"Saint Veronika" is the third official single by Billy Talent

Billy Talent

Billy Talent is a Canadian post-hardcore band from Streetsville, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with Ben Kowalewicz as the lead vocalist, Ian D'Sa on lead guitar, bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk ....

 from their fourth album, Billy Talent III

Billy Talent III

-Special Guitar Villain edition second CD:In addition to having the entire album featured without guitars plus a Guitar Tab of the whole album, the Guitar Villain second disc also features four demo tracks:...

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Music video

The music video premiered on February 1, 2010 on MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

. The video starts with a family of dolls sitting down at dinner when the father gets angry at his daughter (likely Veronika) to which she flees the room, over to a shelf and grabs a couple tools. The story is intercut with scenes of Billy Talent playing this song in a shed while other dolls' wheels are spinning thread. The girl leaves the house, jumps over a fence and unwittingly gets one of her threads stuck on a nail. Suddenly the other dolls try to chase her, possibly trying to convince her to come back. When they get to the fence they notice that her thread is stuck on the fence, and give up. The girl keeps running, not noticing the thread caught on the fence is slowly unraveling her and leading to her demise, and at the end of the video she collapses with barely any of her body left.

CD single

1. "Saint Veronika" - 4:09
2. "Line & Sinker" (live at the Horseshoe Tavern
   Horseshoe Tavern
   The Horseshoe Tavern is a concert venue located at 370 Queen Street West in downtown Toronto, and has been in operation since 1947. Owned by "JC", Ken Sprackman, Craig Laskey and Naomi Montpetit, the venue is a significant part of Canadian musical lore...
   
   ) - 4:06
3. "Saint Veronika" (music video)- 4:18

Cultural reference

The song was based on the novel Veronika Decides to Die

Veronika Decides to Die

Veronika Decides to Die is a novel by Paulo Coelho. It tells the story of 24-year-old Veronika, who appears to have everything in life going for her, but who decides to kill herself. This book is partly based on Coelho's experience in various mental institutions . It is based around the subject of...

by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...

. According to Insa Merkel, another of Coelho's books, The Alchemist

The Alchemist (novel)

The Alchemist is an allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. The Alchemist was originally written in Portuguese. It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries, becoming one of the best-selling books in history....

is the band's "bible".

Live Performances

Billy Talent performed the song at the 2010 Juno Awards in St. John's

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...

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Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
Canadian Hot 100 Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...	62