Not Alone

"Not Alone" is the first track on the compilation album Download To Donate For Haiti.

Background

"Not Alone" is one of the thirty "close to final form" songs from the Minutes To Midnight album sessions. However, it wasn't completed in its present, released form until they worked on it in January 2010. "Not Alone" was taken from its demo form and finished, complete with rewritten lyrics, in less than one day. Some of these shots of Mike and Chester finishing the song are shown in the music video.

In an interview with MTV on January 19, 2010, Mike said, "We had a demo [for 'Not Alone'] — the music was laid out, we had done the song a little while ago ... we just never used it because we never thought it was done. [After the tragedy in Haiti], we listened to the demo again, essentially scrapped all the words, rewrote the words ... when you've got that idea and emotional charge in you and you put that in the lyrics, for me it does make better lyrics. There's an authenticity and a passion that you can hear in Chester's voice on this track; we literally wrote [the new lyrics] via e-mail, before he had flown out from Arizona to L.A. [to record them]."^[1]

On Loveline on January 28, 2010, Brad said, "This was a track that we originally worked on with Rick Rubin during the Minutes To Midnight sessions, and one of our favorites, and it unfortunately didn't make it on the album, but fortunately we had it on a semi-finished form and Mike and Chester really were burning midnight oil. They rewrote the lyrics to kind of express their emotions about what happened to Haiti and remixed the song, got it ready for this compilation in about 24 hours and I think it's actually better... I'm actually sure it's better than the early version. We're really really proud of it."

The song was released on January 19, 2010 as the first track on the Download To Donate For Haiti album.

Linkin Park recorded and finalized seventeen songs for Minutes To Midnight, with twelve making the album. Four of the others that ended up being released over time are "No Roads Left", "Across The Line", "Blackbirds", and "What We Don't Know". There is speculation that the last track could be "Chance Of Rain" since Mike mentioned in the track commentary that it was cut at the last second. "Pretend To Be" and "Not Alone" are other considerations for what this final song might be. In a May 18, 2020 stream, Mike was asked about the identity of this fifth song that didn't make the album. He said, "We always have lots of songs that get scrapped from an album, so I don't know. The fifth? Got me, I don't know. I wish I could tell you. Probably something that is unreleased."^[2]

Tracklist

Digital Single

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Not Alone	Linkin Park	4:12

Music Video

The official music video for "Not Alone" premiered on February 13, 2010 through Linkin Park's official MySpace page. Mike Shinoda wrote on his blog, "For those who haven’t seen, here’s the premiere of the NEW VIDEO for NOT ALONE, our song from the Download To Donate album. Thanks to the UN Foundation for the footage from Haiti, and our amazing team who shot and edited the video. Our thoughts and prayers are still with the people of Haiti."^[3]

Footage of Haiti is interlaced in this video with Mike and Chester's recording sessions from when they were finishing the song.

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Artist Name: Linkin Park
Song Name: Not Alone
Director: Bill Boyd
Producers: Igor Kovalik
Record Label: Warner Bros. Records
Archive Footage: UN Visual Library, Department of Public Information, Ricky Martin Foundation

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Versions

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

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
Not Alone	Download To Donate For Haiti Not Alone	4:12	2006-2010	January 19, 2010	The song was created during the Minutes To Midnight sessions but had its lyrics rewritten and was re-mixed in about 24 hours for the compilation.

Personnel

Neal Avron, Mixing Engineer
CHESTER BENNINGTON, Lead Vocals
JOSEPH HAHN, Writer
LINKIN PARK, MainArtist
Ethan Mates, Engineer
Andrew Scheps, Engineer
Dana Nielsen, Engineer
George Gumbs, Assistant Mixing Engineer
Nicolas Fournier, Assistant Mixing Engineer
dave collins, Mastering Engineer
Phillip Broussard, Assistant Engineer
Chester Charles Bennington, Writer
David Michael Farrell, Writer
Michael Kenji Shinoda, Writer
Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, Backing Vocals
Bradford Philip Delson, Writer
Robert Gregory Bourdon, Writer
Bradford "Brad" Delson, Backing Vocals
Michael "Mike" Shinoda, Producer, Lead Vocals
Joseph "Chairman Hahn" Hahn, Backing Vocals
Frederick "Rick" Rubin, Producer
2011 Warner Records Inc.
2010 Warner Records Inc.

Lyrics

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I break down / Fear is sinking in
The cold comes / Racing through my skin
Searching for / A way to get to you
Through the storm / You
Go / Giving up your home
Go / Leaving all you've known
You are not alone

With arms up / Stretched into the sky
With eyes like / Echoes in the night
Hiding from / The hell that you've been through
Silent one / You
Go / Giving up your home
Go / Leaving all you've known
You / Go / Giving up your home
Go / Leaving all you've known
You are not alone

You / Go / Giving up your home
Go / Leaving all you've known
And you / Go / Giving up your home
Go / You are not unknown
You are not alone
You are not unknown
Oh oh oh
You are not alone