The Sky Is Broken
by Moby

Album: Play (1999)
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Songfacts®:

  • Moby said to Rolling Stone: "There's only three elements in the whole song: really bad drum samples, and old Oberheim Matrix 1000 synthesizer and vocals. It was intentionally very minimal, very austere, very simple."
  • This song figured prominently in the "All Things" episode of The X-Files (Season 7 episode 17). In the episode, written and directed by the series' star Gillian Anderson, Dana Scully questions the decisions she made in her life in pursuit of a career with the FBI. Anderson hand-picked the Moby track because she thought the lyrics fit the episode's theme.
  • To reach as many ears as possible, Moby licensed the album's tracks for use in commercials, movies, and TV shows. Aside from "The Sky Is Broken" (and "My Weakness") showing up on The X-Files, "Porcelain" landed in the Leonardo DiCaprio thriller The Beach and "Bodyrock" soundtracked a Rolling Rock beer ad, among other placements.
  • The drum samples come from Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Long As I Can See The Light," the B-side to the 1970 single "Lookin' Out My Back Door."

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