The Evanescence Song Interpretation Thread

[Naeryn]

Originally Posted by Euge

Somebody is trying to make her feel worthless. Telling her lies that makes her feel less of what she really is.

But, somehow she feels protected by those lies, maybe somebody she knows and loves is the one saying them. And even though the rest of the people might not understand why, she will struggle and fight for that love that is not there, btw.

The lies, in my opinion, are all the verses of the song where she is not singing. And all that she's able to say, as I've said above, is that people might never see why, but she will anyway keep on loving and fighting for the liar.

So, what I think of this song, is that she knows that all she loves is a lie, but is better to have something that in the end isn't real, than to have nothing and be alone.

I'd post my own, but there's no point, as my interperetation is virtually the same as this, and she said it so eloquently... *reps for teh Euge*

[emptyshell]

I find this song very interesting because for me it's been the hardest to understand. Contrary to many people's interpretation, I see this version of the song as very religious. Here's my best interpretation of it, though some parts are still hazy:

Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears
Lost from within, pursuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again

I see this first verse as Amy's subconscious or maybe even spirit speaking. The reason it's sounds so deep and grating is because its been marred by harsh experiences. It's like Amy's beaten down side.
Anywho, I love this first verse. Obviously, it's about someone who realizes that the reality they've been living in is nothing but a lie (whether the lies refer to someone else or the victim's own inner demons is open to interpretation). Since I like to relate to it, I feel that the song isn't necessarily about someone who's been lied and manipulated by someone evil in their life. It could just mean that a person's isolated themselves so much inside that once they wake up to reality, they realize that they've been lying to themselves. Hence "Lost from Within". The problem lies within them. It's always lied within them. I think the last line is so heart-wrenching. It's like she's saying, I want to believe in the lies again because they were my comfort, they were what gave me hope and took me away from the horrible truths of the world.

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above

This is the part of the song that gets warped for me. It's hard to figure out when put up against the rest of the context of the song. My guess is that this is the part where people derive the whole "abusive person who fed her lies" theory. but I don't know. She could literally be talking about someone evil. (perhaps Amy's allusion to her ex?) Or this could just be a metaphorical verse and Amy is referring to that negative mindset that takes a hold of us whenever we're in despair.(By saying you'll never be strong enough, she's consoling herself and repeating to herself that she won't let negativity get the best of her). Or it might be referring to Satan. Since the rest of the song takes on a more religious note, I considered this for a while, but now I'm open to interpretation.

They'll never see
I'll never be
I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me

This is simple: The rest of the world is cruel and horrible and she'll never be able to find peace among society. I think the "hunger burning deep inside" of her could mean any of these things: Truth, peace, clarity of mind, spiritual fulfillment or true love. Or it could be all five.

But through my tears breaks a blinding light
Birthing a dawn to this endless night
Arms outstretched, awaiting me
An open embrace upon a bleeding tree

This is Amy's subconscious talking again. Basically, I think this signals the point where the girl, after much suffering and torment, sees a white light at the end of the dark tunnel and that light is leading her to God so he can help her through this clash with reality. Hence "through my tears breaks a blinding light." The open embrace is the Comforter she's been waiting for to console her and bring her security at last. He's the open embrace, she's the bleeding true. She hears him speak and he says:


Rest in me and I'll comfort you
I have lived and I died for you
Abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you

I think this and the rest if pretty self-explanatory.

All in all, this truly is a beautiful, inspiring song. but then again, so are the rest of Ev's songs.

[Shivercide]

I believe this song is about someone she cared about that harmed her, in both mental and physical ways. However, it's the verbal abuse that stands out the most in this song - also the type of abuse that sticks the most - and a person can only take so much, before they begin to believe it themselves.

It also seems that the words in this song have developed after she's not around that abusive person anymore. Yet the bad feelings, the shame, the self-hatred still linger with her.

"Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear,
sealed with lies through so many tears,
lost from within, pursuing the end,
I fight for the chance to be lied to again."

While in the relationship, she felt trapped, literally "shackled" by fear, told lies about herself that destroyed her self-esteem to the point where the only way to go was to believe those lies - although deep down she knows that they are only lies, being handed out by someone close to her only held so much more weight behind them.

