Nightwish: "Bye Bye Beautiful" (2008)

Bye Bye Beautiful is the second track on Nightwish’s Dark Passion Play album. The song was confirmed to be the third single from Dark Passion Play by Tuomas Holopainen in an interview, but it was changed to the fourth single from the album after the announcement of Erämaan Viimeinen's release as the third.

A promo version of the track was leaked to the Internet on July 11, 2007, and the full single was released on February 15, 2008 in three versions, CD, DVD and 12 inch. It includes an DJ Orkidea Remix Version of the song as well as a demo version of "The Poet and the Pendulum" and Dark Passion Play's Japanese bonus track "Escapist".

In the first part of the Dark Passion Play World Tour, "Bye Bye Beautiful" was the standard opening track, which was played after an intro of "Resurrection" from the soundtrack of The Passion of the Christ. In 2009 it was replaced by "7 Days to the Wolves" and Tuomas Holopainen stated that the band is never going to play "Bye Bye Beautiful" live again.


- Lyrics:

Finally the hills are without eyes
They are tired of painting a dead man's face red
With their own blood

They used to love having so much to lose
Blink your eyes just once and see everything in ruins

Did you ever hear what I told you?
Did you ever read what I wrote you?
Did you ever listen to what we played?
Did you ever let in what the world said?
Did we get this far just to feel your hate?
Did we play to become only pawns in the game?
How blind can you be, don't you see?
You chose the long road, but we'll be waiting

Bye, bye, beautiful!
Bye, bye, beautiful!

Jacob's ghost for the girl in white
Blindfold for the blind
Dead Siblings walking the dying earth

Noose around a choking heart
Eternity torn apart
So toll now the funeral bells

"No need to die to prove a lie"

Did you ever hear what I told you?
Did you ever read what I wrote you?
Did you ever listen to what we played?
Did you ever let in what the world said?
Did we get this far just to feel your hate?
Did we play to become only pawns in the game?
How blind can you be, don't you see?
You chose the long road, but we'll be waiting

Bye, bye, beautiful!
Bye, bye, beautiful!
Bye, bye, beautiful!
Bye, bye, beautiful!

It’s not the tree that forsakes the flower
But the flower that forsakes the tree
Someday I’ll learn to love these scars
Still fresh from the red-hot blade of your words

...How blind can you be, don’t you see...(x3)
...that the gambler lost all he does not have...

Did you ever hear what I told you?
Did you ever read what I wrote you?
Did you ever listen to what we played?
Did you ever let in what the words said?
Did we get this far just to feel your hate?
Did we play to become only pawns in the game?
How blind can you be, don’t you see?
You chose the long road but we’ll be waiting

Bye bye, beautiful
Bye bye, beautiful
Bye bye, beautiful
bye bye bye bye