The Down Syndrome

"The Down Syndrome"
Song by Grey Daze
from the album ...No Sun Today
Working title:	New Song
Recorded:	1996-1997
Released:	May 23, 1997
Length:	4:12
Writer:	Chester Bennington
Producer:	Michael Jones
...No Sun Today tracklist
B12 What's In The Eye? Drag Sickness In Time Just Like Heroin (A Little Down) Sometimes Hole The Down Syndrome Anything, Anything Soul Song Saturation

"The Down Syndrome" is the ninth track on Grey Daze's 1997 sophomore album ...No Sun Today. It is Sean Dowdell's favorite Grey Daze song and received local radio airplay.

Background

"The Down Syndrome" was conceived in early 1996. The band had their first pre-production sessions for their second studio album in February 1996 with David Knauer. There, Chester and Bobby recorded a version of the song with just guitar and vocal. It was so new at that time, it didn't have a name yet, it was just titled "New Song". The album version was recorded by Mike Jones during their pre-production session for ...No Sun Today in December.

Amends Version (2020)

Grey Daze included "The Down Syndrome" on their 2020 album Amends, with re-recorded instrumentals and using older takes of Chester's vocals. The song was renamed to just "The Syndrome" on the album. The song features guests Carah Faye Charnow of Shiny Toy Guns and Carston Dowdell, son of Sean Dowdell. It was produced by Esjay Jones and Lucas D'Angelo.

In the Amends track-by-track with Apple Music, Sean said, "This is a song that my son Carston plays drums on, and Carah Faye sings backing vocals. It's about how sometimes people disappoint you and you just need something different to make you realize that what you thought was important or people who you thought were important really weren't in the big picture. It's a similar theme to 'Sometimes', but kind of a different perspective based on moving past a situation - and then you can look back and see things a little more clearly."

Acoustic Version

The unlisted 13th track on ...No Sun Today is an acoustic version of "The Down Syndrome" which features only Sean Dowdell playing piano and Chester Bennington singing. It was recorded in one take with no overdubs. Mike Jones' (the engineer) voice can be heard saying "We're still rolling".

Amends... Stripped Release (2021)

This acoustic version of "The Syndrome" was released on the Amends... Stripped EP in January 2021.

In the Amends... Stripped track-by-track with Revolver, Sean said, "This was recorded in its entirety in 1997 with original guitarist Bobby Benish on a 12-string guitar, Mace Beyers on 12-string guitar, myself on piano and Chester on vocals. The band literally was in the middle of recording their second album [1997's ...No Sun Today] when we decided to just play this version of "The Syndrome" together. It was mixed live straight to two-track and left in its complete original format. Chester gives a haunting performance of this song. This one in particular touches a nerve for me when I hear it, it brings back a great memory of the original recording session and pays a nice homage to Bobby [who died of brain cancer in 2004] in keeping his performance on the track. "

The rest of the banter on the Amends... Stripped version is additional material not released on the original version - Sean says, "What happened to "let's keep going"?", Bobby says "One more time, if we don't get it this time it's scrapped", Mace says "No it isn't, no it isn't" and then says in a funny voice, "How many rolls does it take to get to the bottom of a track?" before Sean says "Ready? Here we go." Digitally, "The Syndrome" is listed as "Demo" instead of "Stripped."

Versions

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

Title	Album	Length	Recorded	Released	Notes
The Down Syndrome	...No Sun Today	4:12	1996-1997	May 23, 1997
The Down Syndrome	...No Sun Today	4:15	2002		Re-mixed by Sean Dowdell. Released on LPAssociation for free download in M4A format on July 2, 2007.
	...No Sun Today	5:21	1997	1997	Acoustic version.
	...No Sun Today		2002		Unreleased Acoustic version. Re-mixed by Sean Dowdell.
New Song	Album Pre-Production Live Session		February 18, 1996		Unreleased. Only Chester and Bobby. Recorded live at David Knauer's studio.
The Down Syndrome	"No Sun Today" Pre-Production Live Session		December 03, 1996		Unreleased. Recorded live at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences.
The Syndrome	Amends	3:49	2017-2020	June 26, 2020	Featuring Carah Faye Charnow of Shiny Toy Guns and Carston Dowdell, son of Sean Dowdell. Produced by Esjay Jones and Lucas D'Angelo.

Live

The studio version of "The Down Syndrome" was played live with Chester throughout 1997 and was also performed after Chester Bennington and Mace Byers were replaced by Jodi Wendt and Dave Sardegna in 1998.

While Sean Dowdell confirmed the acoustic version was never played with any incarnation of the band, a version with acoustic guitars and voice was performed by Mace Beyers, Ryan Shuck and Amir Derakh at the Saxe Theater in Las Vegas on September 2, 2017 as a tribute to Chester Bennington. Sean was originally announced to play with the band, but didn't perform due to technical problems. The event was streamed live by Grey Daze.

Personnel

Grey Daze

• Guitar: Bobby Benish
• Vocals: Chester Bennington
• Bass: Mace Beyers
• Drums / Backing vocals: Sean Dowdell

Production

• This record was recorded and mixed at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences, Tempe, AZ (602) 858-9400
• Produced by Michael Jones and Grey Daze
• Engineered by Michael Jones and Ghery Fimbres
• Assisted by Kelly "????" Gabler
• Mastered by Andrew Garver at A&M Mastering Studios, Hollywood, CA

Lyrics

Album Version

People come around
People let you down
Anywhere you go
Anywhere you see
It's real
It's up to you to make it happen
It's up to you to make it real

And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some

Tell me what you know
Tell me how you feel
It doesn't matter when you're down
And when you look at me with your eyes
That smile on your face seems happy
Are you happy?

And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some

Yeah..
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some

Acoustic Version

[Conversation in the studio]
"Maybe we can do..."
"You."
"What happened to 'Let's keep going,'?"
Chester: "I know my part, is that what you said?"
"Well, let's keep going."
"Yeah, that's what you said!"
"I have to memorize it."
"One more time! If we don't get it this time it's scrapped."
"Last time."
Producer: "Rolling, we're still rolling gentlemen."
Chester: "Rolling writah!"
"Ready, here we go."
Chester: "How many rolls does it take to get to the bottom of the track?"

People come around
People let you down
Anywhere you go
Anyone you see
It's real
It's up to you to make it happen
It's up to you to make it real

And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some

Tell me what you know
Tell me how you feel
It doesn't matter when you're down
And when you look at me with your eyes
That smile on your face seems happy
Are you happy?

And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some
And you know how it feels
To bleed some, to need some

Gallery

• 

  ...No Sun Today

• 

  Real Records album pre-production DAT tape

• 

  ...No Sun Today pre-production DAT tape

External Links

Stream

• The Down Syndrome: Grey Daze
• The Down Syndrome Acoustic: Grey Daze

Live

• The Down Syndrome (1997-05-23 Tempe, AZ): Grey Daze
• The Down Syndrome (Chester Bennington Memorial): Grey Daze

Tribute

• The Down Syndrome (Acoustic Cover by fans): YouTube | Facebook