Even after she managed to escape from a bad relationship, she still feels as worthless as those lies made her feel. Everyone else around her doesn't see her that way, and what she wants is for them to stop praising her - she wants to be lied to again, so she isn't feeling this alone.

"You will never be strong enough.
You will never be good enough.
You were never conceived in love.
You will not rise above."

Those were some of the lies she was told, and they ring constantly throughout her mind.

"They'll never see,
I'll never be,
I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger
burning deep inside of me."

I think the chorus stands to explain, a struggle to be able to put into words exactly how she feels so that others might understand. The "they'll" in "they'll never see" are the others around her that really care about her, the ones that know all of the beauty in her soul.

What they'll never see is the fact of how hard she's struggling ("I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger burning deep inside of me") to quell her desire to be lied to - or perhaps struggle to escape from the lies that she was quarantined inside ("sealed with lies through so many tears").

"But through my tears breaks a blinding light,
birthing a dawn to this endless night.
Arms outstretched, awaiting me,
an open embrace upon a bleeding tree.

Rest in me and I'll comfort you,
I have lived and I died for you,
abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you."

When I first heard this song, I thought of this first verse as Christ on the cross, accepting her into his arms, and the second verse speaking out to her. Now I think of it differently.

The "dawn" is basically an escape of a last-resort - she is beginning to feel that there is nowhere left to go, nothing left to do, but end her misery in the only way she knows how. I see the "bleeding tree" resembling suicide, as it is a seemingly beautiful escape, yet pained itself and mourning.

I think of the second verse as more lies she is remembering from her abusive lover. Not only are they a painful vice, but they are also a reminder that she cannot let him win - no, instead she will continue to struggle on, through the lies, through the fear, until she is free.

[saida]

Ooh, I love this song... but it's damn hard to interpret Anyways, after a lot of listening, I came to the conclusion that I think this song is about a bad parent-child relationship.

Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears

Okay, so this kid has one or two horrible parents, they are abusive at least emotionally, maybe also physically. The parent keeps her in check, terrorizes her and then usually after s/he's done with yelling, she'll start trying to make it up to her, probably saying she was annoying the parent and it was her own fault, she's tied into this endless circle or lies and they affect her so deep because she's still a child and doesn't understand anything else but that her parents should be the most important people to her.

Lost from within and persuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again.

A child needs to believe her parents are gods and eventhough this kid's parent does not treat her well, she still struggles to make the parent love her, she feels she's being the bad one and she wants to be loved so bad, that's why she fights for the chance to be lied to again, she wants to believe every lie she hears.

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above


These are the parent's words and they sink inside the kid, they become her subconcious mind and scold her, she believes in these thoughts fully. The parent is somebody who hates himself very much, he wants to remind the girl that there's nothing special about her, that she's just "trash" or something.

They'll never see
I'll never be
I'll struggled on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me
These are the girl's thoughts. "They" is the rest of the world, she's been suffocated by her parent(s) and she doesn't understand that the rest of the world isn't like that and wouldn't treat her so horribly. But she locks herself up, it's easier to numb yourself than try and face the risk of failing. She feels she will never exist, she will never be important to anybody because her parent never treated her as if she was. Her hunger is for love and acceptance but she has to hold it back because she believes she's not worthy of either. It could also be rage, she can't lash out at her parent because she's dependent on him. The hunger is something she herself is, she has to subdue her own soul because her parent can't stand her having own thoughts or feelings.

But through my tears breaks a blinding light
Birthing a dawn to this endless night
Arms outstretched, awaiting me
An open embrace upon a bleeding tree

This is the moment when the parent is sweet and nice and not abusive or drunk or messed up. The parent changes into this lovely shining sun and the child believes this is the change that will last forever.

Rest in me and I'll comfort you
I have lived and I died for you
Abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you


These are lies the parent tells and in these verses, there's this guilt trip that he lays on the kid. That because the child exists only because they parent concieved her or gave her birth, she's eternally in debt to the parent and has to obey him for the rest of her life, has to forget all her own desires and wishes. Because the parent has lived and died for her, she belongs to him, body and soul. This I will never forsake you is like a sick joke, irony, but she needs to believe in it.

