| ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"My Last Breath" is a song from Evanescence's first studio album, Fallen.
Background[]
The song was recorded as a demo before being chosen to be on Fallen. Amy and Ben have both said that the 9/11 attacks in New York City inspired them to write this song.
Ben: "My Last Breath" came from right after the September 11th thing and sort of from the perspective of someone who was just immediately swept away and sort of a lingering emotion or lingering spirit, like saying goodbye because it was just so sudden. And this particular person in the story is sort of speaking to a loved one, you know, trying to comfort them. And there is also like any kind of experience there are mixed emotions, where when you go to the bridge is sort of the like denial factor or the anger factor that goes in for that brief moment, because no emotion is perfect by itself. It's like any experience you go through, you're going to have a whole swirl.
Amy: Yeah, saying goodbye and like, you know, spirit form, like coming to the living loved one.[1]
In a 2023 interview about the 20th anniversary of Fallen, Amy discussed the song:[2]
“It was inspired by 9/11. Our label was in New York, and I remember being woken up because it was super-early there when the first plane flew in. We were all watching the news and calling people in New York. As we were talking to our parents, we saw the next plane hit, and were like, ‘Was that a replay? There’s no way this is real.’ When a really big thing happens, your idea of what is important becomes so ridiculously small and meaningless. It was written from a feeling of total compassion for the loss that people felt, but also imagining how scary it must have been to be in the building at the time.”
A demo, dated November 15, 2001, was officially released on a cassette tape with unreleased demos as part of Fallen 20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Box Set in March 2024.
Lyrics[]
Fallen and Mystary Versions:[]
Hold on to me, love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid, ah
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light, it ends here tonight
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree [come find me]
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light, it ends here tonight
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there
Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me, calling me
As you fade to black
[Say goodnight] Holding my last breath
[Don't be afraid] Safe inside myself
[Calling me, calling me] Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light, it ends here tonight
[Holding my last breath]
[Safe inside myself]
[Are all my thoughts of you]
[Sweet raptured light]
[It ends here tonight]
Demo Version:[]
Hold on to me love
You know I can't stay long
All I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid
Can you hear me?
Can you feel me in your arms?
Holding my last breath
Safe inside myself
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree [Come find me]
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears
Holding my last breath [Holding my last breath]
Safe inside myself [Safe inside myself]
Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light it ends here tonight
Closing your eyes to disappear
You pray your dreams will leave you here
But still you wake and know the truth
No one's there
Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Calling me
Calling me as you fade to black
[Say goodnight] Holding my last breath
[Don't be afraid] Safe inside myself
[Calling me, calling me] Are all my thoughts of you
Sweet raptured light, it ends here tonight
Say goodnight
Don't be afraid
Are all my thoughts of you
Calling me
Calling me as you fade
In other media[]
- The song is used in the 2010 horror film Paranormal Activity 2.
References[]
- ↑ Playing Evanescence Interview 2003 (Thank you EvThreads)
- ↑ Garner, George (November 15, 2023). "Evanescence: “I’m so grateful for Fallen. It is something bigger than me”". Kerrang!.