"Swing Life Away" is a song by hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 band Rise Against

Rise Against

Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...

, from their 2004 album Siren Song of the Counter Culture

Siren Song of the Counter Culture

-Personnel:Rise Against*Tim McIlrath – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar*Joe Principe – Bass, backing vocals*Chris Chasse – Lead guitar, backing vocals*Brandon Barnes – Drums, percussionArtwork*Shepard Fairey – Cover illustration...

. Originally written by Tim McIlrath

Tim McIlrath

Timothy "Tim" James McIlrath is an American punk rock musician. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist, songwriter and co-founder for the American punk rock band Rise Against. McIlrath is known to support animal rights and actively promotes PETA with his band...

 and Neil Hennessy

Neil Hennessy

Neil Kevin Hennessy is a musician and music producer/engineer from Chicago, Illinois.Hennessy currently plays in The Lawrence Arms, Colossal, The Falcon, The Smoking Popes and Demon Beach. He has also been a member of Noise By Numbers, Baxter, The Killing Tree, and Quattro.Hennessy works at Atlas...

, the song is distinguished from the majority of Rise Against's catalog because it is performed and recorded acoustically. The lyrics are optimistic and speak of contentment with a less-than-perfect life, although they maintain the band's characteristic themes of self-analysis and hope. At a show at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia, McIlrath stated the song was written about a good friend of the band who helped them whilst they were lesser known.

Composition

The song is an example of Rise Against's tendency to omit the third notes of their acoustic chords, using the resulting fifth chords with four or more strings to generate a raw-sounding guitar piece (as opposed to most other punk and alternative bands, which typically use full chords in their acoustic pieces).

Song overview

Swing Life Away was released as a single in 2005, and peaked at #12 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts. The first version was featured in 2003 on Punk Goes Acoustic

Punk Goes Acoustic

Punk Goes Acoustic is a compilation album released by Fearless Records as part of the Punk Goes... series. It contains a collection of both previously released and unreleased songs by various artists performing acoustically. It was packaged with a bonus CD showcasing acts on the Fearless and...

 with a duration of 2:26. In 2004, the song was released with an added guitar bridge on Siren Song of the Counter Culture

Siren Song of the Counter Culture

-Personnel:Rise Against*Tim McIlrath – Lead vocals, rhythm guitar*Joe Principe – Bass, backing vocals*Chris Chasse – Lead guitar, backing vocals*Brandon Barnes – Drums, percussionArtwork*Shepard Fairey – Cover illustration...

, clocking in at 3:20.

The song is available as downloadable, additional content for the Lips

Lips (video game)

Lips is a video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. The game was released on November 18, 2008 in North...

 series.

Chart performance

"Swing Life Away" peaked at number 12 on the US Modern Rock chart, and was their highest charting single at the time until being beaten in the charts by Prayer of the Refugee

Prayer of the Refugee

"Prayer of the Refugee" is the second single from Rise Against's album The Sufferer and The Witness, and was released worldwide in 2006. The song was originally titled "Diaspora", with advance copies of the album using that title instead of "Prayer of the Refugee".The song is featured as a...

in 2006

2006 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2006.-January:*January 10 – Eric Burdon releases his album Soul of a Man and begins touring with a new band....

.

Chart (2005)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs	12
U.S. Billboard Pop 100 Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...	95
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	117