United States of Eurasia (song)

Muse song
Name	United States of Eurasia
Album/single	The Resistance (4)
Length	5:47, 3:44 (radio edit)
Alternative titles	-
First live performance	-
Latest live performance	Unknown
Recorded	Milan, Italy, 2009
Writer/composer	Matthew Bellamy, Dominic Howard, Christopher Wolstenholme
Producer	Muse

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Description

A song featuring stringed instrumentation reminiscent of the Lawrence of Arabia soundtrack by Maurice Jarre and falsetto vocals reminiscent of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, as well as embodying influence from Frédéric Chopin. "United States of Eurasia" ends with the sound similar to that of a missile launching.

Additional information

The song title was found by Muse fans from a picture on Twitter of Matt holding a score. The name comes from the book "The Grand Chessboard" by Zbigniew Brzeziński, who puts forward the view that Eurasia must be controlled by the USA to secure oil supplies.

In addition, it draws influence from "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell, in which Eurasia arbitrarily changes between ally and enemy of Big Brother country Oceania. This is where the idiom "We have always been at war with Eurasia/Eastasia" came from, typically employed in response to the most obvious political uses of the exposure effect to convince a populace that a ruling figure or party said or did the opposite of that which was in fact actually said or done.

It is presumed by many in the Muse fanbase that the Collateral Damage part of the track may be a short response to United States of Eurasia, written from the point of view of the USA. The logic behind this being that the USA would oppose the unification of Eurasia because the new continent would surpass them as the world superpower, and as a result they would inevitably seek to destroy it or disrupt unification via a false flag attack, which is presumably what the missile at the end of the track is meant to signify. Also the title, Collateral Damage, is possibly referring to how the US military would justify such an attack, as they would see it as a necessary evil to defend their authority. This all ties in to the online viral campaign as the microsite now asks "DOES UNITED STATES OF AMERICA RECOGNISE NEW UNITED STATES OF EURASIA?", presumably confirmation would be taken as a surrender, however rejection would initiate "LOCKDOWN CRISIS LIMITATION MODE" and "THE RESISTANCE WILL BE MOBILISED".

"United States of Eurasia" was the first song released from The Resistance, ultimately being found piece by piece as the result of the Ununited States of Eurasia microsite that was launched alongside the new Official Muse website, from which "Project Eurasia" took place. Promotional copies were sent at such a time as to arrive at radio stations on the 20th of July. The song made its radio debut on BBC Radio 1, that day at 7pm on Zane Lowe's show.

Lyrics

You and me are the same
We don't know or care who's to blame
But we know that whoever holds the reins
Nothing will change
Our cause has gone insane

And these wars, they can't be won
And these wars, they can't be won
And do you want them to go on 
And on and on
Why split these states
When there can be only one?

And must we do as we're told?
Must we do as we're told?

You and me fall in line
To be punished for unproven crimes!
And we know that there is no one we can trust; 
Our ancient heroes, they are turning to dust!

And these wars, they can't be won
Does anyone know or care how they begun?
They just promise to go on 
And on and on
But soon we will see
There can be only one

United States!
United States!
Of...

Eurasia!
...sia!
...sia!
...sia!

Eurasia!
...sia!
...sia!
...sia!

Eurasia!
...sia!
...sia!
...sia!

References

Go back to The Resistance