The Lightning Strike
"The Lightning Strike" is a song from alternative rock band Snow Patrol's fifth album A Hundred Million Suns, and appears as the last track on the album. The lyrics to the song were written by lead singer Gary Lightbody and the music was composed by Snow Patrol. The song is composed of three smaller songs and, at sixteen minutes and eighteen seconds, is the longest the band has released yet.
| "The Lightning Strike" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Snow Patrol | |
| from the album A Hundred Million Suns | |
| Released | 24 October 2008 |
| Studio |
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| Genre | Alternative rock, progressive rock |
| Length | 16:18
|
| Label | Fiction/Interscope |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Jacknife Lee |
| "The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Snow Patrol | ||||
| from the album A Hundred Million Suns and Greatest Hits | ||||
| Released | 25 February 2013 | |||
| Recorded | 2008 | |||
| Studio | Grouse Lodge (Westmeath, Ireland) | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock, progressive rock | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | Polydor (UK) | |||
| Composer(s) | Snow Patrol | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Gary Lightbody | |||
| Producer(s) | Jacknife Lee | |||
| Snow Patrol singles chronology | ||||
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The song has an elaborate live performance where a specially made animation is played simultaneously as the band performs the song. Most of the video features origami, which is the main artwork for the album and its singles. The song received a mixed reaction when the album was released, and though the band were praised for playing it live, the general feeling was that it wasn't a right choice, with one critic calling it "self-indulgent" but forgivable.