Empire (song)

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"Empire"
CD cover
Single by Kasabian
from the album Empire
B-side(s)	"Black Whistler", "Ketang"
Released	24 July 2006 (CD) 21 August 2006 (10", DVD)
Format	CD, 10", DVD
Genre	Rock
Length	3:53 (album version) 3:24 (single version)
Label	Columbia Records
Writer(s)	Sergio Pizzorno, Chris Karloff
Producer(s)	Jim Abbiss, Kasabian
Chart positions
#9 (UK Singles Chart)
Kasabian singles chronology
"Club Foot" / 55" (2005)	"Empire" (2006)	"Shoot the Runner" (2006)
Alternative cover
DVD and 10" cover
Empire track listing
	"Empire" (1)	"Shoot the Runner" (2)

"Empire" is a song by English rock band Kasabian and is the title track for their second album, Empire. It was released 24 July 2006 as the lead single from that album on CD (see 2006 in British music). On 21 August 2006, 10" and DVD versions of the single were released. The song was available as a pre-order on the band's website which also included a free download of their cover of David Bowie's "Heroes," which was used for ITV's coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Track listings

• 2-track CD PARADISE36 / 828768770627

1. "Empire" – 3:24
2. "Black Whistler" – 3:40

• 10" PARADISE40 / 828768873816

1. "Empire" (Single Edit) – 3:24
2. "Empire" (Jagz Kooner Remix)

• DVD PARADISE41 / 828768873892

1. "Empire" – 3:24
2. "Ketang" – 2:12
3. "Empire" (EPK video) – 9:44

• Download

1. "Heroes" (David Bowie, Brian Eno) – 2:30

[edit] Music Video

The music video for "Empire" was directed by W.I.Z. with casting by Sorin Tarau, and featured on the DVD single. It portrays the members of Kasabian as soldiers during the Crimean War. The video was shot on location outside Bucharest.

Matching the strong anti-war message of the song, the "Empire" video presents a look of fiery death and destruction caused by the war, opening with a boy messenger getting shot in the back while delivering the band a message (as a reference to their song 'Shoot the Runner'), and concluding with the band themselves killed by their general when they refrain from entering the battlefield. The video closes with a sardonic use of the Latin phrase, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori", well-known as part of the famous anti-war poem written by First World War soldier Wilfred Owen. It also bears some similarity to the famous novels and TV series; Sharpe.

Kasabian
Sergio Pizzorno · Tom Meighan · Christopher Edwards · Ian Matthews Chris Karloff
Discography
Albums: Kasabian · Live From Brixton Academy · Empire
Singles: "Reason Is Treason" · "Club Foot" · "L.S.F." · "Processed Beats" · "Cutt Off" · "Club Foot / 55" · "Empire" · "Shoot the Runner" · "Me Plus One"
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