On The Edge

i love this song. i agree with everyone. im a cutter myself and this song touched me.

This is the flipside to 'Don't Jump' by the same band. This is what happens when no one is there to stop someone from giving up. The song, I think, is about a girl who was raped/molested ("Someone's hand is touching her, she has no will") and she spirals deep into depression. I think the "moment that feels better" is either cutting or the use of an IV drug, heroin, something along that line. ("her arms are so sore") Either way, the girl in the story I think eventually commits suicide ("falling from the edge.") The progression of the chorus shows her worsening condition. The song is so beautiful, and so real.

this song has alot of power to it. i am a past cutter and i agree that i listened to this when i was in that stage and now that im hearing it again it just gives me goosebumps. yes this song is about a girl being pushed to far she feels invisable and i feel like she started it for attention and when she didnt get it she realle took the cutting seriously and now shes addicted and sadly she dies in the end.

I think that this song is about bill himself, he said that people always though he was a girl when he was little, and the lyrics "someone's hand is touching her she has no will" is like what happened at the pool with bill.

Actually, they've (the band) said this song is, indeed, about drugs. Here's my interpretation and then a drugs-related one... (FYI, yes, I cut, I'm working on staying clean, but yeah)

First off, I sort of imagined this as an insane birthday party with lots of drunk, high, or simply uncaring people...

"Its getting light outside She is still there but no one cares They sang her Happy Birthday yesterday without her"

It's been going on all night; she's either been missing from where she's supposed to be, like, from her family--she snuck out to go to a party and they don't know what happened. Or, at said party, she got away from the main group of people who were supposedly celebrating her birthday, but the didn't notice and they don't care where she is. I think this is after the cutting incident, and she's dying now, whereas the next part is when it began.

"Do you want to see yourself flying through the night? This gift is what you need You're gonna be alright Eyes close and fall"

Do you want to lift yourself out of your depression, or your black mood? You need this, it will make it better; just close your eyes and sink into the pain (from cutting.) Gift--i.e., razor, or the "high" off of the cutting, will make you feel better. Don't worry, it will help you forget. (My personal experience--I feel like I'm lost and out of control, but the cutting is oddly comforting; I suppose pain is something familiar)

"Her first time on the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death A moment that feels better"

This is what really convinced me that the song is, indeed, about cutting. Edge--metaphorical, mental limit that she's trying not to fall over; it feels, when you're in that kind of place, as though at any moment you're to reach some sort of limit and you'll have a kind of final snap. The scars will stay forever--first off, the scars from cutting; second, the contrast between indelible scars and the temporary relief. Side to side with death--cutting is not indicative of a wish to die, but it's sort of side-by-side that, and it also seems to describe what cutting seems like; trying to bring oneself towards death. It could also be referring, in a way, to the parallel cuts; parallel to each other. You might also look at it as the cuts being beside the vital arteries or whatever, which spell death. A moment that feels better--the brief feeling the cut gives her, but quickly fades away again.

"Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back"

Blood-chilling. This made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The swirl of emotions is confusing her; there's pain, both physical and emotional now, and at the same time the pain is making her feel better in away; now she's sucked in, and she's not going to be able to come back.

"Its getting light outside She cannot sleep 'cause time stands still Someone's hand is touching her, she has no will"

I feel like this is a little bit removed, also from after the cutting, when she's dying and she just doesn't care enough to try and live or respond to whoever is touching her. Time is dragging. She also might not be dying, but is having an "holy-crap-did-I-seriously-just-do-that" moment and is lying awake, and she's sort of in shock.

"Each time when it hurts, she just feels so alone" She doesn't care at all Her memories are long gone Eyes close and fall"

Every time she cuts, she remembers only why she started, and she feels isolated from all the others; she might want someone to come and stop her, but no one does. She can't remember why she shouldn't cut, she can't dig herself out of the mess she's in, and as her confusion increases she closes her eyes and cuts again to try and let go.

"And closer to the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death This time feels even better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back"

She's getting closer to the true point of no return. This time feels even better--she's getting more lost in it, and it feels better and better as it brings her closer to that edge.

