Falling Away from Me

"Falling Away from Me" is a song by American band Korn. It was released as the first single from their fourth album '' Issues'', debuting in an episode of Comedy Central's animated series '' South Park'', entitled "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". The song went on to become one of Korn's most popular singles, with an anti- child abuse themed video topping MTV's ''Total Request Live'' for ten days.

Concept

Jonathan Davis explained: "The song is about domestic abuse and that there are ways to get help whether it's telling someone or calling a help line, there are ways to get out of those situations. No one has to be treated like that."

Music video

The music video for "Falling Away from Me" received its world premiere on MTV in November 26, 1999 during Spankin' New Music Week. It begins as a continuation of the famous video for "Freak on a Leash", starting with its closing animation. The video then transitions into live action as it shows a young girl (played by actress Jill Noel) clearly distraught by her abusive father. Inside her room, she opens a box and appears to see the band inside, performing below hanging lightbulbs. A crowd of young people have gathered outside the window, raising their arms in time to the beat as the band is then surrounded by flashes of green electricity, and then appear inside her bedroom with flashes of red electricity. As her father angrily approaches her room with a belt in his hand, one of the youths appears outside her window and helps her get outside. She leaves the house as the song ends and the crowd scatters. The band dissolves into red electricity and goes straight back into the box in her hands. She then runs off into the night just as her father finally opens the door to see her empty bedroom. The video ends with a shot of the neighborhood with red lights showing in one bedroom in every house.

In the original version of the video, shortly before the band disappears into the box (once the teenage girl escapes through the window), Fred Durst made a "cameo" appearance in the video – his face appearing for a brief moment during one of the close-up shots of Jonathan Davis. Due to reasons which are somewhat unclear (it's rumoured that Davis spotted the cameo and objected), subsequent versions of the video have had the Fred Durst cameo removed.

The video enjoyed similar success to its predecessor, "Freak on a Leash", debuting on MTV's ''Total Request Live'' at number three, and reaching number one on its seventh day. It would eventually become Korn's third "retired" video on the program, with ten non-consecutive days at number one.

As of May 2022, the video has over 125 million views on YouTube.

MTV Unplugged rendition

Korn performed a memorable version of "Falling Away from Me" for the filming of ''MTV Unplugged'' in December 2006, featuring hand bells and a glass harmonica. It was also performed at the 2006 Download Festival with M Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold, when lead vocalist Jonathan Davis had fallen ill.

Critical reception

"Falling Away from Me" is widely considered to be one of Korn's best songs. In 2019, '' Loudwire'' ranked the song number four on their list of the 50 greatest Korn songs, and in 2021, ''Kerrang'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Korn songs.

Appearances in media

* The song was first played on Comedy Central's animated series, '' South Park'', in the episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery". The band members had a primary role in the ''Scooby-Doo''-esque plot and performed the song at the end of the episode.
* The song is playable on ''Rock Revolution''.
* The song is available as downloadable content for ''Rock Band 3''
* The song is sampled in the song " Hammer Dance" by the hip-hop group Slaughterhouse.

Track listing

German release

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" (radio edit) – 4:31
# "Jingle Balls" – 3:27
# "Falling Away from Me" ( a cappella) – 3:45

Australian release

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" – 4:31
# "Falling Away from Me (Krust Remix)" – 8:29
# "Jingle Balls" – 3:27
# "Falling Away from Me (Mantronik Remix)" – 6:05
# "Got the Life (Josh Abraham Remix)" – 4:01
# "Falling Away from Me" (video)

Australian radio promo

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" (radio edit) – 4:31
# "Falling Away from Me (Krust Remix)" – 8:29
# "Jingle Balls" – 3:27
# "Falling Away from Me (Mantronik Extended Remix)" – 6:05
# "Got the Life (Josh Abraham Remix)" – 4:01

Australian Die Cut CD radio promo

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" – 4:31
# "Falling Away from Me (Clean Version)" – 4:31

Swedish release

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" (radio edit) – 4:31
# "Falling Away from Me" ( a cappella) – 3:45

UK release

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me" (radio edit) – 4:31
# "Falling Away from Me (Krust Remix)" – 8:29
# "Jingle Balls" – 3:27

UK promo

* CD5"
# "Falling Away from Me (Mantronik Beatdown Formula)" – 6:06
# "Falling Away from Me (Krust Remix)" – 8:29
# "Falling Away from Me" – 4:31

Charts

See also

*"Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery"

References

External links

*

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1999 singles
Korn songs
Songs about child abuse
Song recordings produced by Brendan O'Brien (record producer)
1999 songs
Immortal Records singles
Music videos directed by Fred Durst
Songs written by Reginald Arvizu
Songs written by Jonathan Davis
Songs written by James Shaffer
Songs written by David Silveria
Songs written by Brian Welch
Nu metal songs