Lightning Crashes

i just watched something on VH1 last night. it was the 90 best songs of the 90's. but this song was on there. the band was saying the song was very emotional for them and it was about a mother giving childbirth while another woman was dying down the hall. one person was ending their life, while another was begining. its such a powerful song.

Ed Kowalczyk said, "I wrote 'Lightning Crashes' on an acoustic guitar in my brother's bedroom shortly before I had moved out of my parents' house and gotten my first place of my own." Kowalczyk says that the video for "Lightning Crashes" lends itself to many misinterpretations of the song's intent. "While the clip is shot in a home environment, I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody's dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you're seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life. The dedication to Barbara Lewis came after the song was written. But it was something that we hoped would honor the memory of a girl we grew up with and help her family cope with sorrow -- which it seems to have accomplished -- in a fashion in keeping with the theme of the song."

In other words, this song is about the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The angel opens her eyes in birth, and closes them in death. The angel is both a symbol of the divine and of life, and the living people themselves (eyes opening for the first time in life, closing for the final time in death). The pale blue-colored iris of a newborn baby represents the circle of life. The glory coming out to hide is the spark of the divine hidden within all people. It is there before us in plain sight, but hidden because we see the flesh most often rather than the spirit within.

It is not about the girl who died in the car accident, nor is it about abortion, miscarriage, etc. It is about the peaceful passing of a life (an old mother whose children are grown), and the joyful if hectic arrival of a new life (the new mother and her baby).

I think the lyrics and the music just go so well together. It's so emotional and yes, really sad but I think the part about the baby represents new hope so its kind of a bitter sweet thing.

As I write this I am siting in a hospice house with my husband, who is dying from stage IV colon cancer. I wept the first time I heard this song. Our grown children and their children are gathering now, and we will all be together within a few days to say goodbye. For some reason I had to hear this song again - and I wept again. There is a circle of life that you can see very clearly from this end of the spectrum. I felt it very strongly when i welcomed my children to this world, and now I feel like I am giving my husband back. The world will go on without him, and eventually without me, I am sure of it every time I look in my children's faces.

the week this song came out I gave birth to a premature daughter, she only lived for 18hours. The day I got home from the hospital the week before her funeral, this video aired. The lyrics, the representation of life and death in the video and the song itself mean so much to me about the cirle of life. We even had "lightning crashes" placed on her head stone great song that will always remind me of my fight for her life.

this should clear it up....basically, when one life ends another is beginning

Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said, "I wrote 'Lightning Crashes' on an acoustic guitar in my brother's bedroom shortly before I had moved out of my parents' house and gotten my first place of my own." Kowalczyk says that the video for "Lightning Crashes" has caused misinterpretations of the song's intent.

While the clip is shot in a home environment, I envisioned it taking place in a hospital, where all these simultaneous deaths and births are going on, one family mourning the loss of a woman while a screaming baby emerges from a young mother in another room. Nobody's dying in the act of childbirth, as some viewers think. What you're seeing is actually a happy ending based on a kind of transference of life.[citation needed]

I agree with notperfect. The baby doesn't die. It is new life being brought forth into the world while an old one is being taken. I actually did this song for a project in high school ^_^ We had to analyze songs. How easy and fun!

Most people miss the most central meaning to this song. Not trying to be arrogant, but it just really jumps out at me. Ed K. is obviously very well versed in the various religious beliefs, and I think this song showcases reincarnation. One spirit "dying" and moving into the closest "birth." I don't get the reference to the sun/son, though. Obviously a reference to Christ, but, how? Suggestions?

This song is about a life being transfered into another. the old lady dies while the baby is being born.

the song is dedicated to Barbara Lewis (1973-1993). She was friend of thiers and she died in a car accident, she was only young, and they dedicated this song to her