"She shuts the door She longs for more and more And more She shuts the door She longs for more and more And more Just once more

Everyone is watching Her arms are so sore But she doesn't care anymore"

Kind of confusing why people are watching her after she closes the door. Possible messed-up time order again, I think. Or, she goes into a new room to try and get away, but when people find her she's too far gone to give a crap what they think--it fees good. Now she's addicted, and she wants more, and more, and more, to get that same feeling again--one more time and I'll stop, one more time and I'll stop, one more time...

"And falling from the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death This last time even better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back"

She's gone too far and she's going to die; the last cut feels the best as she falls into death.

"The sky is casting over Her last wish stays unsaid"

The sun is starting to fade; they'll find her soon, but she won't ever be able to tell them what she wanted.

Drugs:

"Its getting light outside She is still there but no one cares They sang her Happy Birthday yesterday without her Do you want to see yourself flying through the night? This gift is what you need You're gonna be alright Eyes close and fall"

The party is still going on; she's there, but no one cares whether she is or not, they didn't even bother to see if she was with them while they sang. Someone is offering her drugs now--it'll make you feel better, you'll be flying!

"Her first time on the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death A moment that feels better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back"

A drug involving needles, that might leave track marks? What confuses me is that a high from drugs takes a bit to kick in, but then it lasts--not a moment. Maybe it's showing how pointless it is--she'll feel better for a while, but then it'll be over.

"Its getting light outside She cannot sleep 'cause time stands still Someone's hand is touching her, she has no will Each time when it hurts, she just feels so alone She doesn't care at all Her memories are long gone Eyes close and fall"

Weird drug affects slowing time, keeping her awake, someone is trying to talk to her but she doesn't care; the drugs have affected her memory. I can't figure out what the pain or the loneliness means for drugs.

"And closer to the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death This time feels even better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back"

She takes another dose, and it feels even better than before.

"She shuts the door She longs for more and more And more She shuts the door She longs for more and more And more Just once more"

Getting addicted--one more shot and then she'll stop...

"Everyone is watching Her arms are so sore But she doesn't care anymore"

Her arms are sore from injections and people are staring because she's taking way more than she should.

"And falling from the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death This last time even better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back

The sky is casting over Her last wish stays unsaid"

Overdose.

Hmmm...to me it seems quite obvious that this song is about cutting. "Her arms are so sore" and "side to side with death" because she's cutting from side to side. "On the Edge" probably refers to the edge of a razor or a blade, and the girl starts cutting herself and can't stop - "she longs for more and more". At first she isn't coming back because she's got so far into it that she can't stop, but by the end of the song she just wants to die which I'm gathering she does - "the last time" and "her last wish". It's actually really sad...I wonder if Bill writes from experience?

Yeah, I agree. At first I thought maybe it was about drugs because of the flying through the night bit, but I think the cutting metaphor works better.

It's clearly about a girl cutting herself and she dies.

Everyone is watching Her arms are so sore But she doesn't care anymore

And falling from the edge The scars will stay forever Side to side with death This last time even better Darkness and light are blinding her sight She's not coming back

i think part of it is depression as well. i know cutting is usually a part of depression, but the stages of the chorus reminds me of stages of depression, first time on the edge - she just started feeling this way. closer to the edge - closer to losing it, closer to a complete breakdown. falling off the edge would be completely giving up and giving in to the depression and the breakdown. Just seems to me that after Don't Jump, Tokio Hotel wouldn't write a song about a girl dying after cutting herself, so while i agree that there are some parts in there about cutting... i think the edge is really more of a mental thing.

when he says "She cannot sleep 'cause time stands still Someone's hand is touching her, she has no will Each time when it hurts, she just feels so alone" to me it seems like she getting raped by someone she knows and i think it means she's jumping from the ledge because you dont fall while cutting yourself. "Do you want to see yourself flying through the night? This gift is what you need" could mean that death is the answer to stop her misery. and she dies in the end and maybe her last wish was to be happy or to find somethiung more. oh and she is a cutter and she shows the world her scars when she is on the edge of a building. so it involves cutting and jumping from a building. well at least to me