Three Days Grace: Chalk Outline Meaning

Song Released: 2012

Chalk Outline Lyrics

I've been cursed, I've been crossed
I've been beaten by the ones that get me off
I've been cut, I've been opened up
I've been shattered by the ones I thought I loved
(Chorus)
You left me here like a chalk outline
On the sidewalk waiting for...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 24th 2018 !⃝

   This song was about how the groups' studio/publisher betrayed them, leaving them for dead like a 'chalk outline'. Don't take metaphors literally
2. anonymous

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   May 2nd 2017 !⃝

   Omfg anyone who finds this song about a wife who murdered her husband is wrong its DESCRIBING
   being left behind like a chalk outline you stupid fucks
3. anonymous

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   Apr 6th 2017 !⃝

   This song just explains my life..(but its not like i had one in the first plaace)
4. Original_Survivor22

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   Nov 19th 2016 !⃝

   I know its most likely about his partner leaving him but to me this song was very relative and meaningful to me when i was left by many of my close friends who turned they backs on me (this is what it means for me just an opinion)
5. anonymous

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   Aug 22nd 2016 !⃝

   This song describes how I felt when my wife of 12 years left suddenly, it was very unexpected and it broke me to my core. Anyone who thinks this song is about murder is missing the point, an unexpected break up (especially when you truly love someone) feels like a death of yourself and all that's left is the chalk outline. I'm still in pain almost a year later, I have started dating and found someone else to love, but the scars are still there. To anyone who is experiencing this pain, I'm sorry for your loss and I feel your pain, just know that things WILL get better!
6. anonymous

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   Mar 18th 2016 !⃝

   This song really spoke to me after my last break up and for some reason really comforted me. I looked into the Lyrics and knew right away Adam has been there and my ending of my past relationship was summed up in this song. There are many things to take metaphorically in this piece and I think Adam did a great job at making them present. The best metaphor is the chalk outline itself at the end of my relationship I felt alone no matter how many people I was talking to or around and a chalk outline is just that an outline not filled in, not whole anymore, and definitely not the same as the person before. But it sounds like it was a good relationship till the end and that's when he was hurt because of the ubrupt nature of its ending.
7. Luis_theHuman

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   Jan 24th 2016 !⃝

   To all the ignorant listeners who think this song is about a dead husband,
   
   This song is about a person who experiences an ugly heartbreak. When Adam says "You left me here like a chalk outline...waiting for the rain to wash away" he is comparing a chalk outline with this person being left alone and feeling dead inside waiting for the rain "time" to get rid these emotions. "You keep coming back to the scene of the crime" means the criminal (the boyfriend/girlfriend assuming its about a relationship) wanting to come back to this person in hopes of reviving what was once a thing. By "the dead can't speak" he means his emotions implying that he no longer feels anything towards this event or person. The rest is self-explanatory. This song clearly doesn't hold much literal meaning which is why most of us react in an uproar of rage. I hope that this post is at least somewhat satisfying to 3DG fans to show that not all of us are filled with poo brains.
8. anonymous

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   Dec 25th 2015 !⃝

   You guys are all stupid, I'm really young and I know what it means, his girlfriend left him and if the husband was dead. Then why would he be singing. He's not dead, as for he would be the husband and you won't get it. It makes sense for his girlfriend to have left him with Nasty words said.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 5th 2015 !⃝

   obviously his girlfriend left him they had to of been really happy for a really long time and then when they broke up he was devastated
   
   "... you left me here like a chalk outline on the sidewalk waiting for the rain to wash away..." is supposed to mean she left him cold and sad like a dead body and dead bodies cant move so hes waiting for her to bring him back also meaning he knows its not over yet because when you draw chalk on the sidewalk its not perminant.
10. anonymous

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    Feb 24th 2015 !⃝

    Okay. Why does everyone think it's about a wife murdering her husband? Think harder. It's obvious that it is a metaphorical chalk outline. It's referring to them breaking up. Adam's girlfriend broke up with him so he wrote this song. Many songs are inspired by the singers broken heart.
11. RebelHerosFightHarder

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    Dec 23rd 2014 !⃝

    I have to agree with the many comments above. it is about a wife murdering her husband.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Sep 25th 2014 !⃝

    It's about a gurl who murderd her husband

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    Aug 19th 2014 !⃝

    I agree with the person who said it was about a dead husband. It just fits too well not to be true.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    Aug 5th 2014 !⃝

    I honestly can't believe everyone thinks it's about a broken couple. It only obvious that it's about a wife who murdered her husband, and the husband's spirit's bitter thoughts. I mean, does anyone know what a chalk outline is? It's when police find a dead body, take a PIECE OF CHALK, and outline the body so they remember the location and pose it was in after they take it away to autopsy and cremate or bury it. I'll list the lyrics that scream the song meaning and what they mean individually.
    "On the sidewalk; waitin' for the rain, to wash away!"-she's disposing of the evidence (murder weapon, blood, etc.)
    
    "You'll be sorry baby, someday; when you reach across the bed, where my body used to lay"-She's going to regret killing him. (In scenarios like these, "body" is usually drama-speak for "corpse" or "DEAD body."
    
    "All you left behind, is a chalk outline!"- She successfully disposed of all the evidence but the body (too heavy to lift, nowhere to hide it, etc.) so the police still made a chalk outline.
    
    "You keep coming back to the scene of the crime..."-She keeps coming to the place where she murdered him, trying to tell him she's sorry and she regrets what she did.
    
    "...but the dead can't speak and there's nothing left to say anyway!"- He can't communicate with her because he's dead and even he could, he wouldn't want to.
    
    If there's anything I missed, let me know in a small section of your own interpretation(if you agree with me and are posting a similar interpretation) Chalk Outline is my favorite Trans. Of Venus song (and not because I want to jump on the bandwagon) and I found it rather easy of decipher.
15. anonymous

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    Nov 30th 2013 !⃝

    It's about a guy whose gf broke up with him when he wasn't expected, him sinking into a deep depression, leaving him broken.

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