Difference between revisions of "Knights of Cydonia (song)"

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|[[Invincible (single)|Invincible <small>CD</small>]] <small>(2)</small>
|[[Invincible (single)|Invincible <small>CD</small>]] <small>(2)</small>
|[[H.A.A.R.P. (live)|H.A.A.R.P.]] <small>CD,DVD (2)</small>
|[[H.A.A.R.P. (live)|H.A.A.R.P.]] <small>CD,DVD (2)</small>
|[[Live at Rome Olympic Stadium (live)|Live at Rome Olympic Stadium]] <small>CD (6), DVD (7)</small>
}}
}}
| Length = {{drop
| Length = {{drop
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}}
| AltTitles = -
| AltTitles = -
| First = [[One Big Weekend 2006 (gig)|13th May 2006]]
| First = [[One Big Weekend 2006 (gig)|13{{supo|th}} May 2006]]
| Latest = -
| Latest = [[Lima Hipódromo de Monterrico 2019 (gig)|15{{supo|th}} October 2019]]
| Recorded = New York Avatar/Electric Lady studios - 2005
| Recorded = New York Avatar/[[Electric Lady Studios]] - 2005
| Writer = [[Matthew Bellamy]]
| Writer = [[Matthew Bellamy]]
| Producer = [[Rich Costey]]
| Producer = [[Rich Costey]]
| Chart position = 10 <small>(UK)</small>, 10 <small>(US Modern Rock)</small>, 72 <small>(UK Download)</small>
| Chart position = 10 <small>(UK)</small>, 10 <small>(US Modern Rock)</small>, 72 <small>(UK Download)</small>
}}
}}
<flashmp3>http://www.musewiki.org/images/KoC.mp3|rightbg=0xDDEEFF|leftbg=0xDDEEFF|bg=0xFFFFFF</flashmp3>
 
{{AlbumNav
{{AlbumNav
| Previous song = [[Hoodoo (song)|Hoodoo]]
| Previous = [[Hoodoo (song) | Hoodoo]]
| Current song = Knights of Cydonia
| Current = Knights of Cydonia
| Next song = [[Glorious (song)|Glorious]] (bonus track)
| Next = [[Glorious (song) | Glorious]] (bonus track)
}}
}}
<br>
{{AlbumNav2
| Previous = [[Absolution (album) | Absolution ''(2003)'']]
| Current = [[Black Holes and Revelations (album) | Black Holes and Revelations ''(2006)'']]
| Next = [[The Resistance (album) | The Resistance ''(2009)'']]
}}
'''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sBOsh-vyI Listen]'''


==Description==
==Description==
Taking its cues from Mariachi bands and the 'Doctor Who' theme tune, the track sounds like a soundtrack to a spaghetti western set in the far reaches of the galaxy and features a chain-smoking trumpeter called Franco. The intro features sounds of horses neighing and galloping, as well as laser guns firing.
Taking its cues from Mariachi bands and the 'Doctor Who' theme tune, the track sounds like a soundtrack to a spaghetti western set in the far reaches of the galaxy and features a chain-smoking trumpeter called Franco.<ref name="ml20060315">{{cite
|title=Muse featured in NME and Kerrang!
|desc=Muselive.com news
|date=2006-03-15
|auth=Tom
|pub=MuseLive.com
|dom=muselive.com
|url=http://www.muselive.com/forums.php?m=posts&p=342446#342446
|type=ext
}}</ref>The intro features sounds of horses neighing and galloping, as well as laser guns firing.  
<!-- TODO: Add more info about key modulation in verse -->
The track begins and ends in the key of {{wikipedia|E minor}}.<ref>
{{cite
| title = Muse - Knights of Cydonia: The Analysis
| desc  = Analysis of structure and progression of Knights of Cydonia
| date  = 2010-11-22
| fetch = 2014-12-10
| pub  = <!-- My Blog -->
| url  = http://cynickle.blogspot.com/2010/11/riverrun-past-eve-and-adams.html
| dom  = cynickle.blogspot.com
| arc  = http://web.archive.org/web/20141211024453/http://cynickle.blogspot.com/2010/11/riverrun-past-eve-and-adams.html
| type  = ext
}}</ref>
 
