Enya's "Only Time"

About

“Only Time” is a 2000 new age song by Irish singer-songwriter Enya, which is often used as inappropriate background music in various remix videos for melodramatic effect, including footage in which someone gets rekt, injured or killed in an unusual fashion, in a similar vein to the usage of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" in "Dear Sister" parodies.

Origin

On November 20th, 2000, the new age song "Only Time" by Enya was released along with the artist's fifth studio album A Day Without Rain. The song subsequently became Enya's most successful solo single in the United States, hitting the #10 position on the Billboard Hot 100 list that month.^[7] Nearly two months after September 11th, 2001, Enya performed the song on the CNN talk show Larry King Live to commemorate victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon,^[10] which subsequently gave rise to its popular usage as background music in 9/11 tribute videos on YouTube.

On July 16th, 2004, YTMND user CaptainPancakes submitted a page titled Never forget 5/3, featuring an image of a cliff face accompanied by the song "Only Time" playing in the background. Over the next several years, the song continued to be used on the site in pages referencing death or demise.^[8]

Spread

In November 2004, the song was used in the episode "Bamiature Golf" of the reality television show Viva La Bam. On May 1st, 2007, YouTuber nypd911 posted a September 11th, 2001 attacks memorial video featuring "Only Time" playing over footage of the World Trade Center towers (shown below, left). The song has since been used in many similar videos, with over 16,900 YouTube search results for the keywords "9/11 tribute Enya" as of March 2016.^[9] On August 26th, YouTuber manuela uploaded a montage of video clips featuring the character Legolas (played by Orlando Bloom) in the fantasy film series The Lord of the Rings with "Only Time" playing in the background (shown below, right). Over the next nine years, the videos received upwards of 1.1 million and 2.5 million views respectively.

On January 1st, 2011, SoundCloud user Mozdec Zero posted a dubstep remix of the song, which received more than 258,000 players and 2,500 likes over the next five years (shown below).

On November 13th, 2013, Volvo released a commercial in which action film star Jean-Claude Van Damme is shown performing the splits between two Volvo trucks moving in reverse while "Only Time" plays in the background (shown below). Over the next several years, the video gained over 82 million views and 41,100 comments.

On May 26th, 2014, montage creator and video game commentator Pyrocynical released a video titled "MLG Teletubbies", which featured "Only Time" playing in the background along with other montage parody tropes.^[6] Within two years, the video received upwards of 9.1 million views.

On June 23rd, Viner Jesus posted a clip in which a man dressed as Jesus is shocked to see children playing at a playground accompanied by the song playing in the background (shown below). Within two years, the video gathered more than 9.7 million loops, 204,000 likes and 115,000 revines.

On August 11th, 2015, Viner chocolate vanilla swirl posted a short clip of a child struck in the back by a large cushioned pole accompanied by "Only Time" playing in the background (shown below, left). Within seven months, the video garnered upwards of 652,000 loops, 11,900 likes and 6,800 revines. On October 2nd, YouTuber Filthy Frank posted a life hacks parody video, featuring a scene in which he prenteds to physically abused a hamster with the song playing in the background (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External Research