The Day the World Went Away

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"The Day the World Went Away"

Single by Nine Inch Nails
from the album The Fragile
Released	July 20, 1999
Format	CD, 12"
Recorded	??
Genre	Industrial rock
Length	15 min 47 sec (CD) 17 min 27 sec (12")
Label	Nothing Records
Producer(s)	Trent Reznor, Alan Moulder
Chart positions
#17 (US Hot 100) #31 (AUS)
Nine Inch Nails singles chronology
"The Perfect Drug" Versions (1997)	"The Day the World Went Away" (1999)	"We're in This Together" (1999)

"The Day the World Went Away" (also known as Halo 13) is a single by Nine Inch Nails for the song of the same name released in 1999. It is the thirteenth official Nine Inch Nails release and was a teaser single for the album The Fragile.

1 The song
- 1.1 Music video
2 The single
- 2.1 Releases
- 2.2 Track listing
  - 2.2.1 CD version
  - 2.2.2 Vinyl version
3 External links

[edit] The song

"The Day the World Went Away" consists of a droning background noise overlapped with layers of distorted guitars, a middle section with lyrics sung over the droning and a mandolin at the end, and then a return to the harsh guitars with a chanting chorus. The song is distinctive in the band's history due to its lack of any drums or percussion.

"The Day the World Went Away (Quiet)" features a significantly different vocal track than the original song. Two other Nine Inch Nails remixes ("Head Like a Hole (Opal)" and "Closer to God") were previously created utilizing the same unusual technique.

"The Day the World Went Away" has been covered by Ark Sano and Wormhole.

[edit] Music video

A music video was made for the song, but never released. Still images that were used on the official NIN website indicate that the video takes place at a funeral. It is rumored that the video was too personal for Trent Reznor to release because the song's lyrics are about the death of his grandmother.

An alternate video for the song, using live audio and a combination of live and original footage, is included as an Easter egg on the second And All That Could Have Been DVD.

[edit] The single

The compact disc version contains the original version and a remix of "The Day the World Went Away", and "Starfuckers, Inc." from The Fragile. A 12" vinyl version also released, which replaced "Starfuckers, Inc." with another "The Day the World Went Away" remix.

The version of the title track is approximately 30 seconds shorter and features slightly different vocals than the version found on The Fragile.

The version of "Starfuckers, Inc." that is on the single is almost identical to the album version, except that at the very end of the song is the sound of Paul Stanley yelling "Goodnight!" to a cheering crowd. The yelling and crowd cheering are taken from a KISS concert recording. The opening to "Complication", the next track on The Fragile, can be heard faintly alongside the crowd noise, augmented to sound like part of the concert.

The flower depicted on the cover of the single is a Kangaroo paw.