"New Born" is a song by the English rock band Muse, from their second studio album, Origin of Symmetry (2001). It was released as the second single on 4 June 2001 and reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[2] The song was also featured on the Hullabaloo live DVD.
Background and content
"New Born" is written in the key of E minor. The song starts out at a relatively fast tempo of 147 bpm, and then increases pace during each verse. The melodic introduction features some modern minimalist style piano work. The song is also recognizable for its distinct guitar riff, which is based on a circle of fifths progression.
Regarding the meaning of the song, Matthew Bellamy has said: "It's about a semi-fear of the evolution of technology, and how in reality it's destroying all humanity. My fear is that we can't control it because it's moving faster than we are, so the song's setting myself in a location in the future where the body is no longer important and everyone's plugged into a network. The opening line is 'link it to the world', so it's connecting yourself on a worldwide scale and being born into another reality."[citation needed]
Chris Wolstenholme also said: "I think between the three of us [New Born] is probably one of our favourite tracks off Origin of Symmetry. It is a good live track. I think it's one of the songs which showcases the experimental side of the band. It is not really a conventional pop song. I think a lot of the reason for choosing these songs is that we went for the heavier more direct kind of songs rather than going for anything too mellow."[3]
Recording
"New Born" first started out as a guitar-based piece played in soundcheck during the Showbiz tour back in 1999, and the piano intro was written afterwards. During the recording of the album in the David Bottrill sessions, the band experimented with using Bellamy's voice for the arpeggios instead of the piano, but decided that this was too "abstract" and removed it during post-recording.[citation needed]
