Butterflies & Hurricanes (song)

Muse song
Name	Butterflies & Hurricanes
Album/single	Absolution (10), Butterflies & Hurricanes CD (1), vinyl (1, 2), DVD (1, 2) » Absolution Tour (8) H.A.A.R.P. CD, DVD (6)
Length	5:01, 4:10 (Radio Edit)
Alternative titles	-
First live performance	7th July 2002 (interlude only), 3rd September 2003 (full)
Latest live performance	-
Recorded	Air Studios, London, 2002/2003
Writer/composer	Matthew Bellamy
Producer	John Cornfield, Paul Reeve
Chart position	14

<flashmp3>http://www.musewiki.org/images/ButterfliesAndHurricanes.mp3%7Crightbg=0xDDEEFF%7Cleftbg=0xDDEEFF%7Cbg=0xFFFFFF</flashmp3>

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Description

Includes a romantic piano section. This romantic piano section takes influences from, among other composers, Sergei Rachmaninov. Sweeping arpeggios and dramatic chords are a staple of Rachmaninov's music.

Additional information:

Matthew Bellamy declared about that song: "It's about hope, about trying to find the strength to get through any given situation. I was trying to find a classical type of piano style that would be heavy and work with bass and drums. It had that sort of mechanical paradiddle thing all the way through, and then it breaks down into this kind of romantic, flowing weird bit in the middle".

Parts of the song existed at least as early as 2000. Bellamy had suggested a song featuring the band and an orchestra over a "constant paradiddle" to Dom, but Butterflies & Hurricanes really took shape when Matt spent a few hours fiddling around on Steinway in a hotel they were staying in: "I was just alone in this piano room for hours and hours and hours... I found myself playing this paradiddle, that goes [imitates paradiddle] like that over and over again. And I started playing that on just two notes, constantly playing it, over and over again until I got to a point where extra notes were sort of finding their way in there, d'you know what I mean? And it ended up building up to the point where I was playing five-note chords with each hand and playing these massive chords on the piano and it was sounding really fucking heavy, d'you know what I mean? And a chord structure started to come out of that, and I was thinking, "This could be something"".

The single version features guitar rather than piano aside from the piano interlude, and excludes a voice saying "oh" at 1:21. The radio edit takes the single version and omits the piano interlude entirely. Both include slightly heightened vocal harmonies compared to the album recording.

The song was used as the main theme for the BBC Sports Personality of The Year 2007, with the BBC Orchestra playing parts of the song as well and for a commercial on Austria's TV channel ORF 1. It has also been used as interludes between different articles and as closing credits on Ski Sunday.

Live

It is played live like the single version (with guitar).

Alternative versions

Butterflies & Hurricanes was covered by William Joseph on his 2004 album "Within". The cover is an instrumental, and at 3:43 long doesn't include the piano mid section.

Trivia

At 4:01 on the Absolution version of Butterflies And Hurricanes, If you listen closely, Matt can be heard getting off the piano stool he sat on to record the solo.

Lyrics

Change everything you are 
And everything you were
Your number has been called

Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead

Best, you've got to be the best 
You've got to change the world 
And use this chance to be heard 
Your time is now 

Change everything you are 
And everything you were
Your number has been called

Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead

Best, you've got to be the best
You've got to change the world 
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now

Don’t let your self down
And don’t let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived

Best, you've got to be the best
You've got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now

See also

• Butterflies & Hurricanes video

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