Nightswimmer and I understand the true deeper source of this most beautiful and haunting song that has become my immortal song. While I can understand how most individuals see it as a song of mourning for someone who has lost someone dear to them, I suppose only those few of us who have endured untold pain and suffering as a child that we realize later in our adult lives will never leave us would be able to capture the haunting reality of this most perfect song. I'm not sure if Amy wrote it or someone else wrote it (though I think Amy wrote it).

As a 30 something year old, I recently experienced post traumatic stress and a near breakdown triggered by the realization of a failed marriage and more importantly the fact that I finally had to let go of my ever-clinging desire to hold onto a love that I thought I had but really didn't. I realized again, I was alone. I've felt utterly abandoned by God, friends (though not all), spiritual brothers and sisters, and family and now the one who I always hoped and believed was my soulmate.

I grew up with little love or freedom in a religious cult and broken home and was raised with loads of psychological abuse. I could never do anything right. I was never praised. I was always told how stupid I was, how I would never amount to anything. I was even told by my mother at age 14 how she wished she'd never had me. I clung to my religious faith and even that wasn't good enough as that is when my mother finally admitted her true feelings for me. I excelled for the most throughout my school life. I loved to draw and write. And wasn't too bad at it. Everyone always commented on how good my sister and I were. Yet, I couldn't be good enough for my own parents to love me unconditionally.

At age 17, I was physically confronted and forced to to leave home late at night after my father discovered I had a different version of the bible than my religion approved of and I had confessed when he asked that I had that very morning went to church with my boyfriend/fiance and his family.

Because of my search for truth which revealed to me that "The Truth" I was raised in was a lie, I was also forced to give up my closest and best childhood and teenage friend. Our last conversation was one of the most bittersweet memories of my life thus far. She took the news with strength and compassion despite the pain we both felt over the premature and forced death of a beautiful friendship. Falling in love with someone outside my childhood religion and being true to myself meant "turning my back on The Truth" and losing just about my whole world I'd known for 17 years.

It was the beginning of my road to self-discovery and truth. And look what it got me. I had to either disassociate myself or face being disfellowshipped by my spiritual congregation of brothers and sisters I grew up with and many whom I was close to. This also included many relatives and a dear deaf grandmother I spent a lot of time with growing up. I was shunned by all of them everywhere I happened to run into one of them. It was years before I spoke to my parents, brother and sister, and many relatives again. Though, my sister and I became close again a few years later, it took many many years and more hurt and pain before my parents accepted me again. We have a superficial relationship now.

In the meantime, I clung to my fiance and his childhood religion. I followed him into the Army only a few short months after that all went down. (I was so devastated when he told me he was going to be leaving me for the Army). I was OK for a while, but I eventually discovered you can't run away from your problems or the pain no matter how much time or miles you put between them and yourself. My fiance broke up with me, I lost my self-esteem again, began to withdraw, and nearly went awol. Thankfully, some of my platoon saw the signs I was leaving and went to authorities who went to my ex-fiance who ended up coming back to me and helping me through the pain again (we were stationed together only a couple of weeks apart with same MOS). And add to that at the same time I was assaulted off-post by another soldier.

Most of my family didn't attend my wedding immediately upon our return from the Army, other than my grandparents from my father's side who weren't in that religion.

My husband started making me feel very bad about myself over the past year, particularly. I was so unhappy. We've tried, but whether he wants to admit it or not, he really never accepted me unconditionally or gave me the love I needed. He triggered a lot of the pain and sorrow from the past recently. We are in the process of ending our marriage.

And that leads me back to the meaning of the song. "My Immortal" as Nightswimmer explains is for those of us who realize as adults how the pain, sorrow, and fears of our childhood will forever follow us. No matter how much we try and want all the pain and the child in us to leave, it won't ever leave us. It is who we are inside. And we have to realize that. In realizing that, we realize that we are left feeling alone as though all we have is ourself. It is a cold and painful fact of reality. However, not all is bad. This also means we must realize our strength in being there for ourselves - "when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears - when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears - i held your hand through all of these years." Even through all the pain and self-doubt, we have to see that we are something. We are strong and we can make it. Even when we are alone, we can always count on our own strength to get us through the unbearable pain life deals us. It is a haunting realization of the melding of our past and present.

The first time I heard it while I was going through the lowest point in my life last fall, it brought me to tears. It is a comfort to know there are others out there who will always struggle with their childhood. (Now I'm bound by the life you left behind). But, the fact that we got through it ourselves as a child, means we can continue to draw upon that strength even when we just want to rest our souls and fears. This is my song.

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Tonbo, I'm tempted to think a song like this must have been written intuitively and probably has no 'correct' interpretation.
On the other hand, I think your reading of the song is as close as anyone can get to appreciating it in the way it was intended.
I feel Amy is singing about losing her faith yet knowing it's a part of her past which makes her the person she is today. She has lost her faith in the Church, but however hard she tries she can't let go of Christ - in whom she invested so much. However ridiculous it seems, she cannot shake off the feeling that he still has faith in her.

It's a beautiful song.

Thank you for sharing your story Tonbo. I wish you well.

i love this song its so beautiful and sad:) Everyone has a different interpretation of it but it sounds to me like someone falling in love with thier best friend but when they die and she/he never had a chance to tell them how much they loved them. Theyre trying to move on but somehow they cant because the memories of person is consuming them and it pains them the most to relize through all the years that they have been friends the other person never knew how much they really meant to them so they were alone

This song I think reaches out to anyone who has loved so deeply they just can't get that person out of their system. I relate but at the same time I don't want the guy to leave for good but in the same since I do. And his face does haunt my dreams.

