Interesting Idea About "Numb" and its possible working title.

[IWillWalkAway]

This was someone's reddit "theory" actually so not mine originally but I find it very interesting. Here's the original post if you want to see it:

Basically, if you remember, later albums have this pattern where the closer song holds the working title of the album's instrumental.

(Example:

on LIVING THINGS the working title of Powerless is TINFOIL (The two are relatives however)

on The Hunting Party Working title of Final Masquerade is DRAWBAR)

 

But even also on Hybrid Theory, Pushing Me Away holds the name "CURE FOR MR HAHNS ITCH" in the Studio Finals CD, which we all know what track title that sounds like.

 

This COULD potentially mean Numb's working title might actually have been SESSION, and then they gave that name to the instrumental.

It also makes sense because the band conceived the track just a week before going into record for the album. Maybe that was the title Mike or someone in the band quickly gave it when opening a new session. Just something simple and quick.

 

The only thing that throws a wrench into this idea is the fact that Session had (-) dashes across BOTH the vocals on the red song tracking board and the dirty guitar, which we know Numb has on it. BUT it is possible it was still the working title for Numb, then soon given to Session (the instrumental) right when the band went into the studio, then Numb was conceived quickly so either it didn't need tracking or it was tracked elsewhere in its quick process of recording.

 

So who knows that might be totally wrong. Maybe this idea has been brought up before also, but not that I've known. It's definitely something. If not "Session", maybe Numb has another working title like "Moon" or "Ugly Face", but it definitely has something of a working title.

Edited March 22 by IWillWalkAway

[leftshoe18]

I am fairly confident that naming Pushing Me Away "The Cure For Mr. Hahn's Itch" was a misprint on the label. 

[IWillWalkAway]

16 minutes ago, leftshoe18 said:

I am fairly confident that naming Pushing Me Away "The Cure For Mr. Hahn's Itch" was a misprint on the label. 

 

You're likely right but it probably got accidentally swapped with "THE CURE", a shortened version which would've made more sense to be a working title for PMA. "Harmonic Song" might've been an earlier title for it. Jeff Blue, if im correct, said a working title for PMA, which might mean something there.

Edited March 22 by IWillWalkAway

[Soeffingnaive92]

It could even be the case, but to be honest I imagine the Numb demo being very similar to the final one, since they recorded the song very late in the album process, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Numb demo is just Numb with slightly different lyrics 

[IWillWalkAway]

1 hour ago, Somebodyangry said:

It could even be the case, but to be honest I imagine the Numb demo being very similar to the final one, since they recorded the song very late in the album process, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Numb demo is just Numb with slightly different lyrics 

We’ve not confirmed how early the full lyrics came together, even though it was a quick process. It might be that they had the full lyrics conceived before even entering the studio, but it’s probably more likely it took a very tiny piece of the writing at NRG.

 

It’s also possible Numb’s demo wasn’t even full length like the other demos, and just a short idea, with the track’s actual first version being conceived at NRG. It was written a week before going into the studio, so they had something of a demo or idea before beginning recording the album still.

[BeardyWilderness]

Numb was started and finished so quick it probably never had a working title 

[IWillWalkAway]

10 hours ago, BeardyWilderness said:

Numb was started and finished so quick it probably never had a working title 

There’s always a working name given to any track the band starts a session on. Even further, In the Hybrid Theory and Meteora days, the band always created a track before recording vocals. It definitely has something a working title even though it came together quick. It just doesn’t probably doesn’t have a demo.

 

Since there’s no real (different at all from the final) demo for Numb probably, knowing the working title for Numb would be really just for the sake of knowing and also to put it up there on Linkinpedia of course. 

Edited March 23 by IWillWalkAway

[Trumtram]

Kudos for posting a link

[bloodbath]

No disrespect but, aren't you overthinking this a little bit?

[IWillWalkAway]

33 minutes ago, bloodbath said:

No disrespect but, aren't you overthinking this a little bit?

Nah

[lpliveusername]

1 hour ago, bloodbath said:

No disrespect but, aren't you overthinking this a little bit?

Welcome to LPLive.

[LPsMart]

I love how little we know about one of their two most successful songs

[NJPLP]

11 hours ago, LPsMart said:

I love how little we know about one of their two most successful songs

What's the second song, besides "Numb"?

[LPsMart]

14 hours ago, NJPLP said:

What's the second song, besides "Numb"?

In the end

[IWillWalkAway]

On 4/8/2024 at 3:08 PM, LPsMart said:

In the end

Well I actually wonder what if Numb’s working title was “Untitled II”. Like Figure.09 and Plaster II. Lol, FAR more likely that it being “Session”. It doesn’t make sense to the red song board’s status or anything going by what we know about that album process at all.
 

Other than that, the two tracks share a lot of instrumentation.

