So Far Away

Background

"So Far Away" is a demo recorded when Linkin Park was still called Hybrid Theory. It is notable for being the only known pre-Minutes To Midnight song where Mike Shinoda sings (instead of rapping) lead vocals for the entire song.

It was released in November 2012 on the LP Underground 12 CD. On the booklet, Brad Delson wrote: "This one has a special place in my heart. Part of the inspiration behind this song was an attempt to play with a particular back-and-forth song structure. Also, a foreshadowing of Shinoda's melodic facility."

In August 2020 when asked about the song on Twitch, Mike said, "You know, actually that song, I remember that was a time when we were seeing what we could experiment with, in the early days of Linkin Park. And try and figure out... "Can Chester rap? Can Mike sing? And you know, can we mix up ways we perform the vocals?" And so yeah, we had this demo called "So Far Away." It was ok, it didn't make Hybrid Theory, it was a cool experiment. I thought the song came out pretty good. I think at one point we tried to revisit it and see if it turned into a song, but it didn't make the cut."

Although the track title says "1998", the song features Chester Bennington doing backing vocals, meaning it was recorded after 1998.

Some elements of the song were re-used in the creation of "Hurry" and "Soundtrack".

Versions

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

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
So Far Away (Unreleased 1998)	LP Underground 12 Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	2:53	1999	November 16, 2012

Lyrics

Album Version

Save me now
From this mess that I've created
All the souls have gone
And I'm stranded here with doubt and fear alone

Tell me how
I'm in fault for all this madness
I don't know what's wrong
But I cannot help but try to push it

So far away
(In so deep and inside of me)
So hard to say
(I don't want to say it anyway)

Save me now
I'm the mess I have created
And my soul has gone
For some reason all I do is push it

So far away
(In so deep and inside of me)
So hard to say
(I don't want to say it anyway)
So far away

It's so far away
(In so deep and inside of me)
So hard to say
(I don't want to say it anyway)
So far away
(In so deep and inside of me)
So hard to say
(I don't want to say it anyway)