"How To Save A Life" by The Fray...what does this song all about?

Question

help me to interpret the song...

Answer 1

How to Save a Life" is an alternative rock song by Colorado-based rock band The Fray. It is the title track from their debut album. It was the follow-up single to the top 10 hit "Over My Head (Cable Car)" and peaked in the top 3 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The song has sold over 1,000,000 downloads, and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

About the song
According to lead singer and songwriter Isaac Slade, the song was composed and influenced by his experience while working as a mentor at a camp for troubled teens:

“ One of the kids I was paired up with was a musician. Here I was, a protected suburbanite, and he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him. ”

Slade claims that the song is about all of the people that tried to reach out to the boy but were unsuccessful. As Slade says in an interview, his friends and family approached him by saying, "Quit [the problem behavior] or I won't talk to you again," but all he needed was some support.

The verses of the song describe an attempt by an adult to confront a troubled teen. In the chorus, the singer laments that he himself was unable to save a friend because he did not know how.

While this was the original intent of the song, the band has opened the song to interpretation. They created a website[1] where fans were welcome to submit music videos they had made for the song. This arose from the response that Slade got from the song:

“ I got a lot of e-mails about it (...) One kid died in a car accident, and I guess it had been the last song he downloaded from his computer. They played it at his funeral, and some of his friends got Save a life tattooed on their arms. The response has been overwhelming. "



i love the song myself nd
itz one f the best songs eva

Answer 2

how many times is this question going to get asked?
It's about a teen Isaac Slade, the lead singer, mentored at a church camp who was over his head in drugs and alcohol. He told Isaac that he only wanted someone to come along side him as a friend to help him solve his problem, instead of as an enemy with a change-or-I-won't-talk-to-you-... attitude, which he never really got. Isaac wrote the song about what the kid really wanted and how Isaac would want someone to approach him if he were doing something wrong. It is told from the point of view of one of those people with the negative attitude and them realizing their mistakes after he's gone in the chorus, but the verses are told from the addict's point of view.
The name of the song comes from a sign at a swimming pool that Isaac saw with directions on CPR titled . . . How To Save A Life.
The last I heard, the kid was still alive though . . . and Isaac had just recently talked to him

EDIT: there are only two videos for the song: the third is just clips of Grey's Anatomy with the song in the background. And neither of the videos has a car accident in it.

Answer 3

i think it might be told from the perspective of someone who couldn't handle his friend's addiction / self-destruction.
there's also a stanza desribing an intervention.

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 and blame
And you begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best
Try to slip past his defense
Without granting innocence
Lay down a list of what is wrong
The things you've told him all along
And pray to God he hears you
And pray to God he hears you

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

As he begins to raise his voice
You lower yours and grant him one last choice
Drive until you lose the road
Or break with the ones you've followed
He will do one of two things
He will admit to everything
Or he'll say he's just not the same
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend
Somewhere along in the bitterness
And I would have stayed up with you all night
Had I known how to save a life

Answer 4

It deals with depression, sadness, broken relationships.. but one of the 3 music videos (and yes there are three videos for this song) shows a car accident.

Answer 5

right it's depressions.. sadness.. and regrets...