Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park

Album: Meteora (2003)

Charted: 10 32

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Songfacts®:

This is about someone who feels out of place and alone, with nothing to say due to his own fault.
This started out as a sample of Chester Bennington playing acoustic guitar. Mike Shinoda took the sample, replayed it, effected it, flipped it backwards and cut it up into four pieces, creating the main sample of the song. By the time it was finished, almost a year later, the band had rewritten most of the music around the sample.
Mike and Chester wrote over 30 finished choruses for this song, each time scrapping the last one in search of something better. They ended up recording the final version one week after the rest of the album was finished, in the studio where they were mixing.
This song is the first single off of Linkin Park's sophomore album Meteora. The album was released on March 25, 2003 and went to #1 in 14 countries the first week. >>
Suggestion credit:
William - Indiana, IN, for all above
At the beginning of the song, Bennington's acoustic guitar part was played back in reverse. >>
Suggestion credit:
Dean - Chalfont, England
The album title refers to a group of monasteries located on cliffs in central Greece.
This won for Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
Mike Shinoda: "The first thing you hear in the song is a sample. Now, the sample sounds like keyboards but what it is really, is a guitar progression Chester played. It just shows the evolution of parts. The guitar part that Chester played had a cool progression to it but the sound of it was too acoustic guitar. So what we did was, we flipped it backwards. We effected it. I cut it up into four pieces and instead of arranging it 1-2-3-4, I arranged it 4-3-2-1 because it had been reversed. So it evolved into this thing with the different manipulations in the computer. It evolved into this thing that it is now. In fact, you can hear an early version of that on our Party At The Pancake Festival DVD. There's a version of that towards the end of the DVD that's playing. You kind of get an idea of what it sounded like in the second stage of it's lifetime and now it's at it's third when we finished it. So that song is cool for that reason.

Another cool thing about it is that it's really the first time you hear some optimistic views, some optimistic lyrics from us. I think that lyrically this album is a little older, a little more mature hopefully." >>
Suggestion credit:
Tim - PGH, PA
This was the first video that aired on Fuse TV. >>
Suggestion credit:
Donovan Berry - El Dorado, AR
The band's turntablist, Joe Hahn, directed the music video. It begins with Chester Bennington walking into a room that bears the Chinese characters for fire and water on the door. As he falls asleep, the symbols come alive in his dream as the band performs in front of flames and Shinoda raps in front of a waterfall. Hahn told MTV of the concept: "It's another very visual concept. It's basically a dream sequence that's taking place, and the familiar objects in the room are turning into the reality, which is the dream, which is not the reality. It's a whole play on your mind."
Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, was the #1 album of 2001 - in both sales and illegal downloads. Because of the rampant music piracy that threatened the industry, largely due to file-sharing websites like Napster and Kazaa, Warner Bros. kept Meteora tightly under wraps. Instead of sending out promo CDs to journalists for review, the label held a playback event. To plug any potential leaks, a guard was placed at the door to frisk attendees for recording devices.

Comments: 33

Dinah from North Carolina To me. It’s about being alone even when you are surrounded by people. Feeling like an outcast all your life, from family friends any relationships. It’s a deep and sad song about depression and wanting to break free from it. Trying to make yourself happy through other substances but never really succeeding.
Josh from MinneapolisTill I break away from me....POWERFUL lyric that resonated with me because it acknowledges the need to change to fight depression NOT take pills IMHO
Zero from Nowhere, NjA common misconception is that the arpeggiated notes in the beginning are made by a piano; it is actually Brad Delson playing clean guitar.
Zero from Nowhere, NjJack, New York, NY

It's not DEFINATELY about drugs and it's not DEFINATELY NOT about drugs; whatever the listener gathers from the lyrics is the right meaning for them. And to answer your question; yes, the band, specifically Chester, has done a lot of drugs in the past. It's a well known fact.
Jack from New York, Nyugh... no one else seems to think it's about any sort of drug? some kind of opiate or dissociative, or at the very least inspired by some high? I refuse to believe the band's never done drugs. my guess would be heroin but pcp or ketamine could work, I'm sure they've tried them all so it doesn't really have to be any one specific drug. "all the vacancy the words revealed is the only thing that I've got left to feel" "hollow and alone and the fault is my own" "I want to feel what I thought was never real" "erase all the pain til it's gone" "I want to find something I've wanted all along" "I'll never be anything til I break away from me" "I want to feel like I'm somewhere I belong" "I'd get lost in the nothingness inside of me" "what am I?"

