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"One More Light" is the ninth and title track from Linkin Park's seventh studio album, One More Light. The song was written with Ross Golan and Eg White about a friend of the band's who passed away after a fight with cancer. Phoenix[1] and Mike Shinoda have mentioned it as their favorite song on the album.[2]
The first title track Linkin Park has ever done, "One More Light" was deemed to be too important of a song for the band to simply remain a song on the album, so the decision was made to title the album after the song. "One More Light" is a more stripped down song, featuring no percussion and being composed of loops of piano and guitar.
Background
Mike Shinoda wrote a song with Ross Golan. The initial lyric idea in the chorus before it changed was "I wish I was Christopher Walken" and the song ended up being "One More Light".[3]
On November 14, 2016, Mike Shinoda revealed that he had worked with British songwriter Eg White on a song.[4] In an interview leading up to the reveal of the album's lead single, "Heavy", Shinoda revealed that White had worked with him on the song "One More Light" while Brad Delson attended the funeral of one of the band's friends.[5]
It took Mike a week to convince Eg White, who hates Los Angeles, to come in town from London, but when White booked his flight, the band found out a friend had passed away. The funeral was on a Friday, the same day White was arriving, so they decided Brad would go to the funeral to represent the band and Mike would meet White in the studio.[6] When asked what he wanted to write about by White, Shinoda said that the only thing he could think about was the friend who had passed. He revealed that, in spite of the horrible inevitability of loss, the song is about letting people know that you care,[7] mentioning the lyrics "who cares if one more light goes out, one more person dies? I care."[5]
"We had a friend who worked for the record label for a long time and came up with us from years and years ago. She started out in radio promo and was basically driving us to the local radio stations in the U.S. Midwest, eventually getting promoted and promoted. At some point last year, I suddenly heard that she'd got cancer - and then all of a sudden she had died. We knew we absolutely had to write about what happened. It's a sad song, but the pay-off is that when something dramatic and painful like that happens, the most important thing to do is to connect with the people you love and remind them you care about them."[8]
The band surprised some of the people who worked at Warner with the song, and people reacted very emotionally to it, with some weeping, giving hugs, and telling stories.[7] Phoenix actually cried the first time Mike played the song to the band.[9]
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
One More Light | One More Light | 4:15 | 2016 | May 19, 2017 |
Live
"One More Light" was played live for the first time at a private event held at the Warner Bros. Records building in a stripped down form, with Chester on vocals, Mike on piano, and Brad on guitar.
Variations
Last Updated: March 6, 2017
Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
---|---|---|---|
Alternative | Stripped Down (Piano/Guitar/Vocals Only) | March 6, 2017 | March 6, 2017 |
Personnel
Linkin Park
- Chester Bennington - Vocals
- Rob Bourdon - Drums
- Brad Delson - Guitar
- Joseph Hahn - Programming
- Phoenix - Bass
- Mike Shinoda - Keyboards, Programming, Vocals
Additional Musicians
- Eg White - Guitar, Piano
Production
- Produced by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson
- Additional Production by RAC
- Written by Mike Shinoda and Francis "Eg" White
- Vocal Production by Emily Wright
- Engineered by Mike Shinoda, Ethan Mates and Josh Newell
- Engineering Assisted by Alejandro Baima and Warren Willis
- Mixed by Manny Marroquin
- Mixing Engineered by Chris Galland
- Mixing Assisted by Robin Florent and Jeff Jackson
- Technician: Jerry Johnson
Lyrics
They say
Who cares if one more light goes out?
In a sky of a million stars
Flickers, flickers
Who cares when someone's time runs out?
If a moment is all we are
We're quicker, quicker
Who cares if one more light goes out?
Well I do
Gallery
External Links
References
- ↑ Dave Phoenix Farrell on Twitter: "My favorite is "One More Light." https://t.co/kLxOsIr1yZ" ., March 16, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park Coalition's Videos | VK, March 17, 2017
- ↑ Live with Linkin Park - iHeartRadio Canada, March 17, 2017
- ↑ Eighth Studio Update, November 14, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 102.1 the Edge - FB LIVE - LINKIN PARK, March 17, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park im Interview: War es das letzte Album? - YouTube, April 12, 2017
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda | Full Interview, February 16, 2017
- ↑ Kerrang! Magazine Interview with Linkin Park | LP Association Forums, March 01, 2017
- ↑ Smash Press: Linkin Park interview 2017 - YouTube, April 03, 2017