What do you think How to Save a Life means?

The Fray: How to Save a Life Meaning

Album cover for How to Save a Life album cover

Song Released: 2006


How to Save a Life Lyrics

Step one you say we need to talk
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk
He smiles politely back at you
You stare politely right on through
Some sort of window to your right
As he goes left and you stay right
Between the lines of fear...

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  1. anonymous
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     Jan 21st 2007 !⃝

    For this song, to me, it's about someone and their friend. They are going through rough times and they are always fighting. This is proven by the line "I lost a friend somewhere in the bitterness". The lead singer says that he "lost his friend," meaning he killed himself over the fights. When the lead singer says "I would've stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life." To me, this means that if he stayed up the night with his friend he would've tried to talk his friend out committing suicide, but since his friend had his mind set, and wouldn't change it, he thought that there was no way he could talk him out of it. He also thought that no matter what happened that they had to get over t.

  2. anonymous
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     Jan 14th 2007 !⃝

    This is what I thought it was about:

    The whole song seems to be like a friend giving advice to another friend. Like the guy in the song is talking to his ex-girlfriend, and advising her on how to handle and address a problem (possibly cheating) in the relatonship she's in now. The chorus is the guy apologizing to his friend for hurting her, and saying he would do anything to make her feel better (would have stayed up with you all night, had I known how to save a life).

    The second verse really makes me think that the girl he's talking to is being cheated on in the song:

    (grant him one last choice, he will do one of two things, he will admit to everything, or he'll say he's just not the same...)

    He's telling the girl either her boyfriend will admit to the cheating, or he'll just say he's not the same.

    The whole song is trying to prepare her for how the confrontation will go, and he offers advice along the way.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  3. anonymous
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     Jan 11th 2007 !⃝

    This is about how one band member got up the courage to intervene in another band members drug affairs, but when the drug addicted band member walked away, he let him go, and once he realizes that the drug addicted member's life is ruined, he blamed it on himself, because he had him in a position to talk, but just let him slip as "he goes left but you stay right"

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  4. anonymous
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     Jan 6th 2007 !⃝

    The reason for this song is that the lead singer used to work at a camp for mentally disabled and suicidal kids and he became really good friends with one of the kids and a then the he died from his disease...:[

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. 30shadowedayz
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     Jan 5th 2007 !⃝

    All those interpretations are right, but the real reason this song was written was because one of the guys in the fray used to work at a camp for troubled teens....drugs suicide....stuff like that.....MTV released a new video where its just them playing against a white background and it has troubled teens and some of the lyrics fading in and out. They said their first video didn't portray their message as well as they wanted it to. So this song is about trying to help someone with a problem whether it be drugs, depression, or preventing suicide....and for all you out there who are going through a tough time or know people who are going through something hang on....it gets better I should know I used to be one of those kids the fray is talking about. you're not alone their are people out there who care...life is filled with sadness its no use in giving up that's not how this feeling goes away

  6. anonymous
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     Jan 5th 2007 !⃝

    I like this song! Its the bomb! I love The Fray! They the BOMB! Call me...!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. panicatthedisco_fan
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     Dec 30th 2006 !⃝

    Well this just me but I thought that it was about this person that had drug problems. And when they were driving they got into a car wreck and the friend that only got hurt felt like he should have done something to help the friend.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. the_fray
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     Dec 28th 2006 !⃝

    Here's the correct story...
    Isaac (singer) was a mentor to a friend whom was having issues with a drug addiction. Isaac had a point in his life where he was as well addicted to drugs, but then he turned to Jesus, and religion. The Frays a christian rock band, for those of you who don't know. Anyways, he didn't want to see his friend go down the same path he did, hence he gave him an intervention ("step one you say we need to talk...")

    Its not about a girl, that's something that writers like to do and hide meanings within love storys. Read beneath it all people, don't settle for the surface message. There you go. :)

  9. anonymous
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     Dec 26th 2006 !⃝

    i think it's about 2 best friends & they like eachother
    but the girl doesn't want to date yet becuz there such good firends & the guy gets mad & they lose there friendship!
    so when its says " she wonders why she came" is becuz it destroy there whole friendship & there was no point now!

  10. anonymous
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     Dec 25th 2006 !⃝

    to me this song cn be interpreted a variety of ways but when I first heard it I got the image of a couple who have come to the end of their relationship. I'm gonna go into a bit of detail here:

    The first verse is about her trying to get through to him and tell him whats wrong but he won't listen. He tries to pretend everything is fine but she cant. He's going left but she's not going in the same direction in life, the window to her right could be the life she wants bt can't have because he wants what's on the left. She's stuck in the middle.
    the chorus to me was about how they were good friends at the beginning and now through all the bitterness they've lost that plain friendship they had in the beginning. She realises she would have done anything to save her relationship if shed know how.
    the second verse is saying tht she tries to tell him whats wrong and that they need to fix whats ruining them nd she tries to do this by slipping past his defence but in the end she has to resort to god and pray hell let the relationship live but she knows in her heart it won't.
    in the final verse she lays down the ultimatum that he either stays with her nd tries to fix it. or he carries on on his road while she stays behind.its now his choice, he either picks her or hell realise they've changed. There's nowhere left for them to go.

    its a bit muddle, just my immediate reaction. I love this song so muc. So beautiful! xox

  11. anonymous
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     Dec 20th 2006 !⃝

    I think that the song is about a kid who's depressed and goes and talks to a counselor, but the counselor doesn't worry about how the kid is feeling and just worries about just what to tell the kid. The kid ends up doing suicide and the counselor feels guilty that he could have prevented this from happening and that if he knew that the kid was going to kill himself he would have "stayed up with the kid all night" to try to help him and tell them that it's all gonna pass and that things will be better.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  12. anonymous
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     Dec 17th 2006 !⃝

    The big bad a-word....ABORTION. The man is trying to convince his girlfriend/wife not to have an abortion, he's trying to "save a life".

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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     Dec 13th 2006 !⃝

    This sounds like an intervention. He lost his friend because of it, but he saved his life.

  14. anonymous
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     Dec 7th 2006 !⃝

    This is a quote from the lead singer: "I actually named the song from a sign I saw at a swimming pool—sort of a step-by-step method on how to bring somebody back to life. I thought about how there's no way you can actually do that in real life. There's no formula to saving someone. So that idea was cooking in my brain. Then I met this kid at this program in Denver where I was mentoring. His life was the opposite of mine. I was a sheltered church kid and he was a drug-addicted alcoholic coming out of his recovery program at 17. The song grew from that."

  15. anonymous
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     Dec 5th 2006 !⃝

    I think it's about a girl thinking about getting an abortion..... but the friend talks her out of it...and he saved a life because she didn't go threw with it

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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