| "Battle Symphony" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Song by Linkin Park | |
| from the album One More Light | |
| Working title: | Battle Tymp Ony |
| Recorded: | 2016 |
| Released: | March 17, 2017 |
| Length: | 3:36 |
| Stems: | Leaked Multitracks |
| Time signature: | 4/4 |
| Tempo: | 149 |
| Key: | Bb Major |
| Live debut: | March 27, 2017 (Piano Version) May 6, 2017 (Full Band) |
| Last performed: | April 3, 2017 (Piano Version) October 27, 2017 (Full Band) |
| Writer: | Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Jon Green |
| Producer: | Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Andrew Bolooki |
| Label: | Warner Bros. Records |
| One More Light tracklist | |
"Battle Symphony" is the fourth track on One More Light. It was leaked on March 13, 2017, four days before its official release for fans who pre-ordered the album. The lyrics were premiered on March 14 through Genius. The song was written by Mike, Brad, and Jon Green,[1] who also helped writing the album opener, "Nobody Can Save Me".
Background
The title "Battle Symphony" was first seen in a picture posted on Joe Hahn's Instagram story on September 6, 2016 of Brad playing acoustic guitar with the band's song board behind him.[2] The song is about things falling apart and putting it back together.[3] The vocal chops came from demo scat vocals Mike Shinoda chopped up in ProTools. He used pitch shifter and alterboy, and grabbed pieces and chopped it up on the grid. Then added some effects to finalize it.[4]
Jon Green is the singer of the English band The Bonfires. Both bands were at the Larrabee Studios in November 2015. While two songs with Jon made One More Light, "Nobody Can Save Me" and "Battle Symphony", Linkin Park worked with Jon on at least two more songs - "Friendly Fire", released in 2024, and "Tidal Wave", which is unreleased.
On Instagram, Jon Green wrote, "Still assuming they meant to hit up the other Jon Green, who by the way is total quality. Total honour to have a couple of tunes on this record & to have got in the room with such a genuine & brilliant bunch of guys. Congrats @linkinpark all their team and all involved."[5]
Describing how the samples in the song were made, Mike said, "I think that was part of the demo, like the vocal demo. And chopped up music from the demo, super effected. So treated both of those things together as if I sampled it, and then effected that. Played it on pads and stuff, as I recall."[6] This was similar to how the samples in both "Nobody Can Save Me" and "Sorry For Now" were made on the album as well.
Lyric Video
On January 12, Melissa Fox, a photographer from Moscow, Russia who was temporarily working in Los Angeles, ran into Linkin Park and confirmed that they were shooting a music video at the 4th Street Bridge.[7] BMX rider Alfredo Mancuso also ran into the band that same day and borrowed his drone to the band so they could shoot some footage with it.[8]
The "Battle Symphony" lyric video was released on March 17, 2017 (along with the official release of the song) and is a compilation of a lot of things, including the drone footage. It was directed by Rafael Pérez C. (also known as Rafatoon), a Filmmaker / Motion Graphic Artist from Bogota, Colombia who works for the production company Dreambear.[9] On Instagram, he said the video was his acting debut and expressed his happiness for working on a video for such an emotional song for a band he enjoyed since he was a kid.[10][11]
Artist Name: Linkin Park
Song Name: Battle Symphony
Directed: Rafatoon
Edit/Post: Rafatoon
Cinematography: Luis Rojas
Cinematography in L.A: Michael Shafia
Production in L.A.: Cinedyne Films
Production in Colombia: Luis Rojas
Dron Camera: William Celis
Camera Assistant: Arturo Roa, William Celis
Production Assistant: Andres Garcia, Yesid Trujillo
Model: Daniela Escobar, Rafatoon, Arturo Roa
Production in NY: Dreambear
Executive Producer: Evan Brown
Producer: Mike Shafia
Associate Producer: Kimmy d'Ancona
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
Studio
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Symphony | One More Light | 3:36 | 2016 | March 17, 2017 | |
| Battle Symphony (Instrumental) | Battle Symphony (Radio Promo)
One More Light Instrumentals |
3:36 | 2016 | March 2017 |
|
Live
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Symphony | One More Light Live | 3:45 | July 6, 2017 | December 15, 2017 |
Live
Mike and Chester debuted "Battle Symphony" in the form of a piano version at their promo appearance in Paris, France in March 2017. The full band version of the song debuted at the first show of the One More Light World Tour in Buenos Aires, following "Lost In The Echo". The song was frequently plagued with technical difficulties, with the intro frequently being messed up. Starting with the band's stop in Berlin, "Battle Symphony" was rotated with "Nobody Can Save Me" when the full version of the setlist was played. It was dropped from the festival sets on the One More Light European Tour. Jon Green came out for the song at the memorial show for Chester Bennington, playing guitar and singing lead vocals, with Mike playing guitar on it for the first time. At this show, the intro was restarted after Joe messed it up, with Mike claiming "Chester would not have this shit".
