Over Now

"Over Now"
Single by Alice in Chains
from the album Unplugged
Released	1996
Recorded	April–August 1995 at Bad Animals Studio in Seattle, Washington
Genre	Acoustic rock, alternative rock, grunge
Length	7:03 (Alice in Chains version) 7:12 (Unplugged version)
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Lyrics: Jerry Cantrell Music: Jerry Cantrell & Sean Kinney
Producer(s)	Toby Wright, Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains singles chronology
"Heaven Beside You" (1996) "Over Now" (1996) "Again" (1996)
Alice in Chains track listing "Frogs" (Track 11) "Over Now" (Track 12)

"Over Now" is a song by the American rock band Alice in Chains, released on their album Alice in Chains (1995). It was a single from the band's MTV Unplugged performance, and was used to close the televised broadcast. The B-Side consists of the original studio version of the song. This is the second longest song that Alice in Chains has released as a single, behind "A Looking in View".

Composition

Similar to "Heaven Beside You", it features mostly vocal work of guitarist Jerry Cantrell, with lead vocalist Layne Staley only harmonizing in the chorus. While the song was written by Jerry Cantrell about a failed relationship, many fans see this song—which features a traditional bugle quote of "Taps"—as an eerie foreshadowing of the band's ultimate demise because it is the closing track of their final studio album with Staley. In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song: "A lot of deep shit in there, a big epic number. Plus you can get away with a hugely long tune near the end of a record." The song is written in open C# tuning, and marks the band's first time experimenting with it.^[1]

Release and reception

The song charted on both Billboard rock charts, despite the fact that it was not released as a single and no video was filmed for it. The version that charted was the acoustic version from the band's MTV Unplugged performance. "Over Now" peaked at number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and at number 24 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Allmusic's Steve Huey regarded the song "among the band's best work."^[2]

Music video

The video of the song from the performance on MTV Unplugged is considered a music video, much like the live video of "Bleed the Freak", used in support of their Live album. The video is available on the home video release Music Bank: The Videos.

Live performances

The song was played heavily in the acoustic sets of Alice in Chains' 2006 reunion tour. Alice in Chains performed an acoustic version of "Over Now" for its appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1996 and the song was included on the Unplugged live album and home video release. The performance from MTV Unplugged can also be found on the box set Music Bank, the home video release Music Bank: The Videos, and the compilation album The Essential Alice in Chains. On the CD version of the MTV Unplugged concert, as Staley says "Okay, that's it," at the end of the song, booing can be heard (presumably due to the performance concluding). Staley responded to the heckler by shouting, "Hey, fuck you, man!" which was greeted by laughter from the audience.

Track listing

Personnel

• Layne Staley – vocals
• Jerry Cantrell – guitar, lead vocals
• Mike Inez – bass
• Sean Kinney – drums, percussion

Chart positions

References