Ok, I'm going off of a live recording, but I swear the last line of the chorus is "The coldest winters THRIVE on broken HOPES". I've seen a few with your lyric, and haven't heard the final song yet, but honestly, yours doesn't make much sense. Also, after the second "Is anybody out there" in the chorus, I think it should be "Alone, alone". That also might be changed on the final version, again, it makes more sense the way I hear.

Anyways, great song.

yeah...it's definitely not thread...thrive sounds right

Here's the chorus:

Is anybody out there
Hello, hello
Broken hearts like promises, I left my last unknowns
Is anybody out there
Alone, alone
Cause the coldest winters thrive on broken hopes

"I've got the gun
All I need is ten cents for the bullet"

the lyrics are way screwed up, but this song is great. i am stoked for cities, only a few more days...
i think it should be
"Can't pressure me, I'm not a holy ghost
In the coastal towns of Hymn"
as in a biblical song, instead of 'costal towns of Him'

almost positive he says 'in coastal towns like this'

This is truely a great song by Anberlin that talks about how people can stop caring and it may seem like no one cares about you, but God is always there for you and will always love you.

Is this where the interstate ends?
In coastal towns like this
Waiting for my world to cave under
We seem to invent ourselves (we seem to invent ourselves)
In places left unknown
If hope could only find me out

In this first verse, it seems that Christian is talking about hiding from God in a sense, when he says "we seem to invent ourselves in places left unknown", meaning that people create who they are without God. "If only hope could find me out" seems to say how he wants to be able to have hope and for God to find him and set him right in His path.
In the second verse when Christian says "Although I know a thousand names, I see my only friend" he is referring to God, that although he knows so many people, he immediatly would reconize God in a crowd and he knows that God is his true friend that will stand by him for everything. "I feel helpless"--feeling not that great without turning to God for help. I'm not so sure about the rest of that verse.

Is anybody out there?
Hello Alone!
Broken hearts like promises, I left my last unknowns
Is anybody out there?
Hello Alone!
Cause the coldest winters thrive on broken hopes
Broken homes

This whole song seems to also refer to possibly a time when someone in Anberlin might have been going through rough times and wanted to turn to God, but didn't have the strength. This seems to show a hopeless situation when it seems to the person as though God isn't there.
and it should be that the coldest winters thrive on broken HOMES.

That's all I have for my interpretation of this song. It's one of my favorites from their new CD. Truly amazing!!

I'm not 100% sure but I'm pretty sure this song is about the fight against opression.

Change opression to depression and you're absolutely right.

The following lyrics are straight from the booklet that comes with the CD. The only difference from the actual song is that they don't put some of the repeats in the booklet.


Is this where the interstate ends?
In coastal towns like this.
Waiting for my world to cave under.
We seem to invent ourselves in the places left unknown.
If hope could only find me out.

Is this the end of everything we know?
This is the end of everything I am.

Is anybody out there?
Hello, Hello
Broken hearts like promises, are left for lesser knows.

Is anybody out there?
Alone, Alone.
Because the coldest winters thrive.

Depression is the unholy ghost in the coastal towns ahead.
Though I know a thousand names, I seem my only friend.
I've got the gun, all I need is ten cents for the bullet.
I feel helpless, sleeping at best.
Waiting for your return.
Are you ever coming home?

Is anybody out there?
Hello, hello.
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knows.

Is anybody out there?
Alone, alone.
Because the coldest winters thrive on broken homes.
Does anybody, do they ever listen?
Does anybody care at all?
Do you care at all?

Is anybody out there?
Alone, alone.
Because the coldest winters thrive on broken homes.

Is anybody out there?
Hello, hello.
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knows.

Is anybody out there?
Alone, alone.
From a lesser known.
I'm here and there's hope.
There's hope.


-I think this song's about someone who has lost all hope, feels alone and is probably on the verge of suicide. ("This is the end of everything I am" and "I've got the gun, all I need is ten cents for the bullet.")

-In my opinion, the line ("we seem to invent ourselves in places left unknown") means that the person is tired of where they are and is imagining places elsewhere. Maybe this person just wants to get away from where he/she currently is. I'm not too sure about this line.

-Something strange that I noticed was that the writer used "lesser knows" to describe those that are currently without hope and are lonely, whereas he uses "lesser known" to describe the person who offers reassurance in the end ("From a lesser known. I'm here and there's hope. There's hope."). “Lesser knows” probably refers to someone who feels lonely and thus feels as if there’s no one around that could possibly help him/her. It's not a typo, because if you listen to the song carefully, you can hear the "s" sound after the first few "knows" but the last one is clearly a "known". The author of the song probably used this word in the past tense at the end instead of the word "knows" to show that the person who's offering reassurance has already experienced and has gotten through what the "lesser knows" are currently having trouble with. And the lesser "known" knows that there's still hope for them, since he/she was able to get through all of these hardships in the past.

