"Sing for Absolution" is a song by English

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, serving as the title track for their third studio album, ''

Absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...

''. It was released in May 2004 as the fourth single from that album, peaking at number 16 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song also appears on the ''

Absolution Tour ''Absolution Tour'' is a Live album, live Video, video album by English alternative rock band Muse (band), Muse. Released on 12 December 2005, the DVD release documents the band's performance at the 2004 Glastonbury Festival. It also features addit ...

'' DVD. A live acoustic version of the song serves as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

for the "

Butterflies and Hurricanes "Butterflies and Hurricanes" is a song by English rock band Muse. It was released as the sixth and final single from their third studio album, ''Absolution'' (2003), on 20 September 2004. Unlike ''Absolution'', the single was released through A ...

" single.

Background

"Sing for Absolution" is composed in the key of

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed for t ...

, and moves at a slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

of 86 bpm. The song's vocal range spans from G₃ to A₄. When performed live, the song is typically

transposed In linear algebra, the transpose of a matrix is an operator which flips a matrix over its diagonal; that is, it switches the row and column indices of the matrix by producing another matrix, often denoted by (among other notations). The tr ...

down half a step, into

C sharp minor C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps. The C-sharp natural minor scale is: : Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale ar ...

; it was performed in its original key only in its earliest live appearances. The song was performed at most shows from 2003 to 2004 and occasionally in 2007. The song has not been performed since 2017. Drummer

Dominic Howard Dominic James Howard (born 7 December 1977) is an English musician who is the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Muse. Early life Howard was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in England. When he was around 8 years old he moved with hi ...

has said that the song is about finding

absolution Absolution is a traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pra ...

through singing and writing music, Dom said: The song "Sing For Absolution" is about the music writing and making music. This can also be a kind of absolution, but not in the religious sense intentioned. Absolution may mean that you will find an absoluteness or something positive. Through things you might not quite understand, or things that are strange or confusing things that you look at first as a negative singing, in other word, making music can be a way to understand these things. To pack in a context that makes them understandable.

Video

This video was produced by ARK of Sheffield, UK, and released in May 2004. It depicts a populated civilised planet, probably a ''New Earth'' on which humans have settled. The camera's POV begins with a city, possibly

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, firing missiles off-camera. As the camera pans left, the viewer can see massive walls of ice that suggest the leading edge of an encroaching glacier. This is the apparent target for the weapons. Muse is then shown to be on a very large, futuristic rocketship launching into space. Leaving the atmosphere, they pass by space debris and an enormous video screen which features a beautiful, coyly smiling woman along with the message, "Be prepared... the ice age is coming". Muse's rocket then docks with a 'Cryo Module' that is housing hundreds of people in a state of cryogenic suspension, which is revealed in the extended version of the video. It could be speculated that Muse's mission is to populate their destination planet. The spacecraft and its attached module enter a hyperdrive-like wormhole. The ship eventually exits into an asteroid field above an orange planet. The pilot (Bellamy) steers the ship to avoid colliding with the asteroids but ends up failing to completely avoid an especially large one. The cryo module collides with it, damaging the docking collar and sending them somewhat out of control. The cryo module is detached, and the spacecraft gains speed as it enters the orange planet's atmosphere. The brakes on the ship fail, and they crash, sliding a very large distance from the incredible speed. Muse is next seen standing on a cliff, looking out over a large landscape. As the camera zooms out, the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

and

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

can be seen, completely in ruin buried beneath large collections of dirt and sand. It can be speculated that they are the last remaining survivors on the planet, however, the final shot of the detached Cryo Module drifting in space implies that the last surviving humans are actually those left frozen inside, ending the video on a darkly ironic note.

Track listing

*7" EW285, CD EW285CD #"Sing for Absolution" (full length US remix) – 5:01 #"Fury" – 4:59 #*Previously released on the Japanese version of ''

'' as a

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

. *DVD EW285DVD #"Sing for Absolution" (video) #"Sing for Absolution" (audio) #"Sing for Absolution" (making of the video) #"Big Day Off" (video) #Artwork Gallery of the band

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Muse
– official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sing For Absolution Muse (band) songs Rock ballads 2004 singles Song recordings produced by Rich Costey 2003 songs Songs written by Matt Bellamy East West Records singles Songs written by Dominic Howard Songs written by Chris Wolstenholme