was changed significantly, moving the chanting to the beginning of the song and featuring additional vocals by Kim Prevost. This remix was done by Reznor.
The Day The World Went Away (Porter Ricks mix)
This dub remix done by Porter Ricks revolves around a thumping beat. The distant vocals can be heard beneath it.
The Day The World Went Away (And All That Could Have Been)
The DVD version of And All That Could Have Been featured this song as an Easter Egg. Unused clips from the scrapped video are merged with live performance footage. The CD version features this song in the regular playlist.
The Day The World Went Away (Still)
A stripped down, acoustic version of this song was included on the Still album.
Song Credits
- Performance: Trent Reznor, Robin Finck, Danny Lohner, Jerome Dillon, Keith Hillebrandt
- Mix engineering: Alan Moulder
- Engineering: Jon Lemon, Chris Shepard
- Second engineering: Leo Herrera, Ron Lowe
- Programming: Keith Hillebrandt
Music Video
This song is among the many Nine Inch Nails songs that have had a video scrapped. The video, which was partially finished, apparently showed images of a funeral. Parts of the video appeared as an Easter Egg on the DVD version of And All That Could Have Been.
The footage contains black-and-white footage of Reznor in a forest, and color images of a black kingsnake slithering in sand. It also includes Reznor standing in a room with his back to the camera and shows flowers, as well as a feather blowing in the wind. Right before it cuts to the black-and-white footage of Reznor, for a split second, it shows a man, maybe Reznor, hovering in the air in a red room. Right in front of him is a bright light that instantly brightens, making the screen white for the black-and-white footage to come in. The second half of the video contains live performance footage of the band.
Live
"The Day The World Went Away" has been performed live since the Fragility tour started in 1999.
When performed live, the middle of the song is extended after the verse and the guitar progression. This extension seems to be modeled after the Quiet mix, but features a tom-driven drum rhythm as well as the guitar doubling the bassline in a higher register. This new section builds in intensity as melodic synthesizers welcome in the wordless group vocals, eventually becoming more bombastic and louder until ending with two power chords. An example of this altered structure can be found on And All That Could Have Been.
Lyrics
I'd listen to the words he'd say
But in his voice I heard decay
The plastic face forced to portray
All the insides left cold and gray
There is a place that still remains
It eats the fear it eats the pain
The sweetest price he'll have to pay
The day the whole world went away
Na na nah
Na na na, nah
Na na nah
Na na na, nah
|