best song ever.

4 Replies

This is such a powerful song. Definitly one of the best on HTSAL.

Isaac has said that this song is about him mentoring a crack addicted teen.

this song amazes me.

I THOUGHT it was about helping someone in need. TDDx8, thanks for confirming my hunch.

this song is about a father and his son and his son is doing drugs
"or break with the ones you've followed" that means that hes followed the drugs addicts and hes gonna break with them if he doesnt change his ways
if u read more of the lyrics it will all make sense
this song is awesome

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TDDx8 is right on with the purpose behind this song. its about a crack addicted teen. go to their website and read up. its very touching though.

that makes sense. these guys are the sweetest guys ever. i can remember not being able to listen to their music cause they didn't even have a cd out or enough fans. now their songs are on songmeanings. i love to be able to say i knew them way back when. :)

I think it is about a drug addicted teen. It's a really good song and it has amazing lyrics...

i absolutly love this song! i pretty much melt everytime i hear it!!

to me...this song is about two people breaking up and its altogether a mess. its like...they want to be together but they have too many differences that they cant get past. "i wouldve stayed up with you all night...had i known how to save a life" reminds me of the fact that, even when you love someone so much, you really cant change who they are. and, obviously, this song shows that he cant save her from whats happening so the relationship just cant go on anymore.


thats in general.

but if you look real deep into the lyrics its pretty clear that there has to be some sort of drug incident involved. it was obviously written by the lead singer who is a recovered drug addict.

When I hear this song I think of someone that could've helped someone dying. Like someone is dying and they feel like it's their fault b/c he could've done something. Like he tried to convince him not to go off and do something stupid but he did and died and that feeling of blame is in you. And yeah...that would kill me so badly. I don't know that's just what I think of when I hear this song. And a reeaaaally deep song it is.

When I hear this song I think of someone that could've helped someone dying. Like someone is dying and they feel like it's their fault b/c he could've done something. Like he tried to convince him not to go off and do something stupid but he did and died and that feeling of blame is in you. And yeah...that would kill me so badly. I don't know that's just what I think of when I hear this song. And a reeaaaally deep song it is.

This is my take:

"step one, you say 'we need to talk'
he walks, you say 'sit down, it's just a talk'

He feels the first thing he needs to do to help his friend is to tell him "we need to talk". And reassure him that everything is going to be ok because after all "it's just a talk"

"he smiles politely back at you
you stare politely right on through
some sort of window to your right
as he goes left and you stay right
between the lines of fear and blame
you begin to wonder why you came"

The friend the storyteller is confronting seems to know what the talk is about so he tries to stay calm by "smiling politely" But the storyteller cant bare to look his friend in the eye so he "stares right on through the window" The window could symbolize literally a window the storyteller is looking at to avoid eye contact with his friend because he is "fearful" of what his friend will think of what he has to say (and fearful for his friends life), especially if his friend is not willing to take the "blame" for his actions. And if his friend wont listen to him it's all just a waste of time and he'll "wonder why he came". Referring back to the window, he could also be speaking figuratively, thinking of this as his window of oppurtunity to help his friend.

"where did i go wrong?
i lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness
and i would have stayed up with you all night
had i known how to save a life"

He's asking himself "where did I go wrong"? How come I couldn’t reach my friend? And possibly feeling guilty for the "bitterness" he feels toward his friend because his friend hasn’t changed his ways (possibly that bitterness pushed his friend away, making him even harder to reach)
And the next part could mean two different things. The more symbolic: "staying up all night" would mean spending a lot of time trying to "save a life" "had he known how" by being there for his friend if he only knew how to help him straighten out his life. Or "staying up all night" could literally mean staying up all night while his friend was going through withdraw from the drugs he was taking and "had he know how to save a life" would then mean if he knew staying up all night with him to help him through his withdraw was what he needed to save his life, he would have done that. (Sorry if none of that made sense, it made more sense in my head)

"let him know that you know best
'cause after all, you do know best”

He wants his friend to know that he knows what is best for him hence "let him know that you know best".

“try to slip passed his defense
without granting innocence”

He also wants to " try to slip passed his defense" meaning he wants to be gentle enough to were his friend will let down his guard and listen to him but he doesnt want to "grant innocence" meaning not letting his friend believe that his actions weren’t wrong. So basically find a balance between sensitivity and sternness when he is confronting his friend.

“lay down a list of what is wrong
things you told him all along”

Once he has accomplished that he wants to "lay down a list of what is wrong, things he told him all along" In other words, once his friend is listening he's going to try to tell him all the things that he has done wrong, like he's attempted to in the passed.

“pray to god he hears you
and pray to god he hears you"

The storyteller then realizes all you can do after that is "pray to god he hears you"

"as he begins to raise his voice
you lower yours and grant him one last choice"

His friend get angry because of the things he is telling him, but he stays calm and lays it on the line.

"drive until you lose the road
or break with the ones you've followed"

He tells his friend that he can drive himself to his end or choose a better path to follow.

"he will do one of two things
he will admit to everything
or he'll say he's just not the same"

His friend will either admit to his wrong doing or he’ll just say he’s not the same person that he used to be and that he can’t change who he currently is.

“and you'll begin to wonder why you came”

And obviously if his friend chooses not to change “you’ll begin to wonder why you came” because it was a unsuccessful attempt to help his friend.

That's just my take.

4 Replies

while i know this song is about the lead singer helping a drug addicted teen, when i first heard it i thought it was about his relationship with a girl, from her point of veiw. she was saying she needed to talk to the guy, about some issues they had. and he didnt like talking, and she wonders what the big deal is, its just a talk. and the guy, hes to scared to talk about anything, and he cant handle talking through things, hes really uncomfortable. but there are things that NEED to be sorted out, and she knows it and she needs to talk with him. but he wont listen, and he only gets upset, nervous and mad when she tries to talk, so she begins to wonder why she bothered at all with him. then they fight, or break up, and shes really upset, because she lost a really good freind somewhere in all the talking and yelling. and if she could have she would have done anything (stayed up all night) to fix things for him or between them. the rest of the song could continue to describe thier fight, her giving him a choice to stay or leave. its like someone giving advice to a girl on how to confront him about the things bothering her about the relationship. that she knows best, and he needs to listen, and she should lay down what she thinks is wrong, and really hope it will sink in. but then he beings to raise his voice, and hes not understanding, hes getting mad, just like she knew he would. and she finally offers up a choice, to cut off contact and leave, or break with what hes followed and listen to her, come back to her. and he chooses to leave. he says he just isnt the same, instead of admitting to being wrong, and treating her badly at times. so its over, and she wonders why she wasted her time. still shes upset because she and he were really good freinds, and she lost him. and she would have done anything to fix it, if only shed known how. yeah story of my life!! great song.

I bought this CD one day and listened to the whole thing straight through. My favorite song was how to save a life, but I didn't really listen to the lyrics. Later that day, I found out that one of my friends had died. "How to save a life" started playing on my computer and I listened to the words and I just started crying and sobbing. so the real song is about drug addiction but for me it will always be about the death of an amazing person.

amazing.

i love this song, the lyrics are meaningful. I could listen to this song over and over again.

This isn't limited to the drug-addicted, the passed-away, or the broken-hearted. HTSAL goes out to anyone that feels something is suppressed, some expression, a chance not taken, a door left unopened. For me, it is for the broken hearted. I broke up with this chick a while back, and i felt like i've never had her back as a friend, even though we awkwardly say that we're fine.
We never have been, and ever since i've felt some regret because had i known how to do things right, i wouldn't have lost this friend, and for that i connect with this dude, if he had known how to save a life, he wouldn't have lost this friend admist bitterness.

i just recently heard this song on Scrubs and now i am completely addicting to it. amazing song.

hey i love Scrubs. thats where i first heard it 2. after dr. cox killed all those people with the organ transplants. anyway, the fray is ok, for a slower band. i dont own H2SaL, but I love this song.

this song gave a really new meaning when one of my really close friends wanted to kill himself. it's like no matter how much i tried to help him, it wasn't ever good enough and it makes me sad that i'm not enough to keep him around.

I love this song. But i think its one of those songs that can mean anything to anyone. It has a sort of essence where it could be about loss or just about a bad day.
its calming and its a good song to listen to when u think theres no reason to go on.
yeah :]
-Emily

I first heard this song on Scrubs three weeks ago or so.
It is my favourite, most emotional and heart-wrenching 5 minutes of television ever.
Then I watched it in combination with clips from another show ('music video' someone made) .

I can't stop listening to this song. It's amazing. Why haven't I heard of The Fray before?

ok first of all, i really cant stand it when people just right "I love this song" or "This song is amazing".

That's not what the fuckin website is for.

This website is for people to discuss their thoughts and opinions towards songs and what they think it means.

If someone says OMG I LOVE THIS SONG!! as what they think the song is about, i dont think anyone relly gives a flying fuck and that that person should just go hang themselves.

moving on... At first i believed this song is about a girl about to break up with her bf and then saying that she and him were going to stay friends. The boy gets mad and doesnt wanna be her friend anymore and thats what i thought the whole "i lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness"

Now i believe that this song is infact about a friend and his drug addicted friend trying to overcome his problems.

People hear me out and give your damn feelings for songs and not whether or not you like them, because quite frankly

NO ONE FUCKING CARES

thank you :-D

"step one, you say 'we need to talk'
he walks, you say 'sit down, it's just a talk'
he smiles politely back at you
you stare politely right on through"

this reminds me of when someone is trying to end a relationship, where one person is totally comitted and they cant even look at them because they know its going to end terribly. every girl's nightmare.