When he was on tour for "Post Traumatic", Mike said about playing certain songs in his solo set, "I can sing "Nobody Can Save Me" and "Battle Symphony" from the new Linkin Park record, and I can sing them because I wrote them, it was me and my friend Jon Green. And I sang the demos and they're written in a way that I can sing those pretty well. But lyrically, a little too hard. I just feel like I know that in the long run, if I put that in the set, it's only going to be a show or two before I go, "I don't want to sing that. I don't want to sing those words." So it's a work in progress. And it's also knowing myself as I go."[14] A stripped down version of "Battle Symphony" was added to the set in 2019 in London. Jon Green joined Mike on stage for the song.
Variations
Linkin Park
Last Updated: March 30, 2017
| Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative | Piano Version | March 27, 2017 | April 03, 2017 |
Mike Shinoda
Last Updated: April 28, 2020
| Type | Description | First Played | Last Played |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative | Stripped Down | March 10, 2019 | March 10, 2019 |
Live Guests
- Jon Green (The Bonfires)
Personnel
Linkin Park
- Chester Bennington - Vocals
- Rob Bourdon - Drums
- Brad Delson - Guitar
- Joseph Hahn - Programming
- Phoenix - Bass
- Mike Shinoda - Keyboards, Programming, Vocals
Production
- Written by Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Jon Green
- Produced by Mike Shinoda and Brad Delson
- Vocal production by Andrew Bolooki
- Music performed by Linkin Park
- Vocals by Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda
- Chester's vocals recorded at The Pool Recording Studio, London, UK
- Mike's vocals recorded at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, CA
- Music recorded at Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, CA and Sphere Studios, North Hollywood, CA
- Engineered by Ethan Mates, Mike Shinoda and Josh Newell
- Assistant engineer: Alejandro Baima
- Studio B assistant engineer: Warren Willis
- Studio drum tech: Jerry Johnson
- Mixed by Manny Marooquin at Larrabee Studios, North Hollywood, CA
- Mix engineer: Chris Galland assisted by Jeff Jackson and Robin Florent
Lyrics
I got a long way to go
And a long memory
I've been searching for an answer
Always just out of reach
Blood on the floor
Sirens repeat
I've been searching for the courage to face my enemies
When they turn down the lights
I hear my battle symphony
All the world in front of me
If my armor breaks
I'll fuse it back together
Battle symphony
Please just don't give up on me
And my eyes are wide awake
For my battle symphony
For my battle symphony
You say that I don't belong
You say that I should retreat
That I'm marching to the rhythm of a lonesome defeat
But the sound of your voice
Puts the pain in the reverse
No surrender, no illusions
And for better or worse
When they turn down the lights
I hear my battle symphony
All the world in front of me
If my armor breaks
I'll fuse it back together
Battle symphony
Please just don't give up on me
And my eyes are wide awake
If I fall, get knocked down
Pick myself up off the ground
If I fall, get knocked down
Pick myself up off the ground
When they turn down the lights
I hear my battle symphony
All the world in front of me
If my armor breaks
I'll fuse it back together
Battle symphony
Please just don't give up on me
And my eyes are wide awake
For my battle symphony
For my battle symphony
Gallery
-
Lyric video promotional image
In Other Media
- "Battle Symphony" is featured in the 2017 videogame Pro Evolution Soccer 2018.
External Links
Music Videos
- Battle Symphony (Official Lyric Video): LPTV | Rafatoon Vimeo
Other
References
- ↑ Linkin Park Premieres The Lyrics To New Song "Battle Symphony" | Genius, March 14, 2017
- ↑ LP7 New Album Updates - Page 7 - Everything Linkin Park - Linkin Park Live - Page 7, September 07, 2016
- ↑ LPAssociation on Twitter: ".@ChesterBe "Battle Symphony is about things falling apart and putting it back together, so we did that for the song too" 😂 https://t.co/9rWBT8hVCa" ., April 03, 2017
- ↑ Mike Q&A Summary April 9th, 2020 - Newswire - Linkin Park Live, April 09, 2020
- ↑ Jon Green (@thebonfires) on Instagram: “Still assuming they meant to hit up the other Jon Green, who by the way is total quality. Total…”, May 19, 2017
- ↑ LPLive: Mike Q&A Summary 7/14/2020, July 14, 2020
- ↑ Melissa_Fox on Instagram: "Guess who? @linkinpark began making a new music video 🙌🏻 #USA #LosAngeles #linkinpark", January 12, 2017
- ↑ WE'RE GOING TO BE FAMOUS! - YouTube, January 13, 2017
- ↑ RAFATOON — Dreambear
- ↑ Rafael Perez (@rafatoon) on Instagram: “Mi debut actoral 🤘🏾. @linkinpark - Battle Symphony directed by @rafatoon #linkinpark #lyrics #video…”, March 19, 2017
- ↑ Rafael Perez (@rafatoon) no Instagram: “Disfrutar del trabajo, soñar y vivir para eso. Hoy les presento un video que me hace feliz, por la…”, March 17, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park - Battle Symphony (Official Lyric Video) on Vimeo, March 19, 2017
- ↑ Linkin Park - Battle Symphony (2017) | IMVDb
- ↑ NME: In conversation with Mike Shinoda, July 18, 2018