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On August 13, 2020, as a part of Linkin Park's announcement for ''[[Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)]]'', "She Couldn't" was made available as an instant grat track for immediate download upon preordering the release. The song was sent to streaming services. When he went live on Twitch that day to discuss the album, Mike talked about "She Couldn't." | On August 13, 2020, as a part of Linkin Park's announcement for ''[[Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)]]'', "She Couldn't" was made available as an instant grat track for immediate download upon preordering the release. The song was sent to streaming services. When he went live on Twitch that day to discuss the album, Mike talked about "She Couldn't." | ||
He said, ''"Before we get to the box set, let me say something about "She Couldn't", which I know was floating out there on the Internet and never had an official release. A lot of people are going to be hearing it for the first time. Here's a thing about that song. And I didn't pick that, I don't know who picked that for the first track. It's not a single, we're not doing singles. But in terms of having a track come out with the announcement, that song was one of the first songs we wrote with Chester. It was one of the really early ones we wrote from scratch with that configuration of the band. And here's some things that are in it - not really any distorted guitars. It's got the beats, it's got the electronic sounds, it's got a sample of Mos Def from a High & Mighty "Rawkus" release. Which by the way, shout out to Yasiin Bey, to Mos, for clearing the sample. So, it's got those things in it and the theme of the song, lyrically, the song is about the outsider and being there for somebody. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like that song is a foreshadowing of not just of Hybrid Theory, it's the foreshadowing of the next ten to fifteen years of the band. Like, we had everything we were from the very beginning, right? Think about that. Everybody knew us for the Hybrid Theory sound. Even before we released that, we had that song. And we had other songs like that. So that's the thing I thought was so dope. I didn't choose that song to come out first but that's something that I thought was so dope about that song."''<ref>[https://www.twitch.tv/videos/709132474 Twitch: Mike Shinoda - 8.13 Animal Crossing Stream - visiting fan islands. Also, talking about #HybridTheory20 at the top of the stream.], August 13, 2020</ref> | |||
==Demo== | ==Demo== | ||
Revision as of 19:25, 13 August 2020
Template:Infobox song "She Couldn't" is a song from the Hybrid Theory recording sessions that surfaced online in July 2009. It was officially released on October 9, 2020 as the first pre-release song from the 20th Anniversary Edition of Hybrid Theory.
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 also present on The Urban Network's 1999 compilation Rapology Sixteen 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 leaked version of the song on the demo CD features static throughout the song as the initial pressing of the CD was faulty.
On August 13, 2020, as a part of Linkin Park's announcement for Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition), "She Couldn't" was made available as an instant grat track for immediate download upon preordering the release. The song was sent to streaming services. When he went live on Twitch that day to discuss the album, Mike talked about "She Couldn't."
He said, "Before we get to the box set, let me say something about "She Couldn't", which I know was floating out there on the Internet and never had an official release. A lot of people are going to be hearing it for the first time. Here's a thing about that song. And I didn't pick that, I don't know who picked that for the first track. It's not a single, we're not doing singles. But in terms of having a track come out with the announcement, that song was one of the first songs we wrote with Chester. It was one of the really early ones we wrote from scratch with that configuration of the band. And here's some things that are in it - not really any distorted guitars. It's got the beats, it's got the electronic sounds, it's got a sample of Mos Def from a High & Mighty "Rawkus" release. Which by the way, shout out to Yasiin Bey, to Mos, for clearing the sample. So, it's got those things in it and the theme of the song, lyrically, the song is about the outsider and being there for somebody. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like that song is a foreshadowing of not just of Hybrid Theory, it's the foreshadowing of the next ten to fifteen years of the band. Like, we had everything we were from the very beginning, right? Think about that. Everybody knew us for the Hybrid Theory sound. Even before we released that, we had that song. And we had other songs like that. So that's the thing I thought was so dope. I didn't choose that song to come out first but that's something that I thought was so dope about that song."[4]
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 (20th Anniversary Edition) | 5:05 | 1999 | October 9, 2020 |
|
| She Couldn't | Hybrid Theory 8-Track Demo | 5:26 | 1999 |
| |
| Emo | Hybrid Party Of A Thousand Things | 5:14 | 1999 |
|
Lyrics
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)
Gallery
-
Hybrid Theory 8-Track Demo
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
- ↑ Twitch: Mike Shinoda - 8.13 Animal Crossing Stream - visiting fan islands. Also, talking about #HybridTheory20 at the top of the stream., August 13, 2020