"The Fallen" is a song by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Franz Ferdinand. It was released as the third single from their second studio album, '' You Could Have It So Much Better'' (2005), on 20 February 2006 in Australia and on 3 April 2006 in the United Kingdom as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with new song "L. Wells". The single peaked at number four on the

Scottish Singles Chart The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...

and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.

Composition

The lyrics for "The Fallen" borrow heavily from

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

miracles; with references to the feeding of the five-thousand, the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

and the turning of water into wine. Biblical references can also be seen in the song "Auf Achse", from Franz Ferdinand's first album, which references crucifixion; this interest in the Bible and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

appear to stem from Kapranos' brief study of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

before he dropped out.

Track listings

All tracks were written by Alex Kapranos and

Nick McCarthy Nicholas John McCarthy (born 13 December 1974) is an English-German musician. His main focus is on songwriting and song production. He is also a guitarist, singer and keyboard player. McCarthy was a founding member of the Glasgow-based band Fr ...

except where noted. * 7-inch 1 # "The Fallen" (album version) – 3:42 # "L. Wells" (Alex Kapranos) – 3:31 * 7-inch 2 # "The Fallen" (Remixed by

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

) – 3:55 # "L. Wells" (Alex Kapranos) – 3:31 # "Brown Onions" (Franz Ferdinand) – 3:02 #* Instrumental * CD # "The Fallen" (radio edit) – 2:49 # "The Fallen" (Remixed by

) – 3:55 # "L. Wells" (Alex Kapranos) – 3:31 # " Jeremy Fraser" (Nick McCarthy) – 3:57 #* Vocals performed by Nick McCarthy. # "The Fallen" (video) – 2:49 * 12-inch # "The Fallen" (Remixed by

) – 3:55 # "The Fallen" (album version) – 3:42 # "Do You Want To" ( Max Tundra remix) – 4:35 # "Do You Want To" (Max Tundra remix – instrumental) – 4:22 * Australian CD # "The Fallen" (album version) – 3:42 # "Sexy Boy" ( Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Nicolas Godin) – 3:40 #*

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

cover, released in the UK on the " Walk Away" single. # "The Fallen" (acoustic version) – 2:44 # "Do You Want To" (Erol Alkan remix) – 7:41 #* Errors in the liner notes stating that all tracks were written by Franz Ferdinand and omitting that track number three is an acoustic version.

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fallen, The Franz Ferdinand (band) songs 2006 singles Song recordings produced by Rich Costey Songs written by Alex Kapranos Songs written by Nick McCarthy UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles