I’LL BE GONE “Let the sun fade out and another rise, climbing through tomorrow I’ll be gone” Alternative rock anthem, I’ll Be Gone is the fifth featured track on LIVING THINGS. The song was neither promoted as a single nor released before the album. It was demoed as “Primo” before finally finding its final title. Although the track wasn’t featured as a promotional single, I’ll Be Gone was hyped to be an amazing song due to the collaboration with Owen Pallett – string producer for Grammy winning band, Arcade Fire. Band members explained time and time again how Pallett’s contributions were incredible and that the song benefitted greatly from the collaboration. I’ll Be Gone is a love letter to Linkin Park’s organic third album, Minutes To Midnight with a crisp, alternative instrumental that fires from the beginning of the track. After a brief and calming sample intro, a massive burst of electric guitar forms a wall of noise over a pounding drumbeat. This opening riff would almost sound right at home with a sequel/tribute to What I’ve Done. I’ll Be Gone briefly winds down for a subtle verse nuanced by background synths and strings. The moment features Bennington singing soothing and flavourful lyrics until one can feel the song rising again. The chorus strikes with the same force as the intro, but has the added benefit of a soaring Bennington as he seemingly bellows from the rooftops about leaving everything behind. The bridge carries Bennington even further as he sings over a blazing wall of octaves until the song returns back to full swing with one last chorus. I’ll Be Gone concludes with a crescendo similar to the outro of Waiting For The End with the lead vocalist raising his voice higher than thought possible before the intro samples fade the song out. I’ll Be Gone has been frequently criticized by critics and fans alike for its mixing. Much like In My Remains’ beautiful synths, Owen Pallett’s string contributions have all been washed away in the drowning wall of guitars. They are present in the verses, but completely inaudible in the chorus and bridge. The idea that a song can be too loud or too powerful for its own good can be seen here, as I’ll Be Gone feels like wasted potential due to the lack of the beautiful strings the song was intended to feature pre-release. Lyrically, I’ll Be Gone is about leaving something behind – whether it be a relationship, a current lifestyle, or even the world we live in, as referenced by Mike Shinoda in a Rolling Stone interview: Although I’ll Be Gone is a standard 3-minute alternative rock track that follows a cookie-cutter structure, the original demo “Primo” is anything but familiar. Released as a promotional song for LPU XIII, Primo is a 6-minute long, progressive song that features different lyrics, an atmospheric, acoustic intro and a raw vocal take. What truly separates Primo from I’ll Be Gone though is the extended subtle electronic bridge that features a tense, brooding drum line from Bourdon over Bennington’s vulnerable bridge vocals. What follows this is a staggering outro with extra vocal melodies not featured on the final track. Many fans argue Primo to be superior to I’ll Be Gone. There’s no question the demo dives into far more experimental and substantial territory. Two remixes of I’ll Be Gone are also featured on Linkin Park’s 2013 remix album, Recharged. The first mix is the I’ll Be Gone (Vice Remix) and it takes the alternative anthem into the electronic world of EDM. Following the first chorus is a bass drop that leads into a rap first from Pusha T. The surprise comes from another rap verse that follows it from Shinoda himself, who spits out some truly riveting rhymes from the new material. The I’ll Be Gone (Schoolboy Remix) extends the album song to 6-minutes and features a different, less exciting take on the song. Currently, I’ll Be Gone has not been played live. Despite the fact that Living Things was designed as a “live album” as told by band members, and the song has been brought up several times as something the band wished to play during the album cycle, the song ultimately has never seen the light of day. The song shouldn’t be hard to translate to a live performance, which makes the fact that it hasn’t been played all the more mysterious. Here’s to hoping we’ll hear it once soon enough.
Originally, "I'll Be Gone" was my favourite song on the album. I really like the lyrics, the vocals and the synths, but it's the overall mixing that disappoints me. The guitars crowd out the vocals in the chorus and the strings are just hidden throughout the entire track. Aside from these things, I think that "I'll Be Gone" is a pretty good song. I also personally don't like the vocal melodies in the bridge, but that's more of a minor gripe, I think. EDIT: I don't really care for "Primo". The instrumentation is good, I don't like the vox or the early chorus lyrics. Both remixes on "Recharged" feature great production but, as remixes, I don't feel that they work. "I'll Be Gone" doesn't work as a trap/hip-hop track, nor as a fidget track. Pusha T's verse on the Vice rmx is the definition of "phoning it in"; so mediocre that Shinoda manages to outshine him.
