"Bring Me to Life" is a song by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on April 22, 2003 as the lead single from their debut studio album, Fallen, and as the lead single for the filmDaredevil. It was written by Amy Lee and Ben Moody. It features guest vocals from Paul McCoyof 12 Stones. It is the band's most successful single, and has peaked within the charts of more than 15 countries internationally, and won Best Hard Rock Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards.
Release
It was released on April 22, 2003 as the first single from their debut album, Fallen. The album's opening track, "Going Under", was initially planned to be the first single, however, the release of the Daredevil soundtrack impacted the decision to release it as the album's second single. The single includes "Farther Away" as a B-side and refers to it as the album version, however, the track order of Fallen was not finalized at the time of its release, and the track was eventually dropped from the album. The first pressing of the Australian single contained the track "Missing" as a B-side, but was mysteriously dropped from later pressings, and was eventually released as a bonus track on the band's first live album, Anywhere But Home.
Earlier versions of "Bring Me to Life" were recorded and released as demos before Fallen's release, both containing a considerably different sound, featuring more industrial pieces of music and the absence of Paul McCoy's guest vocals. An acoustic version was recorded and released on the Bring Me To Life DVD. Several other versions of the track have been released, such as remixes, acoustic, and altered versions. The live version featured on the Anywhere But HomeDVD contains a piano and vocal solo before the intro of the song, and features John LeComptperforming Paul McCoy's guest vocals.
"Bring Me To Life" charted #73 on Billboard's 'Best of the 2000s Rock Songs' Chart, and is the only song by a female-led band to be on the chart.[1]
Background
Lead vocalist, Amy Lee, has stated that the song has several meanings, the first being about an incident that took place at a restaurant. "I was inspired to write it when someone said something to me — I didn’t know him, and I thought he might be clairvoyant," says Lee from a tour stop in Tulsa to The Boston Phoenix. "I was in a relationship and I was completely unhappy. But I was hiding it. I was being completely abused and I was trying to cover it up; I wouldn’t even admit it to myself. So then I had spoken maybe 10 or 15 words to this guy, who was a friend of a friend. We were waiting for everyone else to show up, and we went into a restaurant and got a table. And he looked at me and said, ‘Are you happy?’ And I felt my heart leap, and I was like, he totally knows what I’m thinking. And I lied, I said I was fine. Anyway, he’s not really clairvoyant. But he is a sociology major."[2] Lee stated the previous in a VH1 interview when asked about the meaning. "Open-mindedness. It's about waking up to all the things you've been missing for so long. One day someone said something that made my heart race for a second and I realized that for months I'd been numb, just going through the motions of life."[3]
During an interview titled 'Amy Lee: Back In Black,' Lee claimed that she wrote "Bring Me to Life" about her long time friend, Josh Hartzler, whom she married on May 6, 2007.[4]
Music video
A music video for the song was directed by Philip Stolzl and filmed in January 2003.
Lead vocalist Amy Lee is in a nightgown and barefooted, and asleep in a bed within a building, dreaming of falling through the air below a skyscraper. As the chorus begins, the band and Paul McCoy are performing in another room in the building as Lee awakens, making her way to the window. Lee climbs out of the window of her room and begins to scale and climb the building until she reaches the window of the room where the band is performing. During the bridge, McCoy notices Lee and opens the window, which accidentally causes her to lose her balance, and grabs the ledge for safety. Throughout the bridge and chorus, McCoy unsuccessfully attempts to reach for Lee, and she falls off the building. However, she is shown asleep within her bed again, as if the music video were a dream.
