“The Widow” by The Mars Volta

"The Widow", sometimes titled "The Widow (I'll Never Sleep Alone)", was the lead single from the Mars Volta's second album, Frances the Mute, in 2005, and it's a slow, aching, bluesy torch song that burns hotter the longer it goes.

Omar Rodríguez-López wrote the music, produced it and plays guitar, synthesizer and sampler, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala wrote the words and sings them with a soaring, raw howl. Jon Theodore plays drums, Juan Alderete bass, and Isaiah "Ikey" Owens and Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez keyboards, with Marcel adding percussion. Guests fill out the corners: Flea turns up on trumpet and Lenny Castro on extra percussion. Rich Costey mixed it, and the whole thing swells and smolders like a ballad heard through the smoke of a burning house.

It gave them their first and only single on the Billboard Hot 100, where it reached number 95, and it climbed to number 7 on the Alternative Songs chart and number 20 in the UK.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.