| "Over Again" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Mike Shinoda | |
| from the album Post Traumatic | |
| Recorded: | 2017 |
| Released: | January 25, 2018 |
| Length: | 3:50 |
| Time signature: | 4/4 |
| Tempo: | 72.5 |
| Key: | C Minor |
| Live debut: | May 12, 2018 |
| Writer: | Mike Shinoda |
| Producer: | Mike Shinoda |
| Label: | Warner Bros. Records |
| Post Traumatic tracklist | |
| |
"Over Again" is the second song on Mike Shinoda's Post Traumatic EP as well as the second song on his debut studio album, Post Traumatic.
Background
"Over Again" describes Mike's experience of playing the Hollywood Bowl on honor of Chester Bennington on October 27, 2017. The first verse was written on the day of the show and the second verse the day after.[1] He said, "While we were rehearsing for the tribute show for Chester at The Hollywood Bowl, we had to re-learn all our songs without him. The repetition of the songs is what inspired “Over Again.” When we lose someone, we have constant reminders of them in everyday life. I wrote and recorded verse one the day we played the Bowl show. I had an intense fear of doing that show, because I thought, at any moment, I could get overwhelmed by what had happened and wouldn’t be able to continue. There were dozens of guests and millions of people watching; I didn’t want to let everyone down."[2]
Mike stressed out the lines "Well thank you genius, you think it'll be a challenge, Only my life's work hanging in the fucking balance" saying, "This might be the most important line in the song. It’s obviously horrible to lose a friend. It’s worse to lose someone you’re very very close to, in this case a best friend / brother. But to take it a step even further, I also lost someone who my whole life’s work was tied to–someone I built a whole career with. As I was writing these lyrics, I felt like my identity was in danger of being lost."[2]
The car horn in the beginning was actually audible on the microphone when Mike was trying to record the song, which he said was "super annoying".[3] He added (from Twitch on February 18, 2021): "You can hear when the song starts, you can hear me frustrated yell "Come on!" into the mic and it was because I was so frustrated. I was trying to record the song, it was very serious and I was trying to get it done and then there was like a car alarm going on outside that every once in a while when I'd try and record my part, I'd be just doing it and it'd be like "Beep beep!" And I was just like, so mad. So yeah, it was a stupid car alarm."[4]
Chino Moreno of Deftones said he was "blown away" in particular by the immediacy of "Over Again". He told Valley News, "This is really a different record for Mike. My man wrote a verse before he went to that show and then wrote the second verse after he got back from the show. It's just this visceral reaction in real time. You have maybe a little bit of guilt about doing it. You're uncertain if it's OK to be creative. But music is a comfort — it's like a blanket for me. And I know it is for Mike too. We talked a lot about letting it happen and not feeling bad about it."[5]
When he was on tour for "Post Traumatic", Mike said about playing certain songs in his solo set, "It changes over time. I'll give you an example. I did the song :Over Again" that has the verses of the day of the Hollywood Bowl show and the day after. A few shows ago I did both verses and when I was doing the first verse - i's like something about the flow of the show, like, I expected the energy of the show to be a little more positive and upbeat, and it had this momentum going up and then it hit that verse and it went down. And as I was doing it, I was like, "I'm going to remove this, I'm going to remove this verse." Because it sucked the air out of the room a little bit, and so the next time I did it, I just went straight from the chorus to the second verse and the momentum stayed up."[6]
Music Video
The music videos on the Post Traumatic EP are described as "cinéma vérité", shot in a way that doesn't obscure the fact that they're real life.[3] Mike says he wanted to shoot a video while feeling something.[1] He explained, "Grief is so personal, and I thought that a D.I.Y., autobiographical format made the most sense. So I shot & edited everything in the videos myself. I‘m planning to continue doing it this way until it doesn’t feel right anymore, or until the work becomes too much."[7]
The music video for "Over Again" was recorded simultaneously with the conception of its two verses, the first being recorded on the day of the Hollywood Bowl show and the second the day after.[1]
All three of the EP videos were released by Mike on January 25th, 2018, the day the EP was released.
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over Again | Post Traumatic EP | 3:50 | 2017 | January 25, 2018 | |
| Over Again | Post Traumatic EP (Clean)
Post Traumatic (Clean) |
3:50 | 2017 | January 25, 2018 |
|
| Over Again (Instrumental) (73 BPM) | Post Traumatic EP - Acapellas & Instrumentals
Post Traumatic - Instrumentals |
3:50 | 2017 | February 15, 2018 |
|
| Over Again (Acapella) | Post Traumatic EP - Acapellas & Instrumentals | 3:38 | 2017 | February 15, 2018 |
|
Live
"Over Again" got its live debut at Mike's first ever solo show, transitioning directly out of "About You" and into the Linkin Park song "Papercut". The ending of "Over Again" was also added to the end of the shortened "Papercut". Starting with Mike's show at Amoeba Records, Mike shortened the song, cutting the first verse and second chorus of the song, citing the first verse being too emotional for him to perform every night.[8] "Over Again" was one of the few songs played at every solo show Mike did.
