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"The Day The World Went Away" is the second track on the Left disc of The Fragile. It was released as a single preceding the release of The Fragile and received the designation of Halo 13.
The song's lyrics are rumored to be about the death of Trent Reznor's maternal grandmother, Clara, which occurred before The Fragile was recorded. Analysis of the lyrics do support the theory of this song being about a reaction to death, but Reznor has not explicitly revealed his lyrical inspiration.
The "Buddha Debutante Choir", credited for background chants on this track, was actually a group of bar patrons who were brought in from Igor's Buddha Belly across the street from Nothing Studios. It's also the band's highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a peak of #17.
It follows the percussive and aggressive "Somewhat Damaged," and is one of Nine Inch Nails' most uniquely structured songs. Musically the opposite of "Somewhat Damaged" in almost every way, it lacks the use of any standard form of percussion, and begins with drones that fade in during the ending of "Somewhat Damaged." These soon give way to loud, distorted guitars and bass playing a simple five-chord progression. As it repeats, a synthesizer melody enters on top, ascending in intensity and pitch until it drops out along with the guitars. The bass continues playing the progression above the drones while Reznor sings the song's verse, backed with a distant harmony for the second half. The song features the use of a ukulele in this section, another first for NIN, and it is the ukulele alone that strums a bridge from the end of the verse and into the final section, characterized by a return of the loud guitar and bass playing a new progression, joined by group vocals singing a wordless melody. This all gives way at the end of the phrase to a quiet percussive sound that ends the song, repeating while fading out into the opening soundscape layers of "The Frail." The song's introductory guitar chords are extended by roughly 30 seconds on The Fragile's vinyl version.
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![Cruel Melody [Explicit Version]](https://lastfm.freetls.fastly.net/i/u/300x300/a61d2c57281848ac9aec4a5a02095aa4.jpg)
