Burn the Witch
Encyclopedia
"Burn the Witch" is the third single
(fourth in Canada
after Long, Slow Goodbye) released from Queens of the Stone Age
's fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze
. Many of its lyrics run parallel with the dark, folkloristic
theme for this album. It has been introduced by Josh Homme when played live as his favorite current song.
Along with "You've Got a Killer Scene There, Man...", it borrows heavily from the blues, probably because ZZ Top
's legendary guitarist and singer Billy Gibbons
appears on lead guitar and backup vocals. Gibbons also plays on a cover of his own band's "Precious and Grace", a bonus track on the album.
The song involves an exchange of vocal lines between the falsetto
of Homme and the twin baritones of Gibbons and Mark Lanegan
. Gibbons does not regularly tour with the band, so the other vocal was performed by Lanegan, until he stopped touring with the band. Currently, Josh Homme sings alone with backing vocals from the rest of the band, who lack either of the studio musicians' deep growls. In the previous line-up, Homme played bass and Alain Johannes
played a quite different version of Gibbons' solo. This song (its remix by UNKLE) was also featured in and on the soundtrack of Saw II
. This song is also featured in the trailer to the fourth season
of the HBO series True Blood
.
, Troy Van Leeuwen
, Joey Castillo
, Chris Goss
, PJ Harvey
, Jesse Hughes
, Alain Johannes
, Natasha Shneider
, Billy Gibbons
and Serrina Sims
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
(fourth in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
after Long, Slow Goodbye) released from Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
's fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze
Lullabies to Paralyze
Lullabies to Paralyze is the fourth studio album by hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age, released on March 21, 2005. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, and sold 97,000 copies in America during its first week of release, eventually topping over 342,000 copies as of March, 2007...
. Many of its lyrics run parallel with the dark, folkloristic
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
theme for this album. It has been introduced by Josh Homme when played live as his favorite current song.
Along with "You've Got a Killer Scene There, Man...", it borrows heavily from the blues, probably because ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
's legendary guitarist and singer Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
appears on lead guitar and backup vocals. Gibbons also plays on a cover of his own band's "Precious and Grace", a bonus track on the album.
The song involves an exchange of vocal lines between the falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
of Homme and the twin baritones of Gibbons and Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan
Mark Lanegan is an American rock musician and songwriter. Lanegan began his music career in the 1980s, forming the grunge group Screaming Trees with Gary Lee Conner, Van Conner and Mark Pickerel. During his time in the band Lanegan would start a low-key solo career...
. Gibbons does not regularly tour with the band, so the other vocal was performed by Lanegan, until he stopped touring with the band. Currently, Josh Homme sings alone with backing vocals from the rest of the band, who lack either of the studio musicians' deep growls. In the previous line-up, Homme played bass and Alain Johannes
Alain Johannes
Alain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
played a quite different version of Gibbons' solo. This song (its remix by UNKLE) was also featured in and on the soundtrack of Saw II
Saw II
Saw II is a 2005 Canadian-American horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and co-written by Bousman and the first film's co-writer Leigh Whannell. It is a sequel to 2004's Saw and the second installment in the seven-part Saw film series...
. This song is also featured in the trailer to the fourth season
True Blood (season 4)
- Episodes :- Production :Filming for season four commenced in Los Angeles, California, on December 1, 2010.As a special promotional broadcast, the season's second episode "You Smell Like Dinner" was made available on HBO Go a week earlier than usual...
of the HBO series True Blood
True Blood
True Blood is an American television series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris, detailing the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional, small town in the state of Louisiana...
.
Track listing
- "Burn the Witch" (CastilloJoey CastilloJoseph Willam "Joey" Castillo is an American drummer currently playing with Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal...
, HommeJoshua HommeJoshua Michael Homme is an American rock musician, and record producer. He was the guitarist and a founding member of the stoner metal band Kyuss, as well as the founding and only continuous member of the hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age , in which he sings, plays guitar, and serves as the...
, Van LeeuwenTroy Van LeeuwenTroy Dean Van Leeuwen is an American musician and producer. Van Leeuwen began playing music at young age and started playing guitar at age 13. Soon Van Leeuwen was playing in various local bands such as Jester, 60 Cycle and later Failure...
) - 3:38 - "No One Knows" [live] (Homme, LaneganMark LaneganMark Lanegan is an American rock musician and songwriter. Lanegan began his music career in the 1980s, forming the grunge group Screaming Trees with Gary Lee Conner, Van Conner and Mark Pickerel. During his time in the band Lanegan would start a low-key solo career...
