Swing Life Away
| "Swing Life Away" | ||
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"Swing Life Away" cover
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| Promotional single by Rise Against from the album Siren Song of the Counter Culture | ||
| Released | April 2005 | |
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| Recorded | The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia | |
| Genre | Acoustic rock, soft rock | |
| Length | 3:20 | |
| Label | Geffen | |
| Writer(s) | Tim McIlrath, Neil Hennessy | |
| Producer(s) | ||
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"Swing Life Away" is an acoustic rock song by punk rock band Rise Against, first released on the album Punk Goes Acoustic. The song is the second single and 11th track on their 2004 album Siren Song of the Counter Culture. Originally written by Tim McIlrath and Neil Hennessy, the song is distinguished from the majority of Rise Against's catalog because it is performed and recorded acoustically. The lyrics are optimistic and speak of contentment with a less-than-perfect life, although they maintain the band's characteristic themes of self-analysis and hope. At a show at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia, McIlrath stated the song was written about a good friend of the band who helped them whilst they were lesser known.
The song is an example of Rise Against's tendency to omit the third notes of their acoustic chords, using the resulting fifth chords with four or more strings to generate a raw-sounding guitar piece (as opposed to most other punk and alternative bands, which typically use full chords in their acoustic pieces).
"Swing Life Away" was released to radio on April 26, 2005 and peaked at #12 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts. The first version was featured in 2003 on Punk Goes Acoustic with a duration of 2:26. In 2004, the song was released with an added guitar bridge on Siren Song of the Counter Culture, clocking in at 3:20.
The song is available as downloadable, additional content for the Lips series.
"Swing Life Away" received mostly positive reviews, and has appeared on multiple lists of the best Rise Against songs.Ultimate Guitar Archive praised nearly every aspect of the song, such as the "tear-inducing" lyrics, McIlrath's vocals, and its "sharp guitar sound". Davey Boy of Sputnikmusic characterized the lyrics as simple but effective, while Justin Donnelly of Blistering felt that "Swing Life Away" ended the album in "huge style". In his review of Punk Goes Acoustic, Aubin Paul of Punknews.org wrote that the song has an "amazingly catchy guitar line". Marc Hogan of Pitchfork Media gave a much more critical review, describing the song as a "drearily unpoetic acoustic weeper".
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