Mike said, "The ones I perform in the set were chosen because I knew that I could sing them. [The album opener] “Place to Start” is a bit hard for me to perform emotionally, so I do that one in moderation. That one’s a little hard because I did it in the beginning of the process of everything, and the first verse of “Over Again” is tough, so I don’t do that for some of the shows. It’s more self-care than anything."[9]
Variations
Last Updated: July 17, 2018
| Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outro | Transition into Papercut | May 12, 2018 | September 08, 2019 |
| Alternative | Shortened (No First Verse or Second Chorus) | June 14, 2018 | September 08, 2019 |
Personnel
- Written and produced by Mike Shinoda
- Vocals by Mike Shinoda
- Mixed by Manny Marroquin
- Mastered by Michelle Mancini
Lyrics
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over...
It was a month since he passed / maybe less
And no one knew what to do / we were such a mess
We were texting / we were calling / we were checking in
We said we ought to play a show in honor of our friend
Well now that show’s finally here / it’s tonight
Supposed to go / to the bowl / get on stage / dim the lights
With my friends / and our family / in his name / celebrate
There’s no way that I’ll be ready to get back up on that stage
Can't remember if I’ve cancelled any show
But I think about what I’m supposed to do and I don’t know
Cause I think about not doing it the same way as before
And it makes me wanna puke my fucking guts out on the floor
We rehearsed it for a month / I’m not worried about the set
I get tackled by the grief at times that I would least expect
I know what I should be doing when I’m singing but instead
We’ll be playing through a song and I’d remember in my head
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
What (are) they saying, I’m not raw?
What the fuck you take me for?
All the sudden you hear what I’ve said a hundred ways before?
I been pushed, I been trapped
Drug myself through hell and back and
Fallen flat and had the balls to start it all again from scratch
How do you feel / how you doing / how’d the show go?
Am I insane to say the truth is that I don’t know
My body aches heads spinning this is all wrong
I almost lost it in middle of a couple songs
And everybody that I talk to is like, “wow
Must be really hard to figure out what to do now”
Well thank you genius / you think it’ll be a challenge
Only my life’s work hanging in the fucking balance
And all I wanted was to get a little bit of closure
And every step I took I looked and wasn’t any closer
Cause sometimes when you say goodbye yeah you say it
Over and over and over and over
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Sometimes / sometimes you don’t say goodbye once
You say goodbye over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
Over and over and over again
External Links
- Over Again (Official Video): YouTube
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mike Shinoda on Twitter: "(1/2) On this project, I’m trying to work “in the moment.” I record a vocal or shoot a video while I’m feeling something. For example, I wrote and recorded verse one of “over again” on the day of the Bowl show, and did verse two the day after. #PostTraumatic" ., January 25, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mike Shinoda – Over Again Lyrics | Genius Lyrics, March 21, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mike Shinoda on Twitter: "My friend said the videos are “cinema verite.” Shot in a way that doesn’t obscure the fact that they’re real life. The music is that way too. The car horn was audible on the mic when I was trying to record, which was super annoying. #PostTraumatic… https://t.co/fTsDurQOqk" ., January 25, 2018
- ↑ YouTube: Mike Shinoda - 2.18 Talking with Iann Dior and Upsahl about our new song Happy Endings + Accepting bids on the H.E., February 18, 2021
- ↑ https://www.vnews.com/How-Mike-Shinoda-found-life-after-the-death-of-Linkin-Park-s-Chester-Bennington-18060675 Mike Shinoda’s Solo Album Deals With Linkin Park Bandmate’s Death
- ↑ NME: In conversation with Mike Shinoda, July 18, 2018
- ↑ Mike Shinoda on Twitter: "Grief is so personal, and I thought that a D.I.Y., autobiographical format made the most sense. So I shot & edited everything in the videos myself. I‘m planning to continue doing it this way until it doesn’t feel right anymore, or until the work becomes too much. #PostTraumatic… https://t.co/6o8xU8KTZL" ., January 25, 2018
- ↑ Interview: What Does ‘Post Traumatic’ Mean to Mike Shinoda?, November 2018
- ↑ https://loudwire.com/interview-post-traumatic-mike-shinoda/ Interview: What Does ‘Post Traumatic’ Mean to Mike Shinoda?