“Shadow of the Day” is the third single from Linkin Park’s third studio album, Minutes to Midnight. It was released on October 16, 2007.
It was first played live during the Projekt Revolution tour in Auburn, Washington on July 25, 2007.
Music video:
The music video was directed by Joe Hahn.It takes place during a large scale civil unrest in what appears to be the United States. The video was shot in Los Angeles.
The music video was released to the internet on October 15, 2007. The video shows Chester Bennington waking up. His alarm clock reads 11:55, the current Doomsday Clock time, referencing the album title Minutes to Midnight and the song which is the 5th song on the album. The video is over four minutes long, meaning that the time at the end would be 11:59 PM, or one minute to midnight. Chester then watches the news, washes up, gets dressed, and goes outside. We then see that the video takes place in a war-torn world, where mass chaos is ensuing on the streets of the city. There is a lot of violence going on with many police and gunshots. Plumes of smoke can be seen in the sky. Soldiers and riot police can be seen forcefully detaining civilians. Near the end of the video, a car is set on fire and bursts into flames as several people taking place in the riot throw molotov cocktails at police resulting in the Police Riot Control and SWAT teams opening fire and advancing while the mob of people retreat. Chester then stands in front of the burning car, while looking hopelessly at the carnage that surrounds him. He then turns towards the flames, and the video fades to black. If listened to carefully towards the middle of the video, the mob is shouting ‘we want freedom’, telling us the reason why people are fighting. The area bears some resemblance to Downing Street in London, and the fighting bears some similarities to the British film Children of Men.
This is the only video so far with only Chester appearing, as Brad, Rob, Mike, Joe and Phoenix are absent in it. The video isn’t completely dubbed by the song, meaning sound effects taking place in the video can be heard. It is also interesting to note when the music video was released on the Internet, during the scene where a person sets a car on fire, the sound effects of the glass bottle he threw shattering on the car and igniting on fire is out of sync with the video. However, this problem was fixed on the band’s official YouTube page.
The video has similarities to “From the Inside”; another riot-based video by the band. There is also a painting of a whale in the video; this is a reference to the “In the End” music video.
The song was also featured in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The video won Best Rock Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and was also nominated for Best Direction in a Video.
Shadow of the day – Linkin Park – Lyrics
I close both locks below the window
I close both blinds and turn away
Sometimes solutions aren’t so simple
Sometimes good bye’s the only way
[Chorus]
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
[End Chorus]
In cards and flowers on your window
Your friends all plead for you to stay
Sometimes beginnings aren’t so simple
Sometimes good bye’s the only way
[Chorus]
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 the day
Will embrace the world in grey
And 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
[End Chorus]