Well, I said bring me to life was my favourite Evanescence song. I've changed my mind again, THIS IS.
Both the original and the piano version are brilliant to listen to. A very sad and depressing song, but one definitely to listen to when you feel hurt.
Like a Romeo and Juliet story, this sounds like a relationship that Amy may have had with someone that ended in tragedy and perhaps was always going to.

This song has to be the most beautiful on the CD. Absolutely pretty. One of my favourites, right after Going Under and Bring Me to Life.

This song plays and I cant fight the tears...it makes me think of my grandmother who raised me and without her I would be nothin more than another abortion

To me this song means that she and this guy were lovers then he left her and never loved her.

when i first heard this song i cried.. it has so much feeling! to me it is obviously about someone dying and their memory wont let her go and move on
shes really sad but also angry at the person for not letting her go either cuz she was always there for them and looked after them and now when shes trying to move on they are still there..
well thats wat i felt anyway

Such a beautiful song, amazing lyrics, amazing melody, amazing vocals. That's all there is to it.

This song is like the best song that they ever wrote. i cried when i heard this song

I have always loved this song - it has always moved me - but when my brother played the version on the Paris Concert DVD I just couldn't stop crying - even after the song had finished - I watched her playing on his big screen, he played it loud, the song builds up to that 'wait for it' moment and then the drums enter, with surround sound so loud i could feel it in my body - oh my god what a musical experience - like I was there at the concert - fu#&ing amazing!!!! I love you Amy!

My boyfriend told me that Ben Moody wrote this song because he loved Amy, but she broke up with him for another guy. So, he left the band and she sang this song that he wrote about her.

i thik this song is about like a really naughty toddler who like wont stop watching cartoons and like running amok and shit and the mom is like super stressed out and stuff and its like the kid is taking everything from her but like shes not getting any shit back. i dunno i mean i seriously think and like have heard from tons of other peeps that this is about a naughty toddler

Im gonna go out on a limb with this;
But I've had the fallen album for years now, and was going through all my cds when i foun dit again and felt like a good listen.
At the time I was reading the Twilight series, and all of a sudden when listening to this song i started fitting the lines with parts of the story:
"I'm so tired of being here"
and
"Cause you prescence still lingers here, and it wont leave me alone"
I thought this linked to when Edwards gone in New Moon, and Bellas all depressed and heartbroken over it and just stops living properly because when he left he took the life from her effectively. also how when she did dangerous things like ride a motorcycle and jump off a cliff, she'd hear his voice telling her to stop being so stupid because she promised him she wouldnt do anything that might hurt her.

"these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase"
Again how Edward leaves, and months and months later she's still not over it, time hasnt healed her heart.

"you used to captivate me
by your resonating light
now i'm bound by the life you left behind"
the book always makes a big deal about how amazingly gorgeous edward was, and how bella was fascinated by him. and now She can't get over how he's gone, and is still deeply in love with him.

"your face, it haunts
my once pleasant dreams"
When she dreams its basically of him, but its not pleasant because she knows all through the dream that as soon as she wakes up all the pain will come rushing back because really they arent together anymore.

"your voice, it's chased away
all the sanity in me"
When she started hearing his voice everytime she did somethign dangerous, she 'lost her sanity' and started doing crazier and crazier things just so she'd hear his voice again and again.

"but you still have...all of me"
Even though she loves Jacob, really all her heart belongs to Edward.

Yeah..I know i sound like another annoying Twilight fan freak. But ahwell, just wanted to put forward that idea of how the song links to the books in some ways.
But forgetting Twilight, I genuinely love this song anyway, and the emotion amy lee puts into it. Her voice literally is perfect - she can reach both the highest and lowest notes, and be proper powerful when singing.
I saw a comment someone said who said charlotte church was like her? OMG im sorry but no. I dont care that she's british like me, she has ruined her voice with fags and drink. So now although she can hit the high notes still, her voice is nowhere near as rich or powerful as amylees

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Who doesn't cry when they listen to this?

This song has great depth, as well as meaning. Just listening to the lyrics leaves me in an awe.
It makes me wonder how i will be when my loved one passes.

"I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone but though you're still with me i've been alone all along" is one quote i feel has great depth. It states that even though her loved one is gone, she can still feel him beside her making it seem like he's here, when in actuality, he's gone and she's all alone.

Another quote i feel has great depth is "your face, it haunts my once pleasant dreams your voice, it's chased away all the sanity in me." It tells you how badly hurt she is and how hard it is to deal with a death. Since that person she had lost is gone, all she has are memories of him. She even sees him in her dreams causing her to go insane.

Sooner or later one will have to deal with such a fatal tragedy, creating one to be in despair.







(WHOO HOO, LEE!)

sad...sasori and deidara's many theme songs!

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Everything about this song -apart from the chorus- screams Bella from New Moon (the sequel to Twilight). Even the title, My Immortal. That's not what the song is about, I'm sure, but it freaks me out when things i like seem connected like that lol.
And I really love this song, I've been learning it on piano because it's got a beutiful piano part.

To me this song is about someone's boyfriend who committed suicide and his ghost is haunting her.

This song means alot.This song is obviously about someone she had lost and how the memory of that person still stays with her.I don't care what anyone says this song is VERY well written.

this song is about a woman in a relationship with an abusive man. She had his baby and he KILLED it. I have a love hate relationship with this song. I hate it because what it means, but i love it because its the best song written by rock group. My friends are so impressed because i can sing it with out going into falsetto and still not butcher it. i'm just good at lip syncing. LAV EVANESCENCE!!!!!

I don't think this song is about a lost child. It seems like if that were true, she would have added much more touching lyrics that would make oyu feel her pain as well.

it's a beautiful song. it's kinda haunting. amy lee reminds me of enya in a way... she hands down has the most gorgeous voice in history!

This is a very sad and touching song. And can make almost anyone cry when listeing to it.