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"Imaginary"
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 the first studio album, Fallen. It is the third reincarnated version of "Imaginary" from the 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 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.[1] Since then, the song has been featured in several live performances including a session on 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?".[2]

"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."[3]

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.”[4]

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.

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[]


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