Alice in Chains » Tracks » Them Bones

Alice in Chains – Them Bones (2:30)

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About This Track

Them Bones is the first song of the Alternative Metal band Alice in Chains second studio album ‘Dirt’. The song was released as the second single from their second album, Dirt (1992). The song was included on the compilation albums Nothing Safe: Best of the Box (1999), Music Bank (1999), Greatest Hits (2001), and The Essential Alice in Chains (2006).

The song was written by guitarist Jerry Cantrell. The song is highly chromatic and is played in a time signature of 7/8—except for the chorus, which is in 4/4. When discussing the use of odd time signatures in a 1998 interview with Guitar World, Cantrell said:

I really don’t know where that comes from; it just comes naturally to me. I could sit down and figure it out, but what’s the use? Off-time stuff is just more exciting — it takes people by surprise when you shift gears like that before they even know what the hell hit ‘em. It’s also effective when you slow something down and then slam ‘em into the dash. A lot of Alice stuff is written that way — “Them Bones” is a great off-time song.

In the liner notes of 1999’s Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:

I was just thinking about mortality, that one of these days we’ll end up a pile of bones. It’s a thought for every human being, whether you believe in an after-life or that when we die, that’s it.
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Albums featuring this track

  • Dirt
    Alice in Chains Play
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  • Nothing Safe: Best of the Box
    Alice in Chains Play
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  • Music Bank
    Alice in Chains Play
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  • Greatest Hits
    Alice in Chains Play
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See all 31 albums

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  • toolissy

    immer wieder geil zu hören......

    Thursday afternoon

  • fuckyouty1

    this rocks

    Thursday morning

  • PowlPre

    X RADIO!

    last week

  • Akatsuki_Dei

    Love this song!

    last week

  • KChippie1

    LAYNE STALEY = ALICE N CHAINS. (THEM BONES) RIFFTASTIC !!

    last week

  • lazarspeed

    Loved Layne and Mike R.I.P. Jerry carry on the candle you are a fantastic song writer. Marry me lol

    18 days ago

  • nny_nny

    empty fossils ...

    21 days ago

  • Gogolock

    G.T.A. san andreas.... ;)

    22 days ago

  • TenebrisInLux

    Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

    last month

  • Thee_Manimal

    Brutal......... Hell YEAH

    last month

  • whodat2011

    Awesome!!

    last month

  • astrabornikov

    all time 90's favourite!

    last month

  • motleycruebich

    i miss Layne!!!!!!!!!!!!! why all the good rockers die????

    last month

  • ihavesoldout

    AH!

    March 2012

  • isaaccobainer

    I always wondered what that random "clink" halfway through the song is for... at about 1:48

    March 2012

  • giggleloop1

    Them vocals............!!!

    March 2012

  • soudruzka

    Mine too, but whenever I hear the line "Empty fossil of the new scene" I can only think of Bob Fossil from The Mighty Boosh. That's just wrong. :) What a bizarre juxtaposition...

    February 2012

  • Surprising666

    one of my favorite songs from alice in chains [2]

    February 2012

  • second-life-syn

    All this bad energy - born in the 80s, perfected in the 90s and abused after New Metal.

    February 2012

  • username382

    Very powerful song. Damn good and one of AICs best.

    February 2012
See all 465 shouts

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