The Chain

From The Evanescence Reference
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General information

Written by: Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie and Stevie Nicks

The Chain is a song by Fleetwood Mac that Evanescence covered for the video game Gears 5. The teaser trailer containing Amy's vocals was published on September 5, 2019.[1] When the band were on their Fall 2019 European tour, Amy confirmed to fans at a meet and greet that the band will get together after the tour to finish recording the full song.

Amy and Xbox have redefined the classic Fleetwood Mac song to embody the dark threat of Kait (the game's protagonist)'s abuser, the evil Queen Myrrah, calling out and threatening her. As Kait nears the end of the journey in the spot, she stands, revs her Lancer, and fights back against her abuser. The lyrics help drive the narrative, as each line corresponds with the chaotic journey Kait is experiencing, both in the desert and in her own mind.[2] Amy said the following about covering this song:

Vin1.jpg I'm proud to lend my voice to this reimagining of “The Chain” for Gears 5. I was drawn to the story of Kait overcoming fear and standing up to fight. Her story of breaking out with her own voice is most definitely one I relate to! Vin2.jpg


On October 14th and 15th 2019, Evanescence posted several Instagram stories which showed the band recording the song in the studio - including guitars, drums, full orchestra and vocals from Amy and Troy.[3] The producer of the song is Bobby Tahouri, an American composer of film, television, and video game scores. On October 25, 2019, Jen Majura went live on Instagram and confirmed that every member of the band has recorded vocals for the cover.

On November 10, 2019, a 20 second instrumental clip of the song was "leaked" online. Tim McCord later confirmed that the clip is fake. Evanescence announced that the song will officially be released on November 22, 2019, however, some radio stations across the USA started playing the full song a few days early.

Amy Lee took part in a Reddit AMA, and this is what she said about recording The Chain:

Vin1.jpg For me, a cover has to be really different from the original. There has to be a new thought, new idea, new perspective. Otherwise, I'd rather just go listen to the original. So a cover idea for me usually comes out of loving a song, and having a desire to hear it differently. I've referenced this a lot but one of my favorite covers that taught me that idea is Tori Amos doing Smells Like Teen Spirit. In a new light, after Kurt's tragic death, hearing those words sung back in full, clearly and slowed down, with a new voice of loss- changes the whole feeling of the song from angst, rage,even fun- to incredibly heartbreaking. Hearing it back that way makes you zoom in on what he was saying in a totally different way. This is what drew me to this song. When I heard what Bobby Tahouri had started, the feel was so vastly different from the original, it was like a new song. Dark, vibey as hell, instantly I was drawn in. And right away I imagined the full band coming in and throwing down our current sound on that idea. Once we got the go ahead to do whatever we wanted, we just made it our own. We all jammed out in a room together and created an arrangement, then we started recording, and building and building and building till we were all satisfied. It was a blast![4] Vin2.jpg


Amy was initially invited to record a short version of the song for the trailer as a solo project,[5] but then she saw the dark, cinematic direction the producer was taking with the production which made her want to record the full song with the band.[6]

The song will not be part of the band's fifth studio album, The Bitter Truth.[5]

Versions

Studio Versions

The Chain

  • Recording date: October 2019
  • Status: Released
  • Released on: The Chain Single
  • Length: 4:12

The Chain [Amy Lee solo version][note 1]

  • Recording date: 2019
  • Status: Unreleased
  • Length: 0:47

Lyrics

Evanescence version

Listen to the wind blow
Down comes the night
Break the silence
Damn the dark, damn the light

And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again (never love me again)
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again (never love me again)
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
You would never break the chain

Listen to the wind blow
Watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows
Damn your love, damn your lies

Break the silence
Damn the dark, damn the light

And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again (never love me again)
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now (you don't love me now)
You will never love me again (never love me again)
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
You would never break the chain

Chain keep us together
Chain keep us together
Chain keep us together
Chain keep us together
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain
You would never break the chain

Fleetwood Mac version

Listen to the wind blow
Watch the sun rise
Running in the shadows
Damn your love, damn your lies

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)

Listen to the wind blow
Down comes the night
Running in the shadows
Damn your love, damn your lies
Break the silence
Damn the dark, damn the light

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)

And if you don't love me now
You will never love me again
I can still hear you saying
You would never break the chain (Never break the chain)

Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)
Chain keep us together (running in the shadow)

Video

Evanescence filmed the music video for The Chain on December 3, 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee. A few days prior to filming, the band had an unfortunate incident at Knotfest Mexico where they had to cancel their set due to safety concerns with a broken barrier. This caused outrage within the crowd, and some of them proceeded to jump on the stage and destroy the equipment, including burning Will Hunt's drums. This inspired the band to include a set of burning drums in the music video.[7]

The video was released to YouTube on January 9, 2020,[8] and this is what Amy and the director, P.R. Brown, had to say about the video:

Vin1.jpg Amy: The lyrics make me feel the power of standing together against great forces trying to pull us apart, perhaps even from the inside. I really wanted to drive that home in our version.

P.R. Brown: The goal of the video is to show the bond of this band as they deliver a powerful take on a classic song. The tie in with Gears 5 presented an opportunity to combine the game world together with the band performance in a post-apocalyptic setting. The band emerges from the ashes to come together. We wanted to bring these worlds together and feel both the force of the band and the game.[9]

Vin2.jpg


A behind the scenes video was published to the band's official YouTube channel on January 23, 2020.[10]

Directed by: P.R. Brown
Produced by: Steve Lamar
Production co: Bau-Da Design Lab, Inc.
Edited by: P.R. Brown

Notes

  1. This is the version Amy originally recorded as a solo project for Gears 5 and can be heard on the game's trailer.

References