Length 2:30 | Label Columbia | |
Released September 8, 1992
March 1993 (UK) Format CD single, cassette, vinyl Recorded March–May 1992 at Eldorado Recording Studios, Burbank, California; London Bridge Studio, Seattle, Washington; One on One Studios, Los Angeles, California Genre Grunge, alternative metal | ||
"Them Bones" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains. The song was released as the second single from their second album, Dirt (1992). The song was also included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), The Essential Alice in Chains (2006). A live performance of the song is included on their release entitled Live.
Contents
Structure
The song was written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell. The song is highly chromatic and is played in a time signature of 7/8—except for the chorus, which is in 4/4. When discussing the use of odd time signatures in a 1998 interview with Guitar World, Cantrell said:
"I really don't know where that comes from; it just comes naturally to me. I could sit down and figure it out, but what's the use? Off-time stuff is just more exciting — it takes people by surprise when you shift gears like that before they even know what the hell hit 'em. It's also effective when you slow something down and then slam 'em into the dash. A lot of Alice stuff is written that way — 'Them Bones' is a great off-time song."
Lyrics
In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Cantrell said of the song:
"I was just thinking about mortality, that one of these days we'll end up a pile of bones. It's a thought for every human being, whether you believe in an after-life or that when we die, that's it. The thought that all the beautiful things and knowledge and experiences you've been through just end when you end scares me, the thought that when you close your eyes for good, it's gone forever."
Reception
"Them Bones" was released as a single in 1992 and peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number 30 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. The UK single was released in March 1993. "Them Bones" reached the top 30 in the UK and Ireland.
"Them Bones" is one of the band's most well known songs. Ned Raggett of Allmusic called the song "a brief, tightly wound explosion of sheer, inescapable riff power, focused and relentless" and added that "having made its point in two and a half minutes it stops — not a note is wasted."
Music video
The music video for "Them Bones" was released in 1992 and was directed by Rocky Schenck, who had previously directed the "We Die Young" music video for the band, and who would later direct the music videos for "What the Hell Have I" and "Grind." The video is available on the home video release Music Bank: The Videos. The video was also featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head (the episode Sick) in 1993) where Butt-head claims that "this is the coolest video I've ever seen."
The video shows the band playing in a cavern, apparently underground. In front of the band is a puddle, in which can be seen Staley singing or various animals eating or fighting with each other and a child being born, which corresponds with the lyrics "Some say / We're born into the grave."
Cover versions
In 2006, Swedish death metal band Grave covered the song which appears on their seventh album, As Rapture Comes. In 2009, American deathcore band Suicide Silence covered the song which appears as a bonus track on the iTunes special edition of their second album, No Time to Bleed. An EP released in 2010 by the German black metal band Secrets of the Moon also features a cover version. Alex De Rosso did a cover on his 2013 album, Lions & Lambs.