) - 7:49 - "I Wanna Make It wit ChuMake It wit Chu"Make It wit Chu" is the third single by Queens of the Stone Age from their 2007 album Era Vulgaris. Originally a track on The Desert Sessions Volumes 9 & 10 titled "I Wanna Make It wit Chu", the song also appeared on the band's live DVD Over the Years and Through the Woods before being rerecorded...
" [live] (Homme, JohannesAlain JohannesAlain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
, Melchiondo) - 4:29 - "Monsters in the Parasol" [live] (Homme, Lalli) - 4:34
- "Burn the Witch" [multimedia track] (Castillo, Homme, Van Leeuwen) - 5:38
- All the live tracks are taken from Over the Years and Through the WoodsOver the Years and Through the WoodsOver the Years and Through the Woods is the title of a live album and video by Queens of the Stone Age.The release features material on audio CD as well as video DVD — both recorded at London's Brixton Academy on Monday August 22, 2005 and KOKO on Tuesday August 23, 2005...
DVD/CD.
Personnel
- Joe BarresiJoe BarresiJoe Barresi is an American record engineer and producer who has worked with bands such as Kyuss, The Melvins, Tool, Queens of the Stone Age, Coheed and Cambria, Tomahawk, L7, The Jesus Lizard, Parkway Drive and Bad Religion.-Biography:...
- Producer, Engineer, Mixing - Josh Homme - Producer, Vocals, Bass Guitar, Guitar licks
- Troy Van LeeuwenTroy Van LeeuwenTroy Dean Van Leeuwen is an American musician and producer. Van Leeuwen began playing music at young age and started playing guitar at age 13. Soon Van Leeuwen was playing in various local bands such as Jester, 60 Cycle and later Failure...
- Lap steel guitarLap steel guitarThe lap steel guitar is a type of steel guitar, an instrument derived from and similar to the guitar. The player changes pitch by pressing a metal or glass bar against the strings instead of by pressing strings against the fingerboard.... - Joey CastilloJoey CastilloJoseph Willam "Joey" Castillo is an American drummer currently playing with Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal...
- Drums - Alain JohannesAlain JohannesAlain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
- Guitar, Engineer - Mark LaneganMark LaneganMark Lanegan is an American rock musician and songwriter. Lanegan began his music career in the 1980s, forming the grunge group Screaming Trees with Gary Lee Conner, Van Conner and Mark Pickerel. During his time in the band Lanegan would start a low-key solo career...
- Vocals - Billy GibbonsBilly GibbonsWilliam Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
- Lead Guitar, Vocals - Liam LynchLiam Lynch (musician)Liam Lynch is a musician, puppeteer, writer and director. He co-created, co-wrote, played the music for, directed, and produced MTV's Sifl and Olly Show....
- Video Producer, Video Director
Music video
the Music video features Josh Homme, Brody DalleBrody Dalle
Brody Dalle is an Australian-born American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She rose to fame as lead singer/guitarist for the punk rock band The Distillers and currently fronts Spinnerette....
, Troy Van Leeuwen
Troy Van Leeuwen
Troy Dean Van Leeuwen is an American musician and producer. Van Leeuwen began playing music at young age and started playing guitar at age 13. Soon Van Leeuwen was playing in various local bands such as Jester, 60 Cycle and later Failure...
, Joey Castillo
Joey Castillo
Joseph Willam "Joey" Castillo is an American drummer currently playing with Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal...
, Chris Goss
Chris Goss
Christopher Ryan Goss, born August 17, 1958, is an American record producer and musician.-Selected discography:Throughout his career Goss has worked with a wide range of musicians in various genres.* 1988 - Masters of Reality by Masters of Reality...
, PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
, Jesse Hughes
Jesse Hughes
Jesse Hughes may refer to:*Jesse Hughes , pioneer and scout in western Virginia*Jesse Hughes , American musician, nicknamed "The Devil", frontman of the Eagles of Death Metal...
, Alain Johannes
Alain Johannes
Alain Johannes Moschulski is a guitarist and, along with his late partner Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons, a founding member of the band Eleven...
, Natasha Shneider
Natasha Shneider
Natasha Shneider was a Russian musician. She was most notably the keyboardist and vocalist in the musical group Eleven, and was the partner of bandmate Alain Johannes...
, Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons
William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959...
and Serrina Sims