Screenager (song)

Muse song
Name	Screenager
Album/single	Origin of Symmetry Remastered (8) » Origin of Symmetry (8), Bliss CD1 (3), French CD1 (2), Hullabaloo Soundtrack (17) Hullabaloo DVD (9)
Length	4:19
Alternative titles	Razor Blades » Razor Blades and Glossy Magazines Glossy Magazines Razor Optics Host No Thrills
First live performance	6th January 2000
Latest live performance	28th August 2011
Recorded	Real World Studio Wiltshire, 2001
Writer/composer	Matthew Bellamy
Producer	John Leckie

Song Nav
Micro Cuts	<	Screenager	>	Darkshines

Album Nav
Showbiz (1999)	<	Origin of Symmetry (2001)	>	Hullabaloo (2002)

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Description

Played a lot in 2000 and in 2001 (sometimes on the piano), a rare quiet moment from Origin of Symmetry.

Features Spanish-esque guitar and soft vocals by Matt.

Matthew Bellamy definition of Screenager

"Screenager is a modern teenager being brought up by the screen who develops a distorted image of their body because of pictures in magazines and because technology is rejecting the physical bodies we live in. It's also a bit about people who cut themselves because I used to have friends who did it and I didn't know why. I tried to grasp that it's needing something quite brutal to remind you what your body's about"

Composition

Screenager is a fairly soft song, which moves at a slow tempo of 81 bpm. The song is written mostly in G minor, and shifts to G major for the chorus. The same minor-to-major shift can be seen in Bliss.

Bellamy's vocal range spans from G3 to D5.

Additional information

It is about technology and how it separates people even further rather than bringing them closer together. Also, it is the track with the infamous bubble wrap, shopping bag and skeleton bone percussion sounds, inspired by Tom Waits. Also about self-harm.

It was played regularly for the last time in Avenches on 15th August 2002 before the 10th anniversary plays of Origin of Symmetry at Leeds and Reading in 2011.

Live

Screenager made its live debut on the first non-promotional gig in 2000. Screenager continued to be performed and improved upon gradually until the beginning of June 2000 when Screenager was put on hold until October 2000. During this time the band worked on the song and had finished the instrumentation of Screenager, cutting out a verse to shorten the song. Upon Screenager's return in October 2000, the song was mostly complete with the exception of a few lyrics which would be altered for the final version.

More here

Trivia

Bellamy's voice cuts out for a split second at 3:33.

During the 2001 tour, as seen on the Hullabaloo DVD, the song was preceded by Rachmaninov's prelude in C♯ minor, which was transposed down to C minor to match Screenager.

Lyrics

Who's so phony and always surrounded?

Stop your screaming - no one can hear All the scars on your skin: 'Post no bills'

Who you were Was so beautiful Remember who Who you were

Hide from the mirror - the cracks and the memories Hide from your family - they won't know you now For all the holes in our souls host no thrills

Who you were Was so beautiful Memories who - Who you were

Extra verse

In early live performances, Bellamy sang an extra verse, and sang the first two verses together before the chorus:

Who's so phony and always surrounded?

Stop your screaming - no one can hear All the scars on your skin: 'post no bills'

Hide from the mirror - the cracks and the memories Hide from your family - they won't know you now For all the holes in our souls host no thrills

Who you were Was so beautiful Remember who Who you were

I always hoped that things could be beautiful And I thought underneath you'd be called other names All the holes in our souls host no thrills

Who you were Was so beautiful Remember who Who you were

Quotes

• "it`s called `razor blades and glossy magazines`. a working title maybe"
  Matt talking about the song's title after its live debut, 01/14/2000.

References

Go back to Origin of Symmetry