Matt said about the meaning of Knights of Cydonia: "There is this feeling of waking up and trying to fight back, or it’s time to actually try and change yourself and the things that are going on around you. I think to me that’s very optimistic, this strength [...] at the end of “Knights of Cydonia,” when I’m just saying, “No one is going to take me alive” and all that kind of stuff. I think it’s the strength of the human spirit fighting against the forces that are manipulating it."<ref>{{cite/undertheradar20060720}}</ref>
 
[[Christopher Wolstenholme|Chris]] has described the song as "40 years of rock history in six minutes".<ref>
{{cite |
title=Muse: A Brief History | desc=LA times article | date=2007-04 | auth=Craig Rosen | pub=Los Angeles Times | doc=Muse: A Brief History (200704 Los Angeles Times article) | type=int
}}</ref> and Chris also said: "When we wrote 'Knights,' we were listening to a lot of Morricone and stuff like Dick Dale, surf stuff like that. Plus lots of fairly ridiculous '70s stuff too. When we started it, we decided to be quite open going into it. We knew we wanted to do something different." <ref>Cowboys, Lasers, Karate, Robots — Muse Left Nothing Out Of Buzzworthy Video (20060908 VH1 article)</ref>


==Additional information==
[[Dominic Howard|Howard]]: [[Matthew Bellamy|Matt]] was at the back of the bus in Arizona, repeating the jerky riff to death, outside we could see the desert rolling...all that went very well together. Galloping horses, Texas, trumpets etc. We wanted to depict a journey, to make it sound like Joe Meek.
[[Dominic Howard|Howard]]: [[Matthew Bellamy|Matt]] was at the back of the bus in Arizona, repeating the jerky riff to death, outside we could see the desert rolling...all that went very well together. Galloping horses, Texas, trumpets etc. We wanted to depict a journey, to make it sound like Joe Meek.


The intro of the song, especially Bellamy's guitar, is significantly influenced by the sound of [[The Tornados]]' hit single, [[Telstar]], of which Bellamy's father, George Bellamy, was the rhythm guitarist. Bellamy has even stated, regarding the similarities, when asked about them: "Absolutely... in the guitar sound. We were aware of that when we were making the album. My dad's band mainly played instrumental music, and I always wanted to bring some more instrumental elements into our albums, to have more abstract moments. On the opening part of that song, we made a conscious effort to make the guitar sound like a 1950s synth, one of the first synthesizers around, that they'd used for the sound of the 'Telstar' bit. That was deliberate."
==Writing Process==


[[Christopher Wolstenholme|Wolstenholme]] has described the song as "40 years of rock history in six minutes".<ref>
Matt started to write the song thinking about Tex-Mex and Matt dad's band 'The Tornados' in mind, he was looking to do something more instrumental, without thinking in a vocal element, he liked the idea of writing a track that just had a lead guitar part as a vocal, with the intention of showing the more prog side of the band and looking for inspiration, he decided to listen to 'The Shadows' and watch some 'Clint Eastwood' movies like 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', by those films he started to listen to Ennio Morricone. The song started to get a 'retro' sound, sounding like something from the 50s with using a lot of tremolo, when Muse started to work on the song for the recording, the sound didn't fit the record since it sounded like something too old, so they tried to make it more contemporary by using a lot the 'most obscene ridiculous heavy distortion' pedal he had. The second part of the song originally was part of another tune they later decided to add to the song. <ref name="Radio X - Muse Interview">
{{cite |
{{cite |
  title=Muse: A Brief History | desc=LA times article | date=2007-04 | auth=Craig Rosen | pub=Los Angeles Times | doc=Muse: A Brief History (200704 Los Angeles Times article) | type=int
  title=Chris Moyles meets Muse| desc=Interview| date=2018 | auth=Chris Moyles for Radio X | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shlpn_gJDlE | dom=Youtube | fetch=2018-07-12 | type=ext
}}</ref>
}}</ref>


First aired on KROQ radio on the 7th June.
The intro of the song, especially Bellamy's guitar, is significantly influenced by the sound of [[The Tornados]]' hit single, [[Telstar]], of which Bellamy's father, George Bellamy, was the rhythm guitarist. Bellamy has even stated, regarding the similarities, when asked about them: "Absolutely... in the guitar sound. We were aware of that when we were making the album. My dad's band mainly played instrumental music, and I always wanted to bring some more instrumental elements into our albums, to have more abstract moments. On the opening part of that song, we made a conscious effort to make the guitar sound like a 1950s synth, one of the first synthesizers around, that they'd used for the sound of the 'Telstar' bit. That was deliberate."
 