you're telling me there's introspective, typical stoner questions and phrases, THE ONLY THING HE FEELS IS VACANCY, it's his fault, he wants to repair himself, but he also wants the pain to go away, aaaaand nope, no drugs are involved..... you've got to be kidding. whoever wrote the lyrics is obviously a fan of the good stuff.
Seth from Under Your Bed..., MnVery good song. This song expresses how i feel sometimes. This song is the song that got me to really like Linkin Park.
LP4EVA!!
Kayla from Fort Lawn, Kyfeels like he lives with me i want to know somewhere i belong. not here on earth people dont look at me i will puch im in there faces
thats why no one looks at me i like it that way.
Azalea from Hot Springs, ArI really relate to this song, because no matter where I am I always feel out of place.
Corey from Richmond, VaI can relate to this song. Can't find a place where I belong, always a outcast and picked on.
Thomas from Surabaya, IndonesiaI Think this song's intro is very weird. Don't you realize? I Heard some tones of telephone answering machine, I think Nobody knows or cares about it, because it's located near the end of Don't Stay (The song before Somewhere I Belong). I think Mike Shinoda wanted to make a transition effect between their songs, instead of just silence. the tones I heard then continued on the reversed/edited acoustic guitar performed by Chester.
Liam from Hull, United Kingdomlove this song pehaps i dont talk to people about my probs i dont like doing that
Anahi from Aurora, CoWow I Love This song It Expresses how they Feel sooo good , i fell in love with it since the first time i heard it.
Elmer from Zamboanga, Philippinesone of my all time fav song..kept on listning 4 a month until i was tired of hearing this..but i stil lyk it
Janet from Orlando, FlThis song would mean about someone wanting to belong and not feel left out.It's a good song
Jana from Skopje, Macedoniaamazing song with amazing lyrics
Will from Sydney, Australiaout of all the linkin park songs ive listenend to this one helps the most, it is most likely the one to help me feel again.
The last 2 paragrap[hs i think are they key if u wanna make it work for u
Max from Sydney, AustraliaI Actually saw a "Making the vidio" on MTV and saw the making of the vidio for this song...and i thought the vidio was....AMAZING :P
Stacey from St.petersburg, FlI lov this song I can relate to it I hate St.Pete with passion I don't belong here. These people whoa Who will save their souls. But I think its about moving on leaving the pain behind and wanting to get better.
Veronica from I Forget. . ., DeI can relate to this song in so many ways that it's scary. This song means so much to me; it's my faovrite LP song ever. I absolutely love the video and I feel like I am watching my own "dream/nightmare" thing. This song is how I think of life a lot of the times.
Kayla from Rancho Cucamonga, Cathis video and song are awesome. the lyrics are so deep and thought out and i relate to this song heavily, especially in this past year.
Stacey from Houston, TxI think the song Numb is about this as well, but in this magazine, Chester talks about how he was physically and mentally abused as a kid. In the song, it says he wants to heal and he wants to let go of the pain he's held so long.
Ryan from Fredericton, CanadaGrowing up everyone feels out of place and desires to fit in. This song encapsulates that better than almost any song ever. It lets the listener know that it's alright, your not alone. Just listen to the lyric in the first verse, its all about realizing that there is a place for everyone, we just have to find it for ourselves. Nobody will find it for you,
"I will never be anything until I break away from me". Its so true.
Rebecca from Fire Realm (fairy World)
I want to heal
I want to feel
What I thought was never real
I want to let go of the pain I've held so long
[Erase all the pain 'til it's gone]
It's gone]
I want to heal
I want to feel
Like I'm close to something real
I want to find something I've wanted all along
Somewhere I Belong"

this is so my part of the song .
Rebecca from Peoria, Azi heard they said they will never do a song about there life though but i know for a fact thts wat i heard about the band lp.
Rob from Castaic, Cathe video clearly shows Chester as uneasy at the beginning. His room is sorta dull and pointless. He falls asleep and he dreams of the place with the gundams and the fire... its the place where he belongs. It shows Chester's peronality.
Chad from Mansfield, TxWell, if you listen to the words and deeply come into sync with what the singer wrote them for, you will understand. I think this song is about someone who is looking for both acceptance in the world, and acceptance within himself. As he tried to heal himself from the pain, he causes more and more pain, but continues to try to try and find himself.
The Jorge from Hell, OtherIt's about fitting in, well not fitting in. And Dbzfan I know where your opinion is coming from, there was a Gundam in the video.
Sara from Grand Falls - Windsor, CanadaI think this song is talking about when someone is hurt deeply by something that happend, and there upset for a while, and need to be alone and think about themselves, to heal, and find out what exactly is going on in there lives and what they should do about it and how they should life with it.
Ian from Pretoria, South AfricaTo me the song has a completely different meaning. I think Chester, when he was young felt aloneand just wanted to be around people who cared and loved him
Rabi from Zionsville, InLP does not write about Gundam. It is about how Chester was alone as a kid, and about finding a place he belonged.
A Dbz Fan from Jackson, MiI think the song is about
a Gundam fight and the
person fighting thinks this
is my place, my terf,and
where I belong
Elise from Guelph, CanadaIt took LP a year to write this song, it was the last song to be recorded about a week or so before the album hit the shelves.
Holly from Pensacola, FlThis song is about Linkin Park finally reflecting back on their previous songs/albums...it sort of represents them growing up in a way, from their pain and musically as well.

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