The Greatest Show On Earth

Album: Endless Forms Most Beautiful (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The last track on Endless Forms Most Beautiful, this clocks in at 24 minutes, the longest Nightwish song to date. When HMV.com asked keyboardist and main songwriter Tuomas Holopainen how long it took to put it all together, he replied: "For some reason long songs are rather easy for me to write, so it didn't really take any longer than any other song on the album. The mixing process for just that one song took about two and a half weeks, though."
  • The song title is taken from a 2009 book by evolutionary biologist and atheist writer Richard Dawkins, concerning the evidence for biological evolution. Dawkins also contributes towards the album. Holopainen explained to HMV in March 2015: "I wrote him a letter a bit more than a year ago and explained the ideas we had for this album, mainly to do with evolution. Since one of the tracks would be named directly after one of his books, it felt like a perfect match to try to get him do some reciting on the album. He sent me an email a few weeks later accepting the invitation."

    "Later in 2014 we then recorded his parts at Hats Off Studios, Oxford. This is a huge honor for us, since Dawkins is one of our biggest heroes and his writings have been huge inspiration for the album."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse Pop

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

The Police

The PoliceFact or Fiction

Do their first three albums have French titles? Is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" really meaningless? See if you can tell in this Fact or Fiction.

Laura Nyro

Laura NyroSongwriting Legends

Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.