==Additional information==
 
First aired on KROQ radio on the 7th June, 2006.


The percussion bears similarity with [[Riffs and jams#I Want to Break Free|I Want to Break Free]], which they covered as an instrumental before Knights of Cydonia in Rolling Stone 2006.  
The percussion bears similarity with [[Riffs and jams#I Want to Break Free|I Want to Break Free]], which they covered as an instrumental before Knights of Cydonia in Rolling Stone 2006.  


The song has been featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, 2 and the Wii. The Game was released in Fall 2007.<ref>
The song has been featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, 2 and the Wii. The Game was released in Autumn 2007.<ref>
{{cite |
{{cite |
  title=Guitar Hero III shows its chops | desc=Gaming article | date=2007-05-23 | auth=Oli Welsh | pub=Eurogamer | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76788 | dom=www.eurogamer.net | type=ext
  title=Guitar Hero III shows its chops | desc=Gaming article | date=2007-05-23 | auth=Oli Welsh | pub=Eurogamer | url=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=76788 | dom=www.eurogamer.net | type=ext
Line 56: Line 97:
The band won a fierce online poll which saw fans of acts like The Killers, Oasis, The Strokes and more all voting in an online poll to choose the first song played as the station went live at 11am (BST).
The band won a fierce online poll which saw fans of acts like The Killers, Oasis, The Strokes and more all voting in an online poll to choose the first song played as the station went live at 11am (BST).


An anagram for Knights of Cydonia is "Fancy Kid Shooting"
Has recently been played at the New Yankee Stadium as a "pump up" song.
 
Was used during Super Bowl XLV during the team introduction for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
 
An anagram for Knights of Cydonia is "Fancy Kid Shooting".
 
==Live==
Standard set opener and closer during the [[Black Holes and Revelations]] tour and standard set closer during [[The Resistance]] tour too.


===Live===
From on the [[Neuhausen ob Eck Southside Festival 2006 (gig)|24th of June]], a guitar adaption of the [[Space Dementia (song)|Space Dementia]] ending has been used as an outro for Knights of Cydonia. The playing of this outro was ceased between sometime in late October 2006 and [[Nottingham National Ice Centre Arena 2006 (gig)|17th November 2006]].
From on the [[Neuhausen ob Eck Southside Festival 2006 (gig)|24th of June]], a guitar adaption of the [[Space Dementia (song)|Space Dementia]] ending has been used as an outro for Knights of Cydonia. The playing of this outro was ceased between sometime in late October 2006 and [[Nottingham National Ice Centre Arena 2006 (gig)|17th November 2006]].


Line 65: Line 112:
Since [[Belfast Odyssey Arena 2006 (gig)|4th November 2006]], a new guitar part has been used before the first vocal segment.
Since [[Belfast Odyssey Arena 2006 (gig)|4th November 2006]], a new guitar part has been used before the first vocal segment.


During the latter half of the Black Holes and Revelations tour, Matt has played the [[Riffs and jams#Close Encounters riff|Close Encounters]] riff as an intro to Knights of Cydonia
During the latter half of the Black Holes and Revelations tour, Matt has played the [[Riffs and jams#Close Encounters riff|Close Encounters]] riff as an intro to Knights of Cydonia. In August of 2008, the band began to play [[Riffs and jams#Man with a Harmonica|Man with a Harmonica]] intro with Chris on the harmonica. They have since included it in most performances of Knights of Cydonia.
 
Alternating with [[Take a Bow (song)|Take A Bow]] as gig openers and closers from 2006-2008 (typically as the opener), Knights of Cydonia was the standard set closer during The Resistance Tour. For the first half of The 2nd Law Tour, it typically closed the first encore (occasionally alternating with [[Survival (song)|Survival]] as gig closer), before being moved to the middle of the first set from [[Antwerp Sportpaleis 2012 (gig)|18th December 2012]].
 
