Linkin Park

I first heard Linkin Park in high school. I like a few of their songs but I was never as much an enthusiastic fan as a lot of high schoolers (angry/ “emo” music). Not to say I don’t like angry/ “emo” music. I do! But I like other music too. I think the very best song Linkin Park did was it’s first, “In the End.”

In the End

Lyrics

[It starts with]
One thing, I don’t know why
It doesn’t even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know, time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It’s so unreal, didn’t look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on but didn’t even know
Wasted it all just to watch you go
I kept everything inside and even though I tried it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

One thing, I don’t know why
Doesn’t even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how I tried so hard
Despite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I’m surprised it got so far
Things aren’t the way they were before
You wouldn’t even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me in the end
You kept everything inside and even though I tried it all fell apart
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when

(Chorus):
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

(x2):
I put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
And for all this
There’s only one thing you should know

I put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
And for all this
There’s only one thing you should know

(Chorus)

It’s been a while since that song came out; I didn’t lke all the songs that came afterwards. Recently, Linkin Park released a new album (I think it’s called Minutes to Midnight?). The sound has changed a little — it’s less angsty and more reflective. More despairing than angry. As an older person than I was in high school, I can appreciate the quiet change in the musical tone. Maybe that was even the change that the group considered in their listeners. A morbid (as emo music tends to be) song, but very beautifully composed is “Shadow of the Day.”

Shadow of the Day

Lyrics

I close both locks below the window
I close both blinds and turn away
sometimes solutions aren’t so simple
sometimes goodbye’s the only way

and the sun will set for you
the sun will set for you
and the shadow of the day
will embrace the world in grey
and the sun will set for you

in cards and flowers on your window
your friends all plead for you to stay
sometimes beginnings aren’t so simple
sometimes goodbye’s the only way

and the sun will set for you
the sun will set for you
and the shadow of the day
will embrace the world in grey
and the sun will set for you

and the shadow of day
will embrace the world in grey
and the sun will set for you

and the shadow of day
will embrace the world in grey
and the sun will set for you