Empty Souls

"Empty Souls"
Single by Manic Street Preachers
from the album Lifeblood
Released	January 10, 2005
Format	CD
Recorded	Wales
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	4:09
Label	Epic
Producer(s)	Greg Haver
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology
"The Love of Richard Nixon" (2004) "Empty Souls" (2005) "Underdogs" (2007)

"Empty Souls" is a song by Manic Street Preachers, and was the second (and last) single taken from their album Lifeblood.

The single edit features a lyric that was changed from the album version. The chorus line on the album version runs 'collapsing like the twin towers', but for the single it was changed to 'collapsing like dying flowers'. The backing vocals can still be heard to sing the original line, although this was most likely kept in by mistake.

The single reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart,^[1] missing out on becoming the 1,000th number 1 in UK chart history to the latest in a series of Elvis number 1 single re-issues making the top of the charts at the time. It is said to be the political response from the band in relation to the September 11 attacks. The music video sees the band separated throughout, only to meet up at the end after treks through various parts of Berlin. This is probably linked to the idea of where the "empty souls" mentioned in the song actually go.

The DVD version of the single features two new songs which are both sung entirely by the band's bassist, Nicky Wire. The music for "Dying Breeds" is also entirely written by him, and the music for "Failure Bound" is the track "No Jubilees" played backwards. The video for "Dying Breeds" was directed by Wire's brother Patrick Jones, who made similar short videos for album tracks such as "1985".

Track listing

CD1

1. "Empty Souls (single version)" - 4:09
2. "All Alone Here" - 3:16

CD2

1. "Empty Souls (album version)" - 4:09
2. "No Jubilees" - 3:42
3. "Litany" - 3:29
4. "Empty Souls" (video)

DVD

1. "Empty Souls (video)"
2. "Dying Breeds (short film)" - 3:59
3. "Failure Bound" - 2:53

Charts

References