Overview
"Nemo" is the eighth single by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish and the first from the album Once. A big-budget video was made for the song; the director was Antti Jokinen, who had previously worked with Shania Twain, Celine Dion and Eminem. The video was number one on MTV Brasil Video Chart. The song was nominated for the Kerrang! Award for Best Single. Although Nightwish already enjoyed a solid fan base in Europe and South America by the time of the single's release, it is considered their breakthrough song since it helped them reach a wider audience.
The song can be heard in the ending credits of the 2005 film The Cave.
Composition
Keyboardist and songwriter Tuomas Holopainen says the song was "one of the most difficult songs" the band's ever done. It took them months to work on the arrangement. The first version was faster and two minutes longer, but recording engineer Tero Kinnunen suggested they cut off a certain section and slowed it down by about 10 bpm.
Lyrics
Holopainen has stated that the title is Latin for "nobody" or "no name" and the song is based on his occasional feelings of being lost, longing for the past and feeling nameless. This contradicts speculations that the song simply borrows on a Nemo character of an earlier work, such as J. Verne's Captain Nemo, Homer's Ulysses alias Nemo, C. Dickens’ Captain Hawdon alias Nemo, W. McCay's Little Nemo, or the Disney Studio's film Finding Nemo. Asked about that, Holopainen responded:
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).