-There's also the line ("Waiting for your return.
Are you ever coming home?"). I'm not entirely sure whether or not this is an important sign that the person has been deserted by a loved one (maybe a breakup occured) and therefore he feels hopeless for this reason. The line ("The coldest winters thrive on broken homes") would also support this. A broken home could refer to a home/family that has been torn apart due to a breakup.

I think that overall, this song mainly focuses on hope in times of depression and hardships.

this song is amazing! i love anberlin.

Yea, I'm not huge on the Bible and stuff, or God really, but this song is GREAT. Anberlin in GENERAL is KICKASS. I'm not sure of what the lyrics are, but whatever. Excellent band.

This song is BEAUTIFUL!! GENIUS!! I LOVE it. And the lyrics are COMPLETELY wrong. These are the right ones:

Is this where the interstate ends?
In coastal towns like this.
Waiting for my world to cave under.
We seem to invent ourselves, in the places left unknown.
If hope could only find me out.

Is this the end of everything we know?
This is the end of everything I am.

Is anybody out there?
Hello! Hello!
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knowns.
Is anybody out there?
Alone! Alone!
Because the coldest winters thrive...

Depression is the unholy ghost, in the coastal towns ahead.
Though I know a thousand names, I see my only friend.
I've got the gun, all I need is ten cents for the bullet.
I feel helpless, sleeping at best, waiting for your return.
Are you ever coming home?

Is anybody out there?
Hello! Hello!
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knowns.
Is anybody out there?
Alone! Alone!
Because the coldest winters thrive on broken homes.
Broken homes...

Does anybody (Does anybody),
Do they ever listen? (Do they ever listen?)
Does anybody (Does anybody),
Care at all? Do they care at all?
Do they care at all? Do they care at all?
Do you care at all, do you care at all?!

Is this the end of everything we know?
This is the end of everything I am.

Is anybody out there?
Hello! Hello!
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knowns.
Is anybody out there?
Alone! Alone!
Because the coldest winters thrive on broken homes.

Is anybody out there?
Hello! Hello!
Broken hearts like promises are left for lesser knowns.
Is anybody out there?
Alone! Alone!
From a lesser known, I’m here,
And there's hope, there's hope...

Anberlin is great. I love them. Beautiful.

i love this song they sound so good in this song and music is very cool

to me it sounds like he's saying

is anybody out there?
im all alone!

This song moves me. I absolutely love it, it makes me want to cry.

This song is one of my favorite songs of all time.

*Is this where the interstate ends?
In coastal towns like this
Waiting for my world to cave under
We seem to invent ourselves (we seem to invent ourselves)
In places left unknown
If hope could only find me out*

I think the interstate and the coastal towns signify the realization that this is where I am and there's nothing left for me here. Nothing left to find. To invent oneself in another place is to say they aren't themselves in the place that they are in, and they want to leave. He longs for hope, hope that can find him in his loneliness.

*Is this the end of everything we know?
This is the end of everything I am*

Again I think he's coming to the realization that there's a lot more out there besides everything he is right now.

*Is anybody out there?
Hello, hello
Broken hearts like promises, are left for lesser knows
Is anybody out there?
Alone, alone
Cause the coldest winters thrive*

For "Broken hearts like promises" I think he's just saying that many times the depression that people (the lesser knows) experience is often because they're brokenhearted and given broken promises by others. Coldness is often associated with sadness and depression and "the coldest winters thrive" shows that he is in a deep state of depression.

*Depression is the unholy ghost
In the coastal towns ahead.
Though I know a thousand names
I seem my only friend
I've got the gun
All I need is ten cents for the bullet
I feel helpless,
Sleeping at best
Waiting for your return
Are you ever coming home?*

I think the unholy ghost is the devil and he's the one that's making him feel this way (the devil wants us to be sad and depressed). He's got a gun but needs ten cents for the bullet, the ten cents in my opinion signifies the "death" choice in the decision he has to make, life or death. But I'm probably looking too far into it. Helpless, and sleeping at best suggest that he feels as if nobody can reach him where he is and he's living as though he's not awake. "Waiting for your return" this part I think signifies a family member who's left "a broken home". I also think of it as a personification of happiness (can a home appear broken because there's no happiness to be had within it?).

*Does anybody, do they ever listen?...*

Being depressed often feels like nobody understands you or knows what you're going through. You feel like you're really all alone.

*From a lesser known. I'm here and there's hope. There's hope.*

As Zeewei pointed out, Christian uses lesser knows earlier in the song and lesser known at the end.
This signifies that he went through all he wrote about but, he found hope and he's not depressed anymore and he's awake and alive now. There's hope for all the people that are going through what he went through. "I'm here" lets them know that they aren't alone and that he (along with many others who found this hope) actually listen and are there for them. I also used to be alone and depressed, but there's hope, and now I'm awakening to life. What a victorious ending to a great song!

Stephen Christian is such an inspiration to me. Instead of just writing entertaining songs like many others do, he writes songs that can be applied to all aspects of life, you can take so much away from them. This song is a great example.