She Couldn't: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:35, 12 June 2020

Template:Infobox song "She Couldn't" is a song from the Hybrid Theory recording sessions that surfaced online in July 2009.

Background

"She Couldn't" was discovered by fans in 2009 when copies of a Hybrid Theory demo CD were sold on eBay.^[1]

"She Couldn't" is very differently stylistically from other Linkin Park material at the time. It is over five minutes in length and features an extended instrumental breakdown. "She Couldn't" also one of the softest songs the band has produced, particularly from the Hybrid Theory era. This is also an extremely rare case of a Linkin Park song sampling music from another artist. "She Couldn't" samples Mos Def's vocals from "B-Boy Document '99" by High & Mighty.

Although the demo CD was advertised as being a 1998 demo, "B-Boy Document '99" was released on August 24, 1999, on High & Mighty's album Home Field Advantage, meaning the song had to have been written around that date. The track was present on The Urban Network's Rapology Sixteen compilation which featured illustrations by Mike Shinoda.^[2] It's possible this CD is where he first heard the song.

On July 3, 2009, after LPLive released the full CD for free download, Mike posted on his blog about the song, "Many of you have asked about an old demo that is floating around. The song is called “She Couldn’t.” We recorded it in 1999 during the making of Hybrid Theory, but it never made an album and was never released by us. For legal reasons, that’s all I can say about the song, but I hope this clears things up!"^[3]

The version of the song on the demo CD features static throughout the song as the initial pressing of the CD was faulty.

Demo

In June 2019, a demo for "She Couldn't" was included in the Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things leak, titled "Emo." It is an instrumental of the final version of the song with a few changes, most notably a small guitar part on the breakdown over four minutes in.

Versions

Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
She Couldn't	Hybrid Theory 8-Track Demo	5:26	1999		Samples The High & Mighty's "B-Boy Document '99" (feat. Mad Skillz, Mos Def & Mr. Eon). Recorded some time after August 24, 1999 (The High & Mighty's Home Field Advantage release date). Released on LPLive for free download on July 1, 2009.
Emo	Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things	5:14	1999		Original instrumental demo. Released on LPLive for free download on August 5, 2019.

Lyrics

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Won't be long 'til everybody knows

I've seen her smiling
The sunlight is shining on her now
She couldn't stay here
She knows you won't let her down

You know she couldn't stay here with you
You know she had to go
Even though she couldn't stay here with you
You know you're not alone

No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)

I see her shining
The sunlight's crying for her now
She wouldn't stay here
She knows you won't let her down

You know she couldn't stay here with you
You know she had to go
Even though she couldn't stay here with you
You know you're not alone
No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)

Won't be long 'til everybody knows
Won't be long 'til everybody knows
Won't be long 'til everybody knows
Won't be long 'til everybody knows

No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
No matter what you think you did wrong
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)
She knew she had to go all along
(Won't be long 'til everybody knows)

No matter what you think you did wrong
(You know she couldn't stay here with you)
She knew she had to go all along
(You know she had to go)
No matter what you think you did wrong
(You know she couldn't stay here with you)
She knew she had to go all along
(You know she had to go)

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References

↑ Rare rare old song: She Couldn't (with clip) | LP Association Forums, June 28, 2009
↑ Rapology Sixteen (1999, CD) | Discogs
↑ Response to comments: "She Couldn't," etc. « Mike Shinoda's Blog, July 03, 2009

[1] Rare rare old song: She Couldn't (with clip) | LP Association Forums, June 28, 2009

[2] Rapology Sixteen (1999, CD) | Discogs

[3] Response to comments: "She Couldn't," etc. « Mike Shinoda's Blog, July 03, 2009

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 "She Couldn't" is very differently stylistically from other Linkin Park material at the time. It is over five minutes in length and features an extended instrumental breakdown. "She Couldn't" also one of the softest songs the band has produced, particularly from the ''Hybrid Theory'' era. This is also an extremely rare case of a Linkin Park song sampling music from another artist. "She Couldn't" samples Mos Def's vocals from "B-Boy Document '99" by High & Mighty.
-Although the demo CD was advertised as being a 1998 demo, "B-Boy Document '99" was released on August 24, 1999, on High & Mighty's album ''Home Field Advantage'', meaning the song had to have been written no earlier than that date.
+Although the demo CD was advertised as being a 1998 demo, "B-Boy Document '99" was released on August 24, 1999, on High & Mighty's album ''Home Field Advantage'', meaning the song had to have been written around that date. The track was present on The Urban Network's ''Rapology Sixteen'' compilation which featured illustrations by Mike Shinoda.<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/Various-Rapology-Sixteen-/release/7791232 Rapology Sixteen  (1999, CD) | Discogs]</ref> It's possible this CD is where he first heard the song.
-On July 3, 2009, after LPLive released the full CD for free download, Mike Shinoda posted on his blog about the song:
+On July 3, 2009, after LPLive released the full CD for free download, Mike posted on his blog about the song, ''"Many of you have asked about an old demo that is floating around. The song is called “She Couldn’t.” We recorded it in 1999 during the making of [[Hybrid Theory]], but it never made an album and was never released by us. For legal reasons, that’s all I can say about the song, but I hope this clears things up!"''<ref>[http://mikeshinoda.com/2009/07/03/response-to-comments-she-couldnt-etc/ Response to comments: "She Couldn't," etc. « Mike Shinoda's Blog], July 03, 2009</ref>
-''"Many of you have asked about an old demo that is floating around. The song is called “She Couldn’t.” We recorded it in 1999 during the making of [[Hybrid Theory]], but it never made an album and was never released by us. For legal reasons, that’s all I can say about the song, but I hope this clears things up!"''<ref>[http://mikeshinoda.com/2009/07/03/response-to-comments-she-couldnt-etc/ Response to comments: "She Couldn't," etc. « Mike Shinoda's Blog], July 03, 2009</ref>
+The version of the song on the demo CD features static throughout the song as the initial pressing of the CD was faulty.
-The version of the song on the demo CD features static throughout the song as the initial pressing of the CD was faulty.
 ==Demo==
 In June 2019, a demo for "She Couldn't" was included in the ''[[Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things]]'' leak, titled "Emo." It is an instrumental of the final version of the song with a few changes, most notably a small guitar part on the breakdown over four minutes in.