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"Even in Death" is the seventh track on Evanescence's demo album, Origin.
Background and development[]
Amy Lee wrote the song in 1996 about a hypothetical of loving someone so much that you'd bring them back from the dead.[1] It's 1 of 5 pre-Fallen songs to be played on radio. Additionally, "Even In Death" is the only pre-Fallen song to ever be performed live on radio. It was one of the songs intended to be on Fallen, but it didn't make the cut.[2] Amy re-recorded the song for the 2016 compilation album Lost Whispers.
The intro uses a sample from White Zombie's "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls", which was released four years prior. The same sample was also used later in "Snow White Queen" from 2006's The Open Door. The song also features a clip from the movie "The Crow".
Amy's quote about the song from a 2004 Metal Edge magazine interview:[2]
"It's interesting – I don't understand why, but it's more sexual, not necessarily in the lyrical content, but just in the feel of the music for me, the song seems really sexual. I have no good reason for that, but that has always been that song for me, it's cool because that song is kind of different. The song wasn't written from life experience, it was basically just a cool story."
Ben's quote about the song from that 2003 interview:[2]
"That was so long ago...I was like eighteen, and we just found this little loop thing, and we just thought it sounded really cool and crazy and we thought it would be really cool to build a song around it. Then, one day, Amy and I thought about someone who's in a relationship, they lose their loved one, and they kind of flip out, and they go and dig them up, kind of like [Tom Petty's ]"Mary Jane's Last Dance" – We kind of thought we'd take that one step further."
In the Metal Edge interview, when asked why the song wasn't on Fallen, Amy said: "Well, we have a lot of songs that I think are pretty good that didn't make it on the record. That's one of my favorites that didn't make it, one out of maybe six."[2]
In 2016, speaking about the Origin demo and her re-recording of the song on Lost Whispers, Amy stated that the song was 20 years old, from 1996,[1] and stated: "That song was a little bit of storytelling about not wanting to accept the death of your loved one and just going nuts—to the point that I would go out and dig up the grave. We rerecorded it for the box set because the only recording I had was a rough demo from [when I was] a kid. [The album it’s on,] Origin, is made up of very old embarrassing journal pages from middle school. [The new version of] “Even in Death” is still a cool song; it honors the things I loved about the original, but it’s now in a beautiful light that speaks to who I am today. It feels like redemption."[3]
2016 Remake[]
"Even in Death" was remade for the compilation album Lost Whispers and specifically for the release of The Ultimate Collection box set. The instrumentals of the remake are solely piano-based with a cello (by Dave Eggar) playing occasionally in the background.
Amy on the re-recording of the song:[4]
I looked through Origin for the first time in many years this year, through this experience, and that song has always been one that has a good heart and I still like the lyrics. [But] our old recording of it is really bad, it’s us as kids with whatever we can find to record with. I think that’s the hardest part for me. You can always redo production but lyrics are lyrics; if the lyrics are dumb, I just can’t get my head around enjoying it.
I think that ‘Even in Death’ has some beautiful lyrics that actually are very much in the art and vision of what Evanescence grew into. So I took that song and redid it with my collaborator friend Dave Eggar, on cello, in New York, and we made this really different version that I love. It just felt like redeeming the song.
The re-recording was produced and mixed by Amy at MSR Studios in New York.[5]
Performances[]
"Even in Death" was performed in several legs during the band's 2003 Fallen Tour, with a different arrangement from its Origin version.
Audio[]
Lyrics[]
Origin version[]
Give me a reason to believe that you're gone I will stay forever here with you, my love Some say I'm crazy for my love, oh, my love I will stay forever here with you, my love I will stay forever here with you, my love People die, but real love is forever |
Lost Whispers version[]
Give me a reason to believe that you're gone I will stay forever here with you, my love Some say I'm crazy for my love, oh, my love I will stay forever here with you, my love And I can't love you, any more than I do I will stay forever here with you, my love |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Evanescence's Amy Lee Explains Decision To Release Pre-'Fallen' Material". October 19, 2016. Blabbermouth.net
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Campagna, Cathy A. (February 2004). "New Royalty". Metal Edge: 23.
- ↑ Goodman, Jessica (December 5, 2016) "Evanescence's Amy Lee reveals stories behind the songs". Entertainment Weekly
- ↑ Baltin, Steve (October 12, 2016) "Evanescence’s Amy Lee at 34: How Motherhood Sparked Her Creativity, Why 'Fallen' Makes Her Cringe". Yahoo!
- ↑ Lost Whispers (liner notes), 2016.