 

I really think Numb was just created to be a track that Session could properly open for, and it turned into an amazing song, very quickly.

Edited April 20 by IWillWalkAway

[Trumtram]

4 hours ago, IWillWalkAway said:

Other than that, the two tracks share a lot of instrumentation.

If you mean "Numb" and ITE: No, not really?

 

Sure, like pretty much every LP song back then they have drums, guitars, bass and some electronical elements but both songs differ more than they are similar. Aside from the big power chord driven chorus almost every other element is different.

 

No one compared these two songs with one another back then or put them in direct relation and it's easy to hear why.

[IWillWalkAway]

8 hours ago, Trumtram said:

If you mean "Numb" and ITE: No, not really?

 

Sure, like pretty much every LP song back then they have drums, guitars, bass and some electronical elements but both songs differ more than they are similar. Aside from the big power chord driven chorus almost every other element is different.

 

No one compared these two songs with one another back then or put them in direct relation and it's easy to hear why.

No, no. I forgot to clarify. I was talking about Session and Numb.

[Trumtram]

53 minutes ago, IWillWalkAway said:

No, no. I forgot to clarify. I was talking about Session and Numb.

Oh, my bad, sorry! Thanks for clarifying.

 

But I don't get it, still :D.

[IWillWalkAway]

6 hours ago, Trumtram said:

Oh, my bad, sorry! Thanks for clarifying.

 

But I don't get it, still :D.

Session and Numb share a lot of Joe’s effects samples. I was saying those similarities make it clear it was probably always intended to be with Session before the album was put together/sequenced, during the process.

Edited April 21 by IWillWalkAway

[EgorN]

I believe the working title for Numb was "Figure 09" since we have all the known tracks (15) on the meteorа sessions songboard except Numb; and Figure 09 and Plaster II at the same time, which makes no sense, and since we know the working title for the original Figure 09 is Plaster II, the working title on the board "Figure 09" is simply redundant. I don't believe there could have been two versions of the same song at that stage (which is, as I understand it, tracking, when everything is ready for recording). Later, when the name "Numb" was coined, its working title was transferred to another song as the final one.

Edited October 10 by EgorN

[rd1994]

On 10/10/2024 at 1:03 PM, EgorN said:

I believe the working title for Numb was "Figure 09" since we have all the known tracks (15) on the meteorа sessions songboard except Numb; and Figure 09 and Plaster II at the same time, which makes no sense, and since we know the working title for the original Figure 09 is Plaster II, the working title on the board "Figure 09" is simply redundant. I don't believe there could have been two versions of the same song at that stage (which is, as I understand it, tracking, when everything is ready for recording). Later, when the name "Numb" was coined, its working title was transferred to another song as the final one.

I disagree. From what I could gather Figure.09 (the song on Meteora) is a "best of" of two demos, namely Figure.09 and Plaster II. I think Mike said they kept the "Figure.09" title cuz it sounded cool to them.

[Steve]

On 4/20/2024 at 6:15 AM, IWillWalkAway said:

Well I actually wonder what if Numb’s working title was “Untitled II”. Like Figure.09 and Plaster II. Lol, FAR more likely that it being “Session”. It doesn’t make sense to the red song board’s status or anything going by what we know about that album process at all.
 

Other than that, the two tracks share a lot of instrumentation.

 

I really think Numb was just created to be a track that Session could properly open for, and it turned into an amazing song, very quickly.

 

I think Session as demo name for Numb is really possible.... they did it same thing with Powerless and Tinoil as demo name. 

[IWillWalkAway]

On 10/13/2024 at 1:36 PM, Steve said:

 

I think Session as demo name for Numb is really possible.... they did it same thing with Powerless and Tinoil as demo name. 

Possible, but just not very likely.
 

 

On 10/10/2024 at 7:03 AM, EgorN said:

I believe the working title for Numb was "Figure 09" since we have all the known tracks (15) on the meteorа sessions songboard except Numb; and Figure 09 and Plaster II at the same time, which makes no sense, and since we know the working title for the original Figure 09 is Plaster II, the working title on the board "Figure 09" is simply redundant. I don't believe there could have been two versions of the same song at that stage (which is, as I understand it, tracking, when everything is ready for recording). Later, when the name "Numb" was coined, its working title was transferred to another song as the final one.

figure.09 and plaster 2 both had demos from before they entered the studio, so it wouldn’t really make sense. But you could be right, they might’ve done some weird mix up stuff with the names when they were in the studio, working. Everything is after all just a working title there anyways. They could easily just have made a mistake on making both a plaster 2 and Figure.09 label or made a last minute decision once that board was already made, then just used Figure9 or Plaster 2 as the label to refer to Numb. It’d make sense too because even though they had different verse ideas for Figure.09, they likely weren’t working on two different song versions while in the album sessions (working with Don).

[Hybrider]

We should ask Mike for the demo title of Numb.