I don't know if this made any sense, though. Blah. Love this song but the lyrics are difficult.

[risikasfledgling]

I think this song is about someone who is underappriciated and feels worthless, but is really better than the people that make him/her feel this way- 'You will never be strong enough, you will never be good enough. You were never concieved in love, you will not rise above' Basically she's bashing whoever it is who makes her feel this way, and telling them they will never rise higher than the level they are at now, they will never grow up, in a way.
'They'll never see. I'll never be, I've struggled on and on to feed this hunger burning deep inside of me.' I think this is telling how she feels underappriciated and that she has to struggle to 'feed' her needs and desires.
'Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear. Sealed with lies through so many tears. Lost from within, persuing the end, I fight for the chance to be lied to again.' Basically, the writer can't find the courage to get rid of whoever is making them feel this way, and they fight to keep them rathar than to get rid of them.
'But through my tears breaks a blinding light, birthing a dawn to this endless night. Arms outstretched, awaiting me. An open embrace upon a bleeding tree. Rest in me and I'll comfort you. I have lived and I died for you. Abide in me and I vow to you, I will never forsake you.' And the writer tries to turn things around...
That's all for now, I'm kinda tired, so I'm sorry if this sucks.

[MonTu Poop-c]

(This is my first time posting in this thread)

Lies is my second favorite Evanescence song... but I have little idea of what it's really about. It's not as clear as some of the other songs like Even in Death, or Going Under.

Lies could be about another person who is feeding somebody Lies... but here is another idea:

A person has VERY low self-esteem. This person tears him/herself down and argues and fights with him/herself.

One side of this person is telling him/her that She will never be strong enough... etc... essentially tearing him/herself down. But another part of the person feels like maybe they are worth something.
Another part of this person understands that society more or less did this to them.
But overall, the conflict that rages within this person is too much and the person can't really take it... so they rest quietly in their lies.

That doesn't really explain much for the remix of lies, which more or less clearly brings another person into it... but... you know.

[Heliosis]

I Believe that this song is about someone that's been pushed down constantly by one person or many people in their lives. The poetry in the lyrics is very symbolic. It's a beautiful song. And the opening vocals seem to just set it into it's mournful theme.

[LurkerOfShadows]

I agree with a lot of these people. I think that it's about being pushed around and underappreciated. Here's my verse by verse kind of interpretation... it is actually kind of personal... with what happened to me... so bare with me.. okay.

Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears
Lost from within, pursuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again

You are bound by that one person... You fear to tell anyone for the sake of them thinking your lying. Tears are of course the tears you cry out loud or silent. You are lost and have no where to turn.. .and hope for the end of it all, but you pursuade everyone it's all okay and you are then being lied to by that person again...

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above

These are the words of the "loved one". Degrading your every being. You won't make it anywhere, no one will ever see you for what you are, you have never been loved by anyone, and you won't come to the top over me

[CHORUS:]
They'll never see
I'll never be
I'll struggle on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me

The journey of actually getting out... trying to get help. How many people have thought the words to be lies. "They will never see the truth... and I'll never be anything better than I am..." So you struggle to get out the longing to leave that leaves you aching inside.

But through my tears breaks a blinding light
Birthing a dawn to this endless night
Arms outstretched, awaiting me
An open embrace upon a bleeding tree

Through all of the pain and suffering and tears, you find salvation. The 'endless night' has ended. There stands the help .... waiting for you... and open arms to an abused being

Rest in me and I'll comfort you
I have lived and I died for you
Abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you

The salvation is always there... comforting you... helping you... they will always be there through life and death... if you take control, and seek all the help you can take they will be there till death... and will never lie to you or leave you...


Thank you I hope I didn't upset anyone... that was my interpretation and how i felt with everything... sort of personal i guess i like to hear others ... keep posting.... I like this thread. it offers a new learning experience...

[Traded_Worth]

before the 'crash' i remember it was decided that we were given free reign to discuss any song we wanted to. i was just wondering if it still applied or if we are going to go through songs again?

[LurkerOfShadows]

No, we are told which songto discuss.