The President

Album: Fallen Empires (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is the closing track of Fallen Empires. The album is bookended by two stories of separate homeless people that lead vocalist Gary Lightbody met in Santa Monica.
  • Canadian musician Owen Pallett, who has recorded his own material under the name of Final Fantasy, did the song's arrangement. Lightbody told Billboard magazine: "In the end we just took it down to a piano and it sounded amazing cause it's so heartbreaking with just a voice and a piano. And then Owen heard it and he loved it and he said can I do an arrangement for it."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.