There's a path running under the city
Where the stones and the hills divide
There's a path we can walk through the loss and the pity
She's out of the light, she thought it'd be safer
She said I wanna go home
Eyes turn grey like her face in the paper
She said I wanna go home

There's a girl sleeping under the river
Where the snow and the rain collide
There's a girl that we watch and we'll soon be with her
She's out of the light, she doesn't remember
She said I wanna go home
Face turns white like a sky in December
She said I wanna go home
I wanna go home

There's a place we can all be together
Where the moon and the stars reside
There's a place we can go where we'll sleep forever
We're out of the light, we'll never remember
Do you wanna go home?

There's a black house burning in the moonlight
We're standing at the door and there's no one in sight
This will all be over tonight

There's something in the dark and I wanna go home
There's someone else here, we're not alone
This will all be over tonight


Lyrics submitted by joca13, edited by deadbunny

Leaving Tonight Lyrics as written by Michael Rainbow Michael Hanmer

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Leaving Tonight song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    Seems a lot like a song about girls that are lost, run aways or murders. Broken and doomed, they want to go home but the end is in sight. A reassurance that this will all be over tonight and a hope that they can be together with the people in their life in heaven.

    akimikaon March 08, 2013   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation

    I think this song is about feeling the urge to runaway from it all. The feeling that the darkness which can encompass our lives is really all around us, it permeates every fiber of our being (including our nightmares) and to run from it may seem like the answer but it may in fact not be, you may just have to deal with it head on (you maybe better off just heading home).

    EternalTearsOfSorrowon December 29, 2017   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Ah, this song reminds me of Lover's End in that it appears as though kids are retelling rumors, the account of a murdered girl, in this case who was thrown in the bottom of a river. It has that old urban legend feel to it. I think it's pretty obvious, but what do I know? I could be missing some important element to the song. Anyway, very nice song with a light and airy beat offset by a dark tone and meaning. Kinda spooky when you dwell on it.

    astralspectreon October 21, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion

    I tend to agree with the first commenter. This song seems to center around run-aways.

    The first verse to me seems like a girl who had run away and either ran afoul of someone who killed her or she simply couldn't survive life on the street and succumbed most likely to exposure or possibly a drug overdose. "Eye turn grey like her face in the paper" indicates that someone was posting notices in the newspapers about a missing girl. Her eyes turning grey would happen when she died.

    The second verse we're obviously dealing with a girl who drowned or was drowned. I'm inclined to think the latter, since the lyrics states "we'll soon be with her". Perhaps there's a serial killer targeting run-away girls and this is what he does with them.

    The third verse seems to deal with the afterlife. This is where they'll all be together and "sleep forever", which death is often called the endless or forever sleep. "we'll never remember" would indicate that in death they would no longer have to dwell on the memories of how they died or the painful memories of their life (i.e what drove them to run away to begin with)

    The chorus seems to say two things at two intervals. They've all zeroed in on a house that's seemingly abandoned. Probably to spend the night without being run off or bothered. The "this will all be over tonight" that follows that may mean "tomorrow I'll go home". The second half where "there's something in the dark" would be the murderer entering. Now they're frightened and want to leave now because they don't want to die. Which leads me to further think that it's a serial killer. He targets runaway girls and probably uses that house as a setup, perhaps even telling them he knows a place they can go to sleep for the night safely - a baited trap you might say.

    TheLLawlieton September 10, 2013   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation

    I always look at their songs from a horror/fantasy story view.

    This song always makes me think of the movie hellraiser and the lament configuration.

    I feel that the song tells the story of several people investigating urban legends and becoming part of them.

    The path under the city, the girl under the river, and the burning black house. Each of the people encounters some sort of entity, the first tries to hide in the dark, hysterically saying "I wanna go home" that she doesn't want to be there anymore, knowing that she shouldn't have investigated the legend or "opened the puzzle box." In the end she is killed, her eyes turning grey in death like the black and white photo of her in the paper reporting her dead or missing.

    The rest of the verses follow suit. With the verse about the place they can all be together possibly being a subconscious thought implanted by the entity, the something in the dark, once they've been terrified enough to give up.

    Pharaohnofon October 03, 2015   Link

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