"Clones" was the first single released from the album Meltdown by the band Ash, released on February 25, 2004. The song was used on the soundtrack for the game Star Wars: Republic Commando and later appeared on the accompanying Commando EP. It was the first use of a licensed song in a Star Wars soundtrack by LucasArts; the song appears both in the end credits of the game and as a music video bonus feature in the game's Extras section.
The band has described the use of the song in the game as a "fluke": "We got asked to provide music for the game during the Meltdown writing period and by complete fluke had just demoed the Clones track!"
The lyrics of the song address a member of an endless series of clones, berating him for having once shown potential to rise about social conformity but in the end reverting to the expectations of his creators. The original music video shows the band performing in an empty warehouse, and ends with lead singer Tim Wheeler confronting a clone of himself. The revised music video released with Republic Commando intersperses the original video with gameplay footage of Delta Squad ruthlessly dispatching their foes, and ends with Boss brutally kicking in the head of a defeated super battle droid.
Lyrics
Now you're a clone
With heart of stone
Synthetic soul
Brainwashed and cold
You're just a drone
Got no control
Forced in a mold
Processed and sold
Hey
You know I find it frightening
How you change just as fast as lightning
You fell from grace
Leaving no trace
You've been replaced
Your name erased
Hey
It's your self-destruction
You never listened to my instruction
Shame
Shame, shame, shame
Shame
That everyone's the same
I thought you stood alone,
Were different from the clones.
You were a flash of light
A meteorite
Unique in time
Now out of sight
For I have seen
What could've been
A vivid dream
A prophecy
Hey
Now there's no use waiting
Everything is disintegrating
Shame
That everyone's the same
I thought you stood alone
Were different from the clones
I thought you were the true
Exception to the rule
But the truth is cruel
Clones
Clones, clones, clones
Clones
Clones, clones, clones
Yeah
Hey
Now there's no use waiting
Everything is disintegrating
Shame
That everyone's the same
I thought you stood alone
Were different from the clones
I thought you were the true
Exception to the rule
But the truth is cruel