Track listing
| Australian single | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Bring Me to Life" (Album version) | 3:56 | |||||||
| 2. | "Bring Me to Life" (Bliss Mix) | 3:59 | |||||||
| 3. | "Farther Away" (Album version) | 3:58 | |||||||
| 4. | "Missing" (Album version) | 4:15 | |||||||
| Subsequent pressings single | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 1. | "Bring Me to Life" (Album version) | 3:56 | |||||||
| 2. | "Bring Me to Life" (Bliss Mix) | 3:59 | |||||||
| 3. | "Farther Away" (Album version) | 3:58 | |||||||
| 4. | "Bring Me to Life" (Music video) | 4:14 | |||||||
- DVD
- Bring Me To Life - Video
- Bring Me To Life - Album Version
- Bring Me To Life - Live Acoustic Version
- My Immortal - Live Acoustic Version
- Interview Footage
Chart performance
"Bring Me to Life" has peaked within the top 10 of more than 15 countries worldwide, and within the top 20 of several other countries, thus making it the band's most successful single to date and considerably the reason behind the band's sudden success. It was certified Platinumstatus in 2003, selling more than 1 million copies in the United States. It managed to top the Billboard Alternative Songs chart and Pop 100and remain on the charts for several more weeks, and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.[5] It also peaked at #4 on the Adult Pop Songs chart. The song initially peaked within the Christian rock charts as well, partially because of the lyrics being interpreted as a call for new life in Jesus Christ by several listeners.[6][7] The song was internationally successful as well, topping the charts of Australia, Belgian, Italy and the United Kingdom, and peaking within the top 5 of Austria, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Netherlands andSweden. It charted within the top 20 of every other countries of its release.
Chart (2003)[8] | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Belgian (Flemish) Singles Chart | 7 |
| Belgian (Wallon) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 6 |
| European Hot 100 Singles[9] | 1 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 11 |
| French Singles Chart | 5 |
| German Singles Chart | 2 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Italian FIMI Singles Chart | 1 |
| New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 3 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 2 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 6 |
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[10] | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[10] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks[10] | 11 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Top 40[10] | 1 |
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
| Canadian Singles Chart[10] | 3 |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs[10] | 35 |
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
| UK Singles Chart | 97 |
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
| Italian FIMI Singles Chart | 81 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|
| Germany [11] | Gold |
| United States | Platinum |
Other versions
John Tesh released an instrumental version of the song on the 2007 album "A Passionate Life".[12] Welsh classical singer Katherine Jenkinsreleased a cover of the song on her album Believe.
References
- ^ "Best of the 2000s: Rock Songs". Billboard.com. 2009. Retrieved December 30, 2009.
- ^ Carioli, Carly (2003-09-12). "Amy Lee on bringing Evanescence's ‘Bring Me to Life’ to life". BostonPhoenix.com. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
- ^ Kaufman, Gil (2003-05-09). "Evanescence: Fallen To the Top". VH1 News. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
- ^ Eells, Josh (October 2006). "Amy Lee: Back in Black". Blender. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ http://www.billboard.com/#/song/evanescence/bring-me-to-life/4426234
- ^ Breimeier, Russ (2003). "Fallen (Wind-Up)". Christian Music Today. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2007-10-29. "'Bring Me to Life,' as excerpted above, reads as a solid plea for spiritual revival."
- ^ Breimeier, Russ (2006). "Comatose (Ardent/SRE/Lava/Atlantic)". Christian Music Today. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
- ^ "International charts". Hit Parade. 2003. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ Evanescence Tops U.K. Singles, Album Charts Billboard magazine
- ^ a b c d e f Billboard magazine (2004). "Billboard charts". All Music Guide. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
- ^ "Gold/Platin–Datenbank [Gold/Platinum Database]" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
- ^ "A Passionate Life: Tracks". Allmusic.com. Retrieved July 3, 2010.
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Foo Fighters | Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance 2004 | Succeeded by Velvet Revolver |
| Preceded by "Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake | Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single May 18, 2003 - June 22, 2003 | Succeeded by "Innocent Eyes" by Delta Goodrem |
| Preceded by "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers | Billboard Modern Rock Tracks number-one single March 29, 2003 | Succeeded by "Somewhere I Belong" by Linkin Park |
| Preceded by "Ignition (remix)" by R. Kelly | UK Singles Chart number-one single June 8, 2003 - July 6, 2003 | Succeeded by "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé Knowlesfeaturing Jay-Z |
| Preceded by "Un'emozione per sempre" by Eros Ramazzotti | Italian FIMI Singles Chart number-one single (first run) June 26, 2003 - July 10, 2003 | Succeeded by "Get Busy" by Sean Paul |
| Preceded by "Get Busy" by Sean Paul | Italian FIMI Singles Chart number-one single (second run) July 24, 2003 - July 31, 2003 | Succeeded by "Get Busy" by Sean Paul |
| Preceded by "Get Busy" by Sean Paul | Italian FIMI Singles Chart number-one single (third run) August 4, 2003 - August 11, 2003 | Succeeded by "You Weren't There" by Lene Marlin |
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