"While Your Lips Are Still Red" is a 2007 song written by

Tuomas Holopainen Tuomas Lauri Johannes Holopainen (born 25 December 1976) is a Finnish songwriter, record producer and musician, best known as one of the founders and the leader, keyboardist and songwriter of symphonic metal band Nightwish. He has stated that hi ...

and

Marko Hietala Marko Tapani "Marco" Hietala (born 14 January 1966) is a Finnish heavy metal vocalist, bassist and songwriter. Internationally, he is best known as the former bassist, male vocalist and secondary composer to Tuomas Holopainen, of the symphonic ...

of the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guitar ...

band

Nightwish Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neva ...

. It was performed by Holopainen, Hietala, and

Jukka Nevalainen Jukka Antero "Julius" Nevalainen (born 21 April 1978, in Kitee, Finland) is the former drummer in the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Personal life He spent his early years in the city of Kitee. His music teacher at school told him t ...

for the Finnish film '' The Matriarch'', which was written and directed by renowned Finnish director Markku Pölönen; the film premiered in Finland in September 2007. The song is included on Nightwish's "

Amaranth ''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely pack ...

" single, which was released on 22 August 2007 as the second single of their sixth studio album, ''

Dark Passion Play ''Dark Passion Play'' is the sixth studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. It was released on 26 September 2007 by Spinefarm Records in Finland, 28 September by Nuclear Blast in Europe and 2 October 2007 by Roadrunner Records in th ...

''. It was also released on their live / compilation EP ''

Made in Hong Kong (And in Various Other Places) ''Made in Hong Kong (And in Various Other Places)'' is the title of a live / compilation CD/DVD by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released on 11 March 2009. The album contains a CD and a DVD – the CD consists of eight songs recorded l ...

'' in 2009. "While Your Lips Are Still Red" is not an official Nightwish track, but Holopainen has stated that he is not comfortable with releasing any material under his own name. The Nightwish website clearly states that the song was written by

and features him on keyboards,

on vocals and

on drums. The song does not include guitars or female vocals. The videoclip accredits the song to Holopainen and Hietala, leaving out Nevalainen, who was not involved in the songwriting. The whispering in the background is done by

. The song has been played on concerts in various occasions, while guitarist

Emppu Vuorinen Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee. The band was formed in 1996 by lead songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former lead singer Tarja Turunen. The band soon picked up drummer Jukka Neval ...

and former vocalist

Anette Olzon Anette Ingegerd Olsson (born 21 June 1971), known by the stage name Anette Olzon, is a Swedish singer, best known as the former lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish from 2007 to 2012. She is also the vocalist of Swedish class ...

were backstage. More recent performances have also featured

Floor Jansen Floor Jansen (; born 21 February 1981) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Jansen first became known as a member of symphonic metal band After Forever, standing as their lead vo ...

with additional vocals, and

Troy Donockley Troy Donockley (born 30 May 1964) is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist most known for his playing of Uilleann pipes. Having performed with many artists as a session player, he is most notable as a member of Finnish symphonic metal ba ...

with a guitar solo played with an

EBow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

in place of the prominent violin sound from the studio version. These include a performance at

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 ...

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

in 2015 that was released on the band's 2016 live album '' Vehicle of Spirit''.

Music video

The official music video of the song contains clips from the film ''

Lieksa! ''The Matriarch'' (Finnish: ''Lieksa!'') is a 2007 Finnish comedy-drama film written, directed and edited by Markku Pölönen and produced by the Pölönen-owned film production company Suomen Filmiteollisuus. Plot Martta (Sanna-Kaisa Palo) and ...

'', Hietala singing, and Holopainen walking behind him. The video was released on YouTube on 14 June 2007. On 26 March 2015 it was reuploaded, and has over 44 million views.

Personnel

–

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

, lead vocals,

acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

–

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, backing vocals *

– drums, percussion

Reviews and commentaries

'While Your Lips Are Still Red – Nightwish'
Song Review o
Stray Poetry

References

{{Authority control 2007 songs Nightwish songs Songs written for films Film theme songs Songs written by Tuomas Holopainen Songs written by Marco Hietala Heavy metal ballads