Blue

Blue
by Linkin Park
from the album LP Underground Eleven
Working title:	Over To Me (Blue)
Recorded:	1999
Released:	November 15, 2011
Stems:	Stagelight (Linkin Park Bundle II)
LP Underground Eleven tracklist
YO (MTM Demo) Slip (1998 Unreleased Hybrid Theory Demo) Soundtrack (Meteora Demo) In The End (Demo) Program (Meteora Demo) Bang Three (What I've Done Original Demo) Robot Boy (Test Mix, Optional Vocal Take) Broken Foot (Meteora Demo) Esaul (A Place For My Head Demo) Blue (1998 Unreleased Hybrid Theory Demo)

"Blue" is the tenth song on the album Linkin Park Underground Eleven. Its outro became the vocal melody for "Crawling".

Background

"Blue" was the first track in the very first demo recorded with Chester Bennington in early May 1999, soon after the band changed their name to Hybrid Theory. Jeff Blue, in his One Step Closer: From Xero to #1: Becoming Linkin Park book, lists the track as "Over To Me (Blue)" but it is simply listed as "Blue" on the physical CD. Kyle Christner plays uncredited bass on the song.

The first time this song was mentioned was in an October 2000 interview with ShoutWeb, where Mike said: "The chorus melody for "Crawling" was originally the bridge of a song that sucked that we wrote. That other song we didn't like and we weren't going to use it so we had this melody. It just occured to me to take this melody that I liked and to write music around it. I did that and then Brad came in and added a little more and helped me out with it. Chester wrote some new words. Everybody worked around it."

On July 17, 2002, Mike mentioned the song again at Linkin Park's official website: "as we work on things, we start to narrow down to a smaller of songs. inevitably, when some songs are less interesting, but have a great guitar part or sample, we try to take that part and put it into another song that seems to be coming together better. so we combine similar songs to create a better song. originally, the chorus to crawling was a bridge from another song. chester and i needed a chorus to put in that song, and he just sang it there with no guitars. after we recorded the vocal track, i wrote the guitar under it. and we took it into the studio and everyone added their magic."

As the years passed, Mike completely forgot about the existence of "Blue". Luckily, he found a CD containing the song in 2011 and decided to release it on the LP Underground Eleven CD, but mislabeled the track as a 1998 demo. On the booklet, he wrote: "I forgot this song existed until I found it on a CD in a box in my closet this year. This song and "Slip" were done in sessions leading up to the recording of Hybrid Theory. We eventually abandoned the song, but decided that there was something special about the vocal at the end of the song. Chester and I took the melody, wrote new words to it, and wrote new chords underneath... and it became the chorus of "Crawling.""

Versions

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

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Blue (1998 Unreleased Hybrid Theory Demo)	LP Underground Eleven Hybrid Theory (20th Anniversary Edition)	3:29	1999	November 15, 2011	Part of this song was reworked into "Crawling".

Personnel

• Rob Bourdon - drums
• Joseph Hahn - turntables, programming
• Kyle Christner - bass
• Brad Delson - guitar
• Chester Bennington - vocals
• Mike Shinoda - vocals, programming

Lyrics

Album Version

In the dark days, I'll part ways with the blame.
Trying to maintain, but it's still all the same, It's all a game
Hear my name in the rain and the pain, I wear on my face with a tear stain
You feign fondness, honestly it's time to give you a piece of my mind
And show you that you're blind
And in the design of the world I call mine
Know that you can't stand on both sides of the line.

Everything is my fault
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
The problems have two faces
Everything is my fault
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
The problems have two faces

Pass all the blame over to me, it will come eventually
Take the time out to examine all these questions honestly

With my eyes shut, I'm seeing the truth in your words
The absurd, slurred into beauty to be heard
You swim through deceit, the lies that you tell
The stories you sell, knowing you well, I keep distance
And every instance you keep your thoughts concealed
What I feel, just another spoke in the wheel
All or nothing, thrown down and trampled by your heel
And eaten away by my own version of the real

Everything is my fault
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
The problems have two faces
Everything is my fault
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
The problems have two faces

Pass all the blame over to me, it will come eventually
Take the time out to examine all these questions honestly

Who is to blame?

Nothing, thrown down
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
Trampled by your heal
(Play the game and wear a tear stain)
Eaten by my own
(Pass the blame 'cause you'll feel it if you don't)
Version of the real
(Always to blame)
Nothing, thrown down
(It's all the same, just pass me the blame)
Trampled by your heal
(Play the game and wear a tear stain)
Eaten by my own
(Pass the blame 'cause you'll feel it if you don't)
Version of the real
(Always to blame)

External Links

• Blue (1998 Unreleased Hybrid Theory Demo): YouTube