The Evanescence Song Interpretation Thread

[KeyStone]

I remember how carefully Amy has described the songs meaning before, but I'll express my interpretation using the song title.

'My Immortal' is using a great term meaning ageless and undying, that also has a very almost mythological connotation that really compliments the feel and imagery of the band. The idea that someone close to you is gone, but their not dead for you, and perhaps never will be. Their life and words continues to echo, deathless, and the singer seeks escape. Also, 'My' Immortal adds a personal touch, loosening the definition of the word immortal, and aswell making it hit-home much more.

A really powerful, mournful song about a bittersweet release from sadness and picking up the pieces to move on. Plus, a beautiful video.

[brittany]

I think the lyrics describe the song in the most perfect way. If you want to know what the song is about, you really just have to listen to it. But instead of just leaving with that, I'll give my 'in depth' interpretation of it.

I don't think the song has to necessarily be about someone that has died to everyone. It could be about anyone you love, leaving your life in some way. Parent's divorcing, breaking up with someone, someone that has died, etc. It could even be about a mother or father watching their child grow up and leave home. I love this song, so I've attempted to picture it in quite a few angles, as one could most likely notice.

The song's message does scream 'love lost' to anyone who hears it, I'm sure. Loud and clear.

[I_am_sam]

I have always thought I related to MI a lot more than any other ev song, or at least after my stepsister died. When she passed, I could remember having terrible dreams and then when I would wake up I would still think she was alive. The line "if you have to leave I wish you would just leave.." hit really close to home for me. also i remember sometimes walking into a room and not seeing her or anything like that, but i would smell her perfume and feel her there. so i felt the whole "...chased away all the sanity in me." I just think the song means to me the presence of someone who is no longer with you still there. I knew that before, but never felt it until someone I loved was taken away. The pain was there, I never thought it would end, and well I still felt like she was there. I was numb and in disbelief. thats my interpretation of MI.

[saida]

Yay, next song!

For me, My Immortal was the theme of the time when a guy I really, really liked left me. I was kind of dark and he couldn't put up with it (or then he just got pissed because I wouldn't put out but I was already in love with him and that's pretty hard to undo no matter what). And when he left, I felt I couldn't get rid of him even if I never saw him again, even if we were in no contact, the ghost of him and the love I thought I could have just lingered there and I just wished to God I'd stop loving him. I felt MI is a story of a situation like that, maybe more than just about somebody who has died. Especially the part: When you cried I'd wipe away all your tears, when you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears, I held your hand through all of these years but you still have all of me, it seems somehow almost bitter, like she's done all she can for him but he just left and now she's alone and she has nothing. She just wants to stop loving him, she doesn't even want him back anymore, she just wants to be in peace.

[debra]

When I hear My Immortal, I think of the lost. Those people that you knew, and they left (died, moved away, what ever) and they left with only the ghosts of their presence. On really bad days I remember all the pain I have been through, and the people who helped me, and they are My Immortal. The ones who stuck by you even when the going is tough, and when you have had the worst of all worst, and they know they are helping you by just being there. But they are really only there in mind, as the song says "though you're still with me , I've been alone all along" meaning that the whatever it was you needed to triumph over was to be done alone, and without the help of the ones you thought were helping you in the first place. The reality is in YOU and not in any one else.


deb

[Shivercide]

I take it that it's in remembrance of someone who has commited suicide.

(I'm going to put my interpretation into first person form, because it's easier)

-I'm so tired of being here...suppressed by all my childish fears. And if you have to leave, I wish that you would just leave, because your presence still lingers here, and it won't leave me alone-

I'm angry, because you wished to die, and did so. But your presence is still left behind, and it's too painful to endure. You wanted so badly to leave - now leave.

-These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase. When you'd cry, I'd wipe away all of your tears. When you'd scream, I'd fight away all of your fears. And I held your hand for all of these years, but you still have all of me-

The memories are always there, and they're just too much to forget and go on as if nothing ever happened. I've always been there for you, in all of your pain, and yet you disappear from me. I feel that I have lost you, but you took me with you when you killed yourself - you still have all of me.

-You used to captivate me by your resonating light. Now I'm bound by the life you left behind. Your face, it haunts my once pleasant dreams. Your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me-

When once I was held surrounded by your beauty, I am now trapped in the pain of the life you chose to leave.

-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-

I've tried to pull myself out of denial and convince myself of your death. But you still reside in my heart; and I remain in pain alone.

[Cfw828]

Well, I believe that it's between either breaking up with someone that you love or a loved one's death as most have said already.

Even though Ben was only 15 when he wrote it, he wrote it with the maturity of someone who was probably 3 or 4 times his age.

It's easily the most relatable Evanescence song.

Relating it to recent times, I can relate it either to the families directly impacted by the September 11th tragedy or the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

We'd even seen a story of such an incident where a soldier who died had My Immortal as a song for his funeral.

It's kind of like a universal love song because it relates in so many ways and it can be used in so many situations.

[Darko]

While I think it is about a mother mourning the death of her young child, it could also be about a grown up kid going away to university/moving out of home. "The life you left behind" is the home life he or she left behind when he/she moved out and it's just basically a parent missing them greatly. The "but though you're still with me..." lines doesn't quite fit with it though, but I'm just offering another meaning.

Originally Posted by Cfw828

Even though Ben was only 15 when he wrote it...

Woah! That's only a few months older than me. He's one talented man...

[fizzy]

I kinda agree with Shivercide that it seems to be written in the memory of someone who comitted suicide, though I don't know if that was the case with Ben's grandfather, who I think the song was written about. It sounds like the person who comitted suicide was extremely attached to the person who is in the narrative in this song, and it does sound like they wanted to leave the world, and that they'd been through a lot of suffering-These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just so much that time cannot erase, when you'd cry I'd wipe away all of your tears, when you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears-but you still have all of me., and in turn put this person who's perspective the song is in, in a lot of suffering as well. This person has helped them through so much, that they grew very fond of them, and when they're finally gone, they're haunted by this presence which still lingers in the place they've left behind, and in the person's memories.

[Eleanor]

Originally Posted by Cfw828

Well, that brings an end to the discussion of Bring Me to Life....the next song for discussion is:

My Immortalhad to do it Eleanor :P

Please remember to follow the thread for the next songs.

Thanks. I will.

I think the strangest part of My Immortal is "You used to captivate me by your resonating light." The resonting light must be something good that this person spread around him. It could be friendship, love or support, something that made the singer very happy. She sings about "once pleasant dreams". The resonating light captivated her so that she just wanted to be with him. Now that he's gone, it's still won't leave her alone. The memory of him and the light is too strong.
"Though you're still with me, I've been alone all along" means that she remembers him all the time but feels very lonely and lost without him.
In the Piano - Vocal version this C part is different. It says "I'd love to walk away and pull myself out of the rain but I can't leave without you." She's been crying a lot. She wants to get away from her sorrow but knows that it will follow her wherever she goes.
"I'd love to live without the constant fear and endless doubt but I can't live without you." She's afraid of life without him. This may be interpreted that she asks him back. In the usual lyrics version she doesn't ask him back but admits that she's "alone all along".
Both versions are about living with a ghost of someone who's gone. I relate to My Immortal because my boyfriend left me but I still love him. I asked him to listen to it to understand me. He did and we get along better now. Many people can relate to My Immortal for various reasons. That's what makes it so good, especially for a song written by a 15-year old.