"In the End" is a song by American rock band Linkin Park. It is the eighth track from their debut album, Hybrid Theory. The song was released as a single in 9 November 2001 as the fourth single of the album.
Background[]
It was originally written as a poem by the lead vocalist, Chester Bennington, with Christian Petersen, and was later established as a sufficient song for the album. The original demo version of this song was labeled "Untitled" (which may or may not have been an actual title) and contained various different rap verses by Shinoda.
"In the End" is their highest charting single in most countries. It is widely regarded as their most famous song and the one which best describes their musical style (a melodic interplay between Chester Bennington's singing and Mike Shinoda's rapping).
Music video[]
The music video filmed in August 2001. video takes place in a fantasy setting and uses massive CGI animation. The band performs atop a giant statue, which has a 'winged soldier' on top of it, which is similar looking to the 'winged soldier' on the cover artwork of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory album. The tower itself is in the shape of a woman and appears to be the left-out portion of the cover of Hybrid Theory EP.
The portions where Mike Shinoda raps first take place in a wasteland with thorny vines sprouting out of the ground, surrounding him and shattering into dust (first verse) and then grass and plants sprouting up around him (second verse). During the time Mike raps his verses, Chester stands atop a platform with gargoyles on the edges. This platform is in front of a door in the shape of a trapezium. Near the end of the video, the skies turn dark and it begins to rain, and the band performs in the downpour until the end of the song, where the rain stops and the camera pans away from the tower, showing the wasteland where Shinoda had rapped in is now a lush Greenland. During the rain, the statues on the tower begin to move.
The rest of the band (Delson, Farrell, Hahn & Bourdon) appear only during Chester's chorus and during the outro when the camera focus is near to the tower.
Some fansites of Linkin Park have claimed that Dave Farrell injured his foot during the making of the video when he jumped off one of the platforms, but still continued filming until the end. This fact has never been officially confirmed by the band or their record label.
A strange-looking whale can be seen flying around the large statue during most of the video, specifically at the end of the video. The whale in the video was Joe Hahn's idea. He has been quoted as saying "It's not like I pulled it out of my ass; it made sense to me." about it. The reasoning behind its inclusion is still unknown. Many fans of the Legend of Zelda video games have noted similarities between the whale in the video and the 'Wind Fish' character from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. However, there is no evidence to support the design of Linkin Park's whale was a tribute to the game, and appears to be coincidental.
Although there is a keyboard loop in this song, the video does not show Mike, who is a pianist in the group, or anyone else playing a keyboard in any scene of the video. However, Joe Hahn is shown using a MIDI pad to emulate the piano loop at the end.
Linkin Park - In The End
The Making of the Video[]
On Linkin Park's Frat Party at the Pankake Festival DVD one of the special features is 'The Making of In the End'. It begins with footage of a bat hanging off the windscreen wipers of the band's tour bus, with band members, specifically Joe Hahn making reference to the bats from the In the End video.
Brad describes his custom headphones as his jack into the Matrix and why he needs to wear them on stage.
In this 'Making of', the footage shown is of Chester miming to a sped-up version of the track, and effect used so that when the film is slowed down, the track sounds normal as does the singer, but with an added dramatic effect.
Also shown is Mike Shinoda jokingly claiming that Angelina Jolie was doing his make-up, but "her agent would kill us if we showed her", and footage of "Crawling" being performed by Bryson Jones and the 'Sweethearts of the Rodeo All-Star Band', full audio of which is also available on the DVD.
Footage from this 'Making of' was used in the video for Points Of Authority, included in the same DVD.
Lyrics[]
(It starts with you...)
One thing
I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
Time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn't look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on, didn't even know
I wasted it all just to watch you come
I kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me
Will eventually be a memory of a time when...
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter
One thing
I don't know why
It doesn't even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind
I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mockin' me
Actin' like I was part of your property
Rememberin' all the times you fought with me
I'm surprised it got so far
Things aren't the way they were before
You wouldn't even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside
And even though I tried, it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be
A memory of a time when...
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know...
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There's only one thing you should know...
I tried so hard and got so far
But in the end it doesn't even matter
I had to fall to lose it all
But in the end it doesn't even matter
Versions[]
In the End (demo) is the 4th track of the LP Underground CD. It has a different rap and slightly different chorus than the original
LPU 11 demo[]
"These were the original verse lyrics that I wrote to this song and the original melody in the bridge. I remember putting this together in our rehearsal studio on Hollywood and Vine, working overnight in a room with no windows. I had no idea what time of day it was; I just slept when I was tired and worked on this song until it took shape. The first guy to hear it was Rob, who told me (I'm paraphrasing) that this was 'exactly the kind of song he wanted us to write'."
Trivia[]
- "In the End" is Linkin Park's most Popular Song in their Discography.
- Despite "In the End" being the most Popular Linkin Park Song, it's Linkin Park's second most-viewed music video with over 1,1 billion views, the first most viewed music video being the song Numb with over 1.5 billion views.
- The Chorus of "In the End" became a Popular Meme within the Linkin Park Community.
- Chester Bennington initially disliked the song and didn't want it to be on Hybrid Theory.
- I'm sorry for changing the lyrics. I just had to. Sorry again. You can change them back now, mods.
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