Burn the Witch (Queens of the Stone Age song)

"Burn the Witch"
Single by Queens of the Stone Age
from the album Lullabies to Paralyze
ReleasedJanuary 10, 2006
Genre
Length3:38
LabelUniversal Music Group
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Queens of the Stone Age singles chronology
"In My Head"
(2005) 		"Burn the Witch"
(2006) 		"Sick, Sick, Sick"
(2007)

"Burn the Witch" is the third single released from Queens of the Stone Age's fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze. Many of its lyrics run parallel with the dark, folkloristic theme for this album.

Along with "You've Got a Killer Scene There, Man...", it borrows heavily from the blues. ZZ Top's guitarist and singer Billy Gibbons appears on lead guitar and backup vocals. Gibbons also plays on a cover of his own band's "Precious and Grace", a bonus track on the album.

The song involves an exchange of vocal lines between the falsetto of Homme and the twin baritones of Gibbons and Mark Lanegan. Gibbons does not regularly tour with the band, so the other vocal was performed by Lanegan, until he stopped touring with the band. Currently, Josh Homme sings alone with backing vocals from the rest of the band. In the previous line-up, Homme played bass and Alain Johannes played a quite different version of Gibbons' solo. This song (its remix by UNKLE) was also featured in and on the soundtrack of Saw II. This song is also featured in the trailer to the fourth season of the HBO series True Blood and in Peaky Blinders.

Track listing

  1. "Burn the Witch" (Castillo, Homme, Van Leeuwen) - 3:38
  2. "No One Knows" [live] (Homme, Lanegan) - 7:49
  3. "I Wanna Make It wit Chu" [live] (Homme, Johannes, Melchiondo) - 4:29
  4. "Monsters in the Parasol" [live] (Homme, Lalli) - 4:34
  5. "Burn the Witch" [multimedia track] (Castillo, Homme, Van Leeuwen) - 5:38

Charts

Chart (2005 - 2006) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[2] 36
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[3] 40

Personnel

Music video

The music video is about a witch disturbing people before getting karma from her. It features cameos by Josh Homme, Brody Dalle, Troy Van Leeuwen, Joey Castillo, Chris Goss, Wendy Rae Fowler, Jesse Hughes, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider, Billy Gibbons and Serrina Sims.

References

  1. ^ Peacock, Tim (December 20, 2019). "Best Queen Of The Stone Age Songs: 20 Feel Good Hits For All Seasons". uDiscover Music. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  2. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Queens of the Stone Age". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  3. ^ "Queens of the Stone Age Chart History (Alternative Airplay)". Billboard. Retrieved March 19, 2017.