Empty Souls

"Empty Souls" is a song by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released in January 2005 by record label Epic as the second and final single taken from their seventh studio album, Lifeblood. The song debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 18 in Ireland.

"Empty Souls"
Single by Manic Street Preachers
from the album Lifeblood
B-side
  • "All Alone Here"
  • "No Jubilees"
  • "Litany"
Released10 January 2005
Length4:09
LabelSony Music UK
Songwriter(s)Nicky Wire, James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore
Producer(s)Greg Haver
Manic Street Preachers singles chronology
"The Love of Richard Nixon"
(2004)		 "Empty Souls"
(2005)		 "Underdogs"
(2007)

Content

"Empty Souls" is said to be the political response from the band in relation to the September 11 attacks.[1]

The single edit features a lyric that was changed from the album version. The chorus line on the album version runs "collapsing like the Twin Towers", but for the single it was changed to "collapsing like dying flowers". The backing vocals can still be heard to sing the original line, although this may have been kept in by mistake.[2]

Music video

The music video for the song sees the band separated throughout, only to meet up at the end after treks through various parts of Berlin, Germany.[1]

Release

"Empty Souls" was released on 10 January 2005 by record label Epic as the second and final single from the band's seventh studio album, Lifeblood.[3] The single reached number two on the UK Singles Chart,[4] missing out on becoming the 1,000th number one in UK chart history to the latest in a series of Elvis number-one single re-issues making the top of the charts at the time.[2]

The DVD version of the single features two new songs which are both sung entirely by the band's bassist, Nicky Wire. The music for "Dying Breeds" is also entirely written by him, and the music for "Failure Bound" is the track "No Jubilees" played backwards. The video for "Dying Breeds" was directed by Wire's brother Patrick Jones, who made similar short videos for album tracks such as "1985".[2]

Track listings

UK CD1[5]

  1. "Empty Souls"
  2. "All Alone Here"

UK CD2[6]

  1. "Empty Souls"
  2. "No Jubilees"
  3. "Litany"
  4. "Empty Souls" (video)

UK DVD single[7]

  1. "Empty Souls" (video)
  2. Dying Breeds (short film)
  3. "Failure Bound"

Charts
Chart (2005) Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[8] 4
Ireland (IRMA)[9] 18
Scotland (OCC)[10] 5
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 2

References
  1. Power, Martin (17 October 2010). Manic Street Preachers. Omnibus Press.
  2. Martin Clarke, Manic Street Preachers: Sweet Venom (Plexus, 2009).
  3. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 8 January 2005. p. 17.
  4. "Manic Street Preachers | Official Charts Company". Official Charts. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. Empty Souls (UK CD1 liner notes). Manic Street Preachers. Sony Music UK. 2005. 675610 1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. Empty Souls (UK CD2 liner notes). Manic Street Preachers. Sony Music UK. 2005. 675610 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. Empty Souls (UK DVD single liner notes). Manic Street Preachers. Sony Music UK. 2005. 675610 9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. "Hits of the World – Eurocharts" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 5. 29 January 2005. p. 55. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Empty Souls". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  10. "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  11. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
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