Imaginary (song)

"Imaginary" Evanescence EP Origin Fallen Synthesis Released December 1998 (Evanescence EP) November 4, 2000 (Origin) November 13, 2003 (Fallen) November 10, 2017 (Synthesis) Length 4:01 (Evanescence EP) 3:32 (Origin) 4:18 (Fallen) 4:03 (Synthesis) Producers Ben Moody (Origin) Dave Fortman (Fallen) Amy Lee, Will Hunt (Spaceway) (Synthesis) Label Bigwig Enterprises Wind-up Records BMG Chronology Evanescence EP "Solitude" "Imaginary" "Exodus"

"Imaginary" is the seventh track on Evanescence's debut studio album, Fallen. It is the third reincarnated version of "Imaginary" from 1998's Evanescence EP.

Background

"Imaginary" has lasted for the whole span of Evanescence's recording history. The first version was released as a part of the Evanescence EP in 1998. It was remade and released again on November 4, 2000, for the demo album Origin. Several demo recordings were made in the making of Fallen, followed by an official appearance on the album featuring The Millenium Choir arranged by Amy Lee. Since then, the song has been featured in several live performances including a live session on 2004's Anywhere But Home. Throughout the years, live performances of "Imaginary" have occasionally altered lyrics to fit that of previous versions of the song.

Amy said her dreams in her teenage years felt more realistic, saying they felt like a link to another dimension. When she started writing "Imaginary", she had a question in her head, "Who's to say which world is real?".

"It's one of our earliest songs and also one that has total staying power for me I feel like that song was one of the first true stakes in the ground of what our sound was and what I wanted us to be when I was a kid dreaming. It's never left the set, and it'll always make the cut when it comes down to it because it's such a good core sum up for me of our roots."

The song was reworked on Synthesis, and this is what Amy said about it on the Synthesis tour program:

"This song is special for a lot of reasons. One of our oldest compositions, it's part of the exploration that shaped the core sound of Evanescence. It has never once left the live setlist."

In a 2023 Kerrang! cover story in the light of the 20th anniversary of Fallen, Amy discussed the song:

“Imaginary is one of my favourite songs. To me that was the core of our sound. I was writing poems as a seventh or eighth grader, and the part that’s like, ‘Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming’ was something I submitted to English class. It’s totally innocent, sweet, young, and dumb. I just felt like that song was a centre for the band in that it combined the orchestral and classical choir element so well with hard rock. It wasn’t classical in a cheesy way. It wasn’t melodramatic the way that Whisper is – when you get to that song, oh my God, it’s so over-the-top, it’s hard to keep a straight face! I still love it, but it’s just really super-dramatic. Imaginary is more straightforward.”

Spain Promo

"Imaginary" was released in Spain as a very limited edition radio promo single, under the Sony label, in November 2003.

It features a one-track CD inserted in a black card sleeve with a cover image that belongs to the same photoshoot of "Everybody's Fool" single. It is the rarest non-WUJC single ever released by the band and, for sure, the most valuable one. Online auctions usually reach more than $250 and very few copies have been seen in the past years. Most of them are still in near-mint condition due to the fact they have been stocked all along within Spanish radio stations warehouses.

"Imaginary [Live in Cologne (in 2003)]" was shown on Spanish Music TV at the same time as "Imaginary" had airplay in Spain.^{[citation needed]}

Lyrics

Fallen & Mystary EP

Ah, paper flowers Ah, paper flowers I linger in the doorway Of alarm clocks screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops, as they’re falling, tell a story In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] Don’t say I’m out of touch With this rampant chaos - your reality I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me Ah, paper flowers Ah, paper flowers

Origin

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] I linger in the doorway Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story If you need to leave the world you live in Lay your head down and stay a while [paper flowers] Though you may not remember dreaming Something waits for you to breathe again [paper flowers] In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers]

Evanescence EP

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light In my field of paper flowers And candy cloulds of lullabies [flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [flowers] I linger in the doorway Of alarm clocks screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story If you need to leave the world you live in Lay your head down and stay a while [flowers] Though you may not remember dreaming Something waits for you to breathe again [flowers]

