Leave me here and lock the door
latch the windows, lose the key
But you'll be back some day
What else then is TRUE LOVE for
if not to starve and wait for spring
So I'll just sit and wait

Oh, swing the door wide open
show me your jaded eyes
I will turn them red
drunk with vivid flame
You will see again,
and you will learn your real name and speak it
when your whole world turns to fire

Leave me with no air to breathe
leave me here to die alone
But I won't suffocate
I'll have everything I need
when you forget and come back home
so I'll just sit and wait



Lyrics submitted by Spinnaay

Track duration: 04:08

"Backdraft" as written by Edward Carrington Breckenridge, James Riley Breckenridge, Dustin Michael Kensrue, Teppei Teranishi

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Backdraft song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:i think this is an easy one. im pretty sure there's no allusion or refferance to biblical writings. i think it is very literal the creepy tale of someone neglecting their flame in their home, coming back to it and having it kick the shit out of them.
    think of it like this. the pet iguana escaped from it cage and goes running out of the room, gets lost and for 12 months everyone opens doors slowly in fear of the iguana being there scurrying away and making the human poop their pants. however, in time they forget their ever was a lizard in the house and all returns to normal. then, 2 years after the courageous jail break, dad goes to clean the furnace and find an old dead, dried up iguana corpse hiding back there. with its dead dry skin pulled back with the looks as if its dying though was "why did you fear me, i never wanted to hurt you. i wanted to hang on the curtains and i liked eating fruit. because of your ignorance i died." kinda thing. i get the feeling that this song is just about the negligence of a small spark that lead to a raging inferno.....perhaps started by an idle cigarette left in an ash tray.
    Flag TeenWolfon February 07, 2010   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Not saying all these are wrong they are just DIFFERENT interpretations, this is mine.
    Leave me here and lock the doors latch the windows lose the key but youll be back some day. I think that means you cant just keep covering up sins or lies you will have to repent. When you revisit your sins "You will see again, and you will learn your real name" Means you cant hide them forever. again any bodies interpretation could be "correct", they could all be "correct" I think Dustin leaves it up to the listener to decide on his own.
    Flag jasonmcgillon October 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i love how great of representation of a backdraft this song is. i'm a firefighter and while i've never been in a building thats backdrafted (thank god!), this song reminds me of a story that my chief told me about. Some suicidal person doused there basements bathroom in gasoline and lit the room and themselves on fire. the fire spread through the basement, and filled the house with intense heat and smoke. however, the windows didn't autovent themselves (i.e. break from the pressure) and the fire ended up starving itself of oxygen. a few days later the neighbors called the police out of concern for this guy because they hadn't seen him in a while, and they said the windows looked like they had been painted over. The police got the fire department over and when they entered through the front door the house erupted in flames. a smoldering fire that practically died out on its own turned into a roaring structure fire.
    Flag frojabottaon August 04, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I have a problem with people saying thrice is using spiritual things like this as "Jesus" or Christian references.

    Don't get me wrong, I know that's what he is doing. But one thing I really like about Thrice is that they keep stuff like this ambiguous in the sense it could be pegged to almost any religion or spiritual/personal belief. Even Atheism (someone leaves behind a good part of themselves, only to come back and realize they were bad or had no significant attempt at helping humanity).

    I am personally a Muslim, and this song fits just as perfectly for me as it would for a Christian if he was referring to God as the narrator.
    Flag mofoapooon July 31, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Currently my favorite song in Fire. I would like to see more interpretations of this song. Here is mine

    Leave me here and lock the door;
    latch the windows, lose the key.

    The first two lines show a progressive abandonment to locking up, with the window being closed preventing whatever is inside from communicating and breathing out. This also is exactly how a backdraft occurs being starved of air/oxygen.

    But you'll be back some day.
    What else then is TRUE LOVE for,
    if not to starve and wait for spring?
    So I'll just sit and wait.

    True love is definitely a reference to the love that comes from God/Jesus (Moving Mountains confirms this). Starving is a necessary precursor to an explosive growth in spring just like a fire needs to starve before a backdraft can occur. The inherent attraction a person has to God/truth causes people to come back, so I think the listener may be mislead to think Thrice wants a person to starve for God. This spiritual feast and famine cycle is a mistake people make.

    Oh, swing the door wide open;
    show me your jaded eyes.
    I will turn them red,
    drunk with vivid flame.
    You will see again,
    and you will learn your real name and speak it.

    The person that lost the God in life is consumed by the backdraft in an overwhelming dose of fire that turns the person drunk on truth/faith. The person learns their real purpose/truth in life, but just as soon as this happens..

    Leave me with no air to breathe;
    leave me here to die alone.
    But I won't suffocate.
    I'll have everything I need,
    when you forget and come back home;
    so I'll just sit and wait.

    the person leaves truth. Here the person trys again to suffocate God but in reality he/she is suffocating themselves by locking God out of their lives. Truth/God doesn't suffocate because it doesn't burn air to make a flame but creates it by having a relationship with the human spirit/soul. Still God is patient and will wait for us and try again. Instead of maintaining a constant flame that God gives us the person is satisfied with his overwhelming experience, and thinks he/she understands truth.

    When your whole world turns to fire.

    This last line represents the anti-fire of the original lines. Its the destructive fire of the world's evils. Evil's fire burns us from the outside while God's is an internal positive strength. The backdraft concept shows a cycle of people falling in love with God but then leaving soon after because they think they understand. A backdraft is a dangerous event and being "drunk" is an overwhelming feeling that is also dangerous.
    Flag szclimberon March 31, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i like the rapture interpretation and that is the one i'm going with. the eerieness of this song combined with the thought of spending an eternity in hell on account of the rapture literally scares the piss out of me hahhahhahhah
    Flag the second floodon November 23, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i had the idea that the chorus is the voice of temptation/the accursed/satan.

    he is waiting in a room starving, temptation comes to him to test him but it doesn't matter, the world can burn because he is true to his saviour
    Flag myexit_on November 22, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Sounds to me that a loved one is possessed or something can't be smothered or kept hidden. "Wait for spring"? Like a hibernation? What ever is hidden is stronger and can outlast the other. Good song.
    Flag Reignviperon May 15, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to me this is one of the more cryptic songs from this album...
    Flag knocloo27on March 17, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I also agree that there is a Christian meaning to this: perhaps the song has to do with "Judgment Day" in that mankind has forgotten about the return of Jesus and God to judge the world and decide if they should go to Hell... Mankind has locked itself in a room and thrown away the key because it figures it is safe to misbehave and such... it doesn't think Jesus/God (or the fire) will return but on Judgment Day a door of wrath is opened and the "backdraft" consumes those who should go to Hell.
    Flag Complexon January 15, 2008   Link

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