Linkin Park Release ‘In the End’ Demo Version + It’s Way Different
On Oct. 24, Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, will officially be 20 years old. As part of the celebration, the band is issuing a 20th anniversary edition of the multi-platinum album and have just taken it back to their early days with a newly released demo version of "In the End." And it is way different than the version you're used to.
It starts with the opening moments you're all familiar with, but right after Chester Bennington innocently sings, "It starts with one..." the differences between the demo version and studio original are quite apparent. Mike Shinoda's iconic verse is completely gone and while the cadence is mostly the same, it's a bit of a head trip for a song you've heard so many times to sound this alien.
As for the production, it's clearly not the robust, punchy, balanced anthem that helped sell more than 10 million copies Hybrid Theory in the United States alone. But it's a demo, as advertised and this is quite expected.
Read the lyrics to the demo version of "In the End" directly below and listen to the song further down the page.
It starts with one...
One, then multiplies 'til you can taste the sun
And burned by the sky you try to take it from
But if it falls, there's no place to run
Crumbling down, it's so unreal
They're dealing you in to determine your end
And sending you back again, to places you've been
And bending your will 'til it breaks you, within
And still, they fill their eyes
With the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on a pad with the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you've played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness, but I know that I've tried so hardI 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 matterI've looked down the line
And what's there is not what ought to be
Held back by the battles they fought for me
Calling me to be part of their property
And now, I see that I get no chance
I get no break
Fakes and snakes quickly lead to mistakes
And as the tightrope within slowly starts to thin
I can only hope that they close their eyes
To the twilight through the skylight
And the highlights on a frame of steel
See the brightness of your likeness
As I write this on a pad to the way I feel
Hear the screaming in my dreaming
As it's seeming that you've played your part
Like you're heartless, take apart this
In the darkness, but I know that I tried so hardI 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 matterI've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you, pushed as far as I can go
For all this, there's only one thing you should knowI 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
Linkin Park's 20th anniversary edition of Hybrid Theory will be out on Oct. 9 and will also include the long-awaited but previously unreleased song "Pictureboard," among other rarities and bonus items. Pre-order your copy here.
Linkin Park, "In the End" (Demo Version)
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