Acoustic

Ah, paper flowers I linger in the doorway Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they’re falling tell a story In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me Don't say I'm out of touch With this rampant chaos, your reality I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light If you need to leave the world you live in Lay your head down and stay a while Though you may not remember dreaming Something waits for you to breathe again In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me

Demo Version #1

Ah, paper flowers Ah, paper flowers I linger in the doorway Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they're falling tell a story In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] Don't say I'm out of touch With this rampant chaos, your reality I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] You can leave the world you live in 'cause inside You may not remember But something waits for you to breathe again In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers]

Demo Version #2

I linger in the doorway Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they’re falling tell a story In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] Don't say I'm out of touch With this rampant chaos, your reality I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape If you need to leave the world you live in Lay your head down and stay a while [paper flowers] Though you may not remember dreaming Something waits for you to breathe again [paper flowers] In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers]

Demo 10.10.01

Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh, how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers] I linger in the doorway Of alarm clock screaming monsters calling my name Let me stay Where the wind will whisper to me Where the raindrops as they’re falling tell a story If you need to leave the world you live in Lay your head down and stay a while [paper flowers] Though you may not remember dreaming Something waits for you to breathe again [paper flowers] Don't say I'm out of touch With this rampant chaos, your reality I know well what lies beyond my sleeping refuge The nightmare I built my own world to escape In my field of paper flowers And candy clouds of lullaby [paper flowers] I lie inside myself for hours And watch my purple sky fly over me [paper flowers]

References

• home • Songs

The Bitter Truth Artifact/The Turn • Broken Pieces Shine • The Game is Over • Yeah Right • Feeding The Dark • Wasted On You • Better Without You • Use My Voice • Take Cover • Far From Heaven • Part of Me • Blind Belief Synthesis Overture • Never Go Back • Hi-Lo • My Heart Is Broken • Lacrymosa • The End of the Dream • Bring Me To Life • Unraveling (Interlude) • Imaginary • Secret Door • Lithium • Lost In Paradise • Your Star • My Immortal • The In-Between (Piano Solo) • Imperfection Evanescence What You Want • Made Of Stone • The Change • My Heart Is Broken • The Other Side • Erase This • Lost In Paradise • Sick • End Of The Dream • Oceans • Never Go Back • Swimming Home Deluxe Edition A New Way To Bleed • Say You Will • Disappear • Secret Door Outtakes (2010 sessions) Perfect Dream • You Got a Lot to Learn • Take Cover • Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing The Open Door Sweet Sacrifice • Call Me When You're Sober • Weight of the World • Lithium • Cloud Nine • Snow White Queen • Lacrymosa • Like You • Lose Control • The Only One • Your Star • All That I'm Living For • Good Enough iTunes pre-order bonus track The Last Song I'm Wasting On You B-Sides Together Again • If You Don't Mind Fallen Going Under • Bring Me To Life • Everybody's Fool • My Immortal • Haunted • Tourniquet • Imaginary • Taking Over Me • Hello • My Last Breath • Whisper B-Sides Farther Away • Missing • Breathe No More Pre-Fallen Material Mystary EP (2003) My Last Breath (Mystary EP Version) • My Immortal (Mystary EP Version) • Farther Away (Mystary EP Version) • Everybody's Fool (Mystary EP Version) • My Immortal Origin (2000) Origin • Whisper • Imaginary (Origin Version) • My Immortal • Where Will You Go (Origin Version) • Field Of Innocence • Even In Death • Anywhere • Lies • Away From Me • Eternal Whisper/Sound Asleep EP (1999) Give Unto Me (Sound Asleep Version) • Whisper (Demo Version #1) • Understanding (Sound Asleep version) • Forgive Me • Ascension Of The Spirit Evanescence EP (1998) Where Will You Go? (Evanescence EP Version) • Solitude • Imaginary (Evanescence EP version) • Exodus • So Close • Understanding (Evanescence EP version) • The End Evanescence EP Outtakes My Immortal (Evanescence EP Version) • Give Unto Me (Evanescence EP version) • October • Untitled Song