A Beautiful Lie

Album: A Beautiful Lie (2005)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was written in Cape Town, South Africa where the rest of the band had joined frontman Jared Leto in order to finish the album. It was while there that the album title was changed from the previously planned "The Battle of One" to "A Beautiful Lie."
  • The music video for this, directed by Angakok Panipaq, was the first one ever to be shot 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. The promo for the band's song "From Yesterday" was the first American music video shot in the People's Republic of China. Frontman Jared Leto said on his record label's website: "Shooting in Greenland was a dream come true and one of the most exciting adventures we've ever had as a band. Although incredibly challenging and at times it seemed just out of our reach, once we finally arrived the beauty and magnificence of the terrain, the wonderful culture of the people, and the amazing journey itself were all inspiring beyond belief. Almost everyone has heard of global warming by now but for the people of Greenland it is a real and tangible problem of today, not an issue of tomorrow. This journey changed our lives."
  • Leto described the album as: "A story of life, love, death, pain, joy, and passion. Of what it is to be human"
  • 30 Seconds To Mars were formed by Hollywood actor Jared Leto (guitars and vocals) and his brother Shannon Leto (drums). They recruited Matt Wachter (bass and keyboards) and later on Tomo Milicevic (guitar). Wachter explained on Virgin Records website that the band's name "actually comes from a thesis that we found online it was written by a former Harvard professor. And one of the subsections of the thesis was titled 'thirty seconds to mars' and he goes on to talk about the exponential growth of technology that relates to humans and saying that we are quite literally thirty seconds to mars. What it means to us is, we thought it best described our music, in short."

Comments: 1

  • Kasia from London, --All the money bought of the single went to a charity and it was filmed in an entirely environmentally friendly character, so they did not use much pollution etc. It was a video showing what the pollution is doing to the world in places like where they filmed and their emotions towards that topic.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New Words

Facebook, Bromance and Email - The First Songs To Use New WordsSong Writing

Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.

Don Brewer of Grand Funk

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.

Stephen Christian of Anberlin

Stephen Christian of AnberlinSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.

History Of Rock

History Of RockSong Writing

An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.