I'll Be Gone is lost among the less-than-stellar Living Things tracks that are killed by mixing. There's no saving grace to this song that can drag it out of that trench either. Verse guitar is lost, as well as the strings. The collaboration with Owen Pallet is overshadowed completely, and if it weren't so hyped, most people would think the strings were done by David Campbell or synthesized. It could be so much better if not for the bad balance. As for the remixes, I neither dislike them or really like them. I wish one of them had been dropped in favor of an In My Remains remix. I like Pusha T better on the Skin to Bone remix.
Primo is so beautiful. I can't still believe they turned that into I'll Be Gone. Poor I'll Be gone, Roads Untraveled and Powerless, I don't think they'll ever be played live. But honestly, except for Roads Untraveled, I don't want to hear Powerless or I'll be Gone live. I feel like I'll be gone is a song they really overdid, the tempo of the song doesn't suit it, there's so many elements in it that together it just sounds noisy. They're cool separately though.
I'll be gone is one that's always skipped for me. I love the opening synth sounds, and I can jam out to the wall of guitars. But ultimately, it's just too much of a wall of noise sometimes. The lyrics don't hit home to me, the strings are too far down, etc. I like the way the second verse starts, and I really like the bridge. However, after hearing primo, I pretty much never listen to the song. Primo is incredible and feels like it had so much potential, I would love to hear it with some more finished drums and instrumental in general. Both remixes on Recharged are quite good. The first one would easily be my favorite, but I feel like the rap verses are so out of place. The chorus really sounds nice behind an edm instrumental though. If they ever bring it live, it would be cool if they did a medley with the Recharged versions.
I'LL BE GONE is a decent track, actually. The only gripe in this song is the mixing. I have no problem with it's original version; Primo since I'LL BE GONE served as it's purpose for LIVING THINGS. if I'LL BE GONE was mixed like in the caliber of the tracks in MTM with balance of Bass then it would stand out as a decent track. The mixing drowned the strings contributed by Owen. I hope that LP will enhance both IN MY REMAINS and I'LL BE GONE soon if LIVING THINGS will have an iTunes deluxe edition. I'll buy it..
I ll be gone is one of this songs i mostly listen too, when i listen to the full album. Not that this is a bad song, but its kinda boring. Primo is so mouch more interesting with a more special structure. The final version is ok, but i definitely prefer Primo.
I like mine better, thank you. There's a long history behind it. Like lenny ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Back to I'll Be Gone...
Everything is drowned out in "I'll Be Gone". One of the few Linkin Park songs I skip pretty much every time. It's not bad, but it's one of those rare instances where the demo was simply better in every way, and that's usually never the case.
Ikr. I was so disappointed. "I'll Be Gone", compared to just about any other Linkin Park song, sucks donkey balls. It's so boring. And the reason I hate it even more is because... ..."Primo" is absolutely perfect. So moody and yet so energetic. Could crawl into my top 10.
Alright since people are kind of shitting on the song(for a good reason) I will try to say some positive things about it. The lyrics are pretty damn impressive for LP standards. It actually has some beautiful imagery: "Like shining oil, this night is dripping down Stars are slipping down, glistening" "This air between us is getting thinner now Into winter now(...)" Oh and Chester sounds so powerful on the chorus. So powerful that there is no reason why they had to put a wall of guitars behind him. Thankfully someone made a perfect remix of the song: [video=youtube;xKdIr1B3IAE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKdIr1B3IAE[/video]
Actually, i like the remix better than the original to be honest . The remix with Vice & Pusha T on "I'll Be Gone" is actually really good and also better than the original. Burn It Down, Lies Greed Misery and I'll Be Gone are the weakest songs on the record imo. The rest is better fortunately, but overall, it is still a unneeded record to me.
Obviously this song will fare poorly due to the quality of Primo, but the lyrics in IBG are still brilliant