Speak (Godsmack song)

"Speak"
Single by Godsmack
from the album IV
Released	April 4, 2006
Format	CD, Maxi CD, DVD
Recorded	Las Vegas
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	3:57
Label	Universal
Writer(s)	Godsmack
Producer(s)	Sully Erna
Godsmack singles chronology
"Bring It On" (2005) "Speak" (2006) "Shine Down" (2006)

"Speak" is a single by the metal band Godsmack from their fourth album IV. It reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and number ten on the Modern Rock chart.^[1]

Song origin

Tony Rombola wrote the music for "Speak". Tony recalls: "While on tour with Metallica, Robbie, Shannon and I were jamming in the dressing room. Sully Erna popped his head in the room 'cause he really liked the riff we were playin' and he pretty much wrote the melody and finished the song right then and there."^[2] "The chorus opened up in a way that I would never have thought to write," says Erna.

Music video

The music video for the song (directed by Wayne Isham) shows people performing stunts on cars, motorcycles, etc. with clips of the band playing.

Erna told MTV.com that he wanted to keep things simple when it came to the video for "Speak":

"No bank-breaking special-effects wizardry — not even a single explosion. We didn't want the clip to correlate in any way with the song's lyrics. We just wanted it to "emphasize power, because we feel it's a powerful song"

The end result, according to Erna, is "basically the white, rock and roll version of the 'bling' video," but instead of using Escalades and pimped-out Mercedes Benzes, "we brought in some awesome muscle cars and a bunch of my buddies from New England that do these amazing stunts on motorcycles, and it just became about fast cars, hot rods, burnouts, wheelies and rock and roll."

"We hung out for the day, nothing was choreographed. It was really cool. We just got to light up the tires all day long. And as a band, the first half of the day, we got to hang around and watch these people go off on these killer machines and do the most insane stunts we've ever seen live." Erna says.

Track listing

Speak [Maxi Single]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Speak"	Erna/Rombola/Merrill/Larkin	3:56
2.	"Spiral"	Erna/Rombola	5:35
3.	"Batalla de los Tambores"	Erna/Rombola/Merrill/Larkin	5:44

Speak [Hit Pack]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Speak (New version)"	Erna/Rombola/Merrill/Larkin	3:57
2.	"Awake"	Erna	5:04
3.	"I Stand Alone"	Erna	4:06

Chart positions

Chart (2006)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	10
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	93
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	85
Venezuela Pop Rock (Record Report)[3]	4

• "Speak" had a six-week run at number one on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

References

1. "Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Godsmack". Billboard 200. 2009-01-21. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
2. "Universal Public Community - Biography". Universal Public Community. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
3. "Pop Rock" (in Spanish). Record Report. 2006-07-15. Archived from the original on 2006-07-16.

External links

• "Speak" Official music video on YouTube
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics