Lightning crashes a new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door

Lightning crashes an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now to the baby down the hall

Oh now feel it, coming back again
Like a rolling, thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it

Lightning crashes a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris
Presents the circle
Puts the glory out to hide, hide

Oh now feel it, coming back again
Like a rolling, thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it

Oh, I
Oh, I
Oh, I

I can feel it, coming back again
Like a rolling, thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it

I can feel it, coming back again
Like a rolling, thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it

I can feel it, coming back again
Like a rolling, thunder chasing the wind
Forces pulling from
The center of the earth again
I can feel it
I can feel it
I can feel it


Lyrics submitted by sawg

Lightning Crashes Lyrics as written by Chad David Taylor Chad Alan Gracey

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Lightning Crashes song meanings
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152 Comments

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  • +17
    General Comment

    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.

    notperfecton May 05, 2002   Link
  • +13
    Song Meaning

    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).

    tritterbugg02on December 20, 2010   Link
  • +7
    General Comment

    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.

    Jean Machineon April 14, 2002   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    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.

    susanbon August 23, 2011   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    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?

    Caeremoniaon May 25, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

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

    Marky Markon July 24, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    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

    jack_the_braton March 08, 2003   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    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.

    zonagirl78on April 30, 2008   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    this song is about re-encarnation (i know i spelled it wrong). hence lightning crashes, an old mother dies her intentions fall to the floor the angel closes her eyes the confusion that was hers belongs now, to the baby down the hall

    XSeach and DestroyXon May 14, 2008   Link
  • +3
    Song Meaning

    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]

    Sonvyaon April 19, 2013   Link

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