[[Knights of Cydonia (live) | More here]]


==Cydonia==
==Cydonia==
Line 76: Line 127:


==Lyrics==
==Lyrics==
<pre>Come ride with me
{{lyrics
|Come ride with me
Through the veins of history
Through the veins of history
I'll show you a god who falls asleep on the job
I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job
How can we win, when fools can be kings?
How can we win, when fools can be kings?
Don't waste your time or time will waste you
Don't waste your time or time will waste you
Line 95: Line 147:
The time has come to make things right
The time has come to make things right
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight for our rights
You and I must fight to survive</pre>
You and I must fight to survive
}}


==References==
==References==
Line 102: Line 155:
==See also==
==See also==
*[[Black Holes and Revelations media use|Commercial use in media]]
*[[Black Holes and Revelations media use|Commercial use in media]]
*[http://muse-download.com One Big Weekend audio download]
 
==External links==
*[http://muse-download.com One Big Weekend audio download] (dead)


{{Backto | Black Holes and Revelations (album) | Black Holes and Revelations}}
{{Backto | Black Holes and Revelations (album) | Black Holes and Revelations}}

Revision as of 13:47, 7 May 2021

Muse song
Name Knights of Cydonia
Album/single
Length
  • 6:06 »
  • 4:42 (radio edit)
  • 3:59 (edit 3'59)
Alternative titles -
First live performance 13th May 2006
Latest live performance 15th October 2019
Recorded New York Avatar/Electric Lady Studios - 2005
Writer/composer Matthew Bellamy
Producer Rich Costey
Chart position 10 (UK), 10 (US Modern Rock), 72 (UK Download)


Listen

Description

Taking its cues from Mariachi bands and the 'Doctor Who' theme tune, the track sounds like a soundtrack to a spaghetti western set in the far reaches of the galaxy and features a chain-smoking trumpeter called Franco.[1]The intro features sounds of horses neighing and galloping, as well as laser guns firing. The track begins and ends in the key of E minor.[2]

Matt said about the meaning of Knights of Cydonia: "There is this feeling of waking up and trying to fight back, or it’s time to actually try and change yourself and the things that are going on around you. I think to me that’s very optimistic, this strength [...] at the end of “Knights of Cydonia,” when I’m just saying, “No one is going to take me alive” and all that kind of stuff. I think it’s the strength of the human spirit fighting against the forces that are manipulating it."[3]

Chris has described the song as "40 years of rock history in six minutes".[4] and Chris also said: "When we wrote 'Knights,' we were listening to a lot of Morricone and stuff like Dick Dale, surf stuff like that. Plus lots of fairly ridiculous '70s stuff too. When we started it, we decided to be quite open going into it. We knew we wanted to do something different." [5]

Howard: Matt was at the back of the bus in Arizona, repeating the jerky riff to death, outside we could see the desert rolling...all that went very well together. Galloping horses, Texas, trumpets etc. We wanted to depict a journey, to make it sound like Joe Meek.

Writing Process

Matt started to write the song thinking about Tex-Mex and Matt dad's band 'The Tornados' in mind, he was looking to do something more instrumental, without thinking in a vocal element, he liked the idea of writing a track that just had a lead guitar part as a vocal, with the intention of showing the more prog side of the band and looking for inspiration, he decided to listen to 'The Shadows' and watch some 'Clint Eastwood' movies like 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly', by those films he started to listen to Ennio Morricone. The song started to get a 'retro' sound, sounding like something from the 50s with using a lot of tremolo, when Muse started to work on the song for the recording, the sound didn't fit the record since it sounded like something too old, so they tried to make it more contemporary by using a lot the 'most obscene ridiculous heavy distortion' pedal he had. The second part of the song originally was part of another tune they later decided to add to the song. [6]

The intro of the song, especially Bellamy's guitar, is significantly influenced by the sound of The Tornados' hit single, Telstar, of which Bellamy's father, George Bellamy, was the rhythm guitarist. Bellamy has even stated, regarding the similarities, when asked about them: "Absolutely... in the guitar sound. We were aware of that when we were making the album. My dad's band mainly played instrumental music, and I always wanted to bring some more instrumental elements into our albums, to have more abstract moments. On the opening part of that song, we made a conscious effort to make the guitar sound like a 1950s synth, one of the first synthesizers around, that they'd used for the sound of the 'Telstar' bit. That was deliberate."

Additional information

First aired on KROQ radio on the 7th June, 2006.

The percussion bears similarity with I Want to Break Free, which they covered as an instrumental before Knights of Cydonia in Rolling Stone 2006.

The song has been featured in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, 2 and the Wii. The Game was released in Autumn 2007.[7]

The song has been featured in commercials for the DVD of the movie 300. The 300 DVD Trailer can be seen here. It was also used, around the same time, on E4, for the E4 showing of the film A Knight's Tale which aired on Tuesday 9th October 2007.

Knights of Cydonia was voted number 1, defeating second place by only 13 votes in Australia's Triple J hottest 100 for 2007.

On Tuesday 24th June 2008, Knights of Cydonia become the first ever song played on NME Radio. The band won a fierce online poll which saw fans of acts like The Killers, Oasis, The Strokes and more all voting in an online poll to choose the first song played as the station went live at 11am (BST).

Has recently been played at the New Yankee Stadium as a "pump up" song.

Was used during Super Bowl XLV during the team introduction for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

An anagram for Knights of Cydonia is "Fancy Kid Shooting".

Live

Standard set opener and closer during the Black Holes and Revelations tour and standard set closer during The Resistance tour too.

From on the 24th of June, a guitar adaption of the Space Dementia ending has been used as an outro for Knights of Cydonia. The playing of this outro was ceased between sometime in late October 2006 and 17th November 2006.

Since 22nd August 2006, a different riff has been used towards the end of the song.

Since 4th November 2006, a new guitar part has been used before the first vocal segment.

During the latter half of the Black Holes and Revelations tour, Matt has played the Close Encounters riff as an intro to Knights of Cydonia. In August of 2008, the band began to play Man with a Harmonica intro with Chris on the harmonica. They have since included it in most performances of Knights of Cydonia.

Alternating with Take A Bow as gig openers and closers from 2006-2008 (typically as the opener), Knights of Cydonia was the standard set closer during The Resistance Tour. For the first half of The 2nd Law Tour, it typically closed the first encore (occasionally alternating with Survival as gig closer), before being moved to the middle of the first set from 18th December 2012.

More here

Cydonia

Cydonia is a place on Mars, where the controversial rock formation shaped like a human face can be seen. Doing some further research, there are conspiracy theories that Cydonia is actually a NASA cover up, because there's more than one "human" face there, and evidence of pyramids and a city. Martians may have existed there. Certainly something Matt would be interested in, having said this - there are beliefs in a great war that destroyed Mars, and the inhabitants had to move elsewhere... to Earth.

"...A great war was fought once in our solar system. One of our planets was devastated because of it. But by the end of it the aggressor was beat back and they were able to rebuild here on Earth." "The enemy in the war, devastated Mars..." [1]

However, more recent pictures of Cydonia reveal that the apparent 'faces' look nothing like faces at all, and the older images were the result of shadows across the hill.

Lyrics

Come ride with me

Through the veins of history I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job How can we win, when fools can be kings? Don't waste your time or time will waste you

No one's gonna take me alive The time has come to make things right You and I must fight for our rights You and I must fight to survive

No one's gonna take me alive The time has come to make things right You and I must fight for our rights You and I must fight to survive

No one's gonna take me alive The time has come to make things right You and I must fight for our rights You and I must fight to survive

References

  1. Tom. (2006-03-15). Muse featured in NME and Kerrang!. MuseLive.com. Retrieved from muselive.com.
  2. Muse - Knights of Cydonia: The Analysis (2010-11-22). Retrieved 2014-12-10 from cynickle.blogspot.com.
  3. Marcus Kagler. (2006-07-20). Muse. Under the Radar. Retrieved 2006-07-21. [verify]
  4. Craig Rosen. (2007-04). Muse: A Brief History. Los Angeles Times. [verify]
  5. Cowboys, Lasers, Karate, Robots — Muse Left Nothing Out Of Buzzworthy Video (20060908 VH1 article)
  6. Chris Moyles for Radio X. (2018). Chris Moyles meets Muse. Retrieved 2018-07-12 from Youtube.
  7. Oli Welsh. (2007-05-23). Guitar Hero III shows its chops. Eurogamer. Retrieved from www.eurogamer.net.

See also

External links


Go back to Black Holes and Revelations