I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't, I don't wanna fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
I disguise
And I will lie
And I will take my precious time
As the days spent away
As I stand in line
And I die as I wait as I wait on my crime
And I'll try to delay what you make of my life
But I don't want your way
I want mine
I'm dying and I'm trying
But believe me I'm fine
I'm lying
I'm so very far from fine
And I, I can feel the pull begin
I feel my conscience wearing thin
And my skin
It will start to break up and fall apart
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
Every time I feel selfish ambition
Is taking my vision
And my crime is my sentence
Repentance is taking commission
It's taking a toll
On my soul
I'm screaming submission and,
I don't know if I am dying or living
'Cause I will save face
For name's sake
Abuse grace
Take aim to obtain a new name
And a newer place
But my name is lame
I can't walk and I ain't the same
And my name became
A new destiny to the grave
And I, I can feel the pull begin
Feel my conscience wearing thin
And my skin
It will start to break up and fall apart
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't, I don't wanna fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
I disguise
And I will lie
And I will take my precious time
As the days spent away
As I stand in line
And I die as I wait as I wait on my crime
And I'll try to delay what you make of my life
But I don't want your way
I want mine
I'm dying and I'm trying
But believe me I'm fine
I'm lying
I'm so very far from fine
And I, I can feel the pull begin
I feel my conscience wearing thin
And my skin
It will start to break up and fall apart
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
Every time I feel selfish ambition
Is taking my vision
And my crime is my sentence
Repentance is taking commission
It's taking a toll
On my soul
I'm screaming submission and,
I don't know if I am dying or living
'Cause I will save face
For name's sake
Abuse grace
Take aim to obtain a new name
And a newer place
But my name is lame
I can't walk and I ain't the same
And my name became
A new destiny to the grave
And I, I can feel the pull begin
Feel my conscience wearing thin
And my skin
It will start to break up and fall apart
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I don't wanna fall, fall away
I'll keep the lights on in this place
'Cause I don't wanna fall, fall away
Lyrics submitted by tavman, edited by thisistooshort, SkeletønClique
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To "fall away" seems to me like giving in to one's demons and losing light. He has to try to keep God in his life (keep the lights on) or else he might lose his way forever. The "pull" he feels that causes his skin to fall apart is the urge to do things that he knows are wrong.
The first verse is basically him waiting in line for judgment and recalling the way that he has lived. There is a desire to be adamant about his lifestyle, but it he knows that he is relatively powerless. The lines "But I'm lying, I'm so very far from fine" remind me of the song Be Concerned from Regional At Best. He lies to himself and God about how much he needs help.
The second verse starts to explore the effect of repentance. Instead of putting him at peace, he questions if he really deserves the grace he is shown. He tries to move past his past deeds (new name, newer place) but his guilt follows him.
Falling away means being far from God. It's not necessarily about what you "do" - it's about who you are.
And his "aim" for a "new name" represents being born again, but he admits his "name is lame," meaning that he has to constantly struggle to maintain his "new" life in relationship with God.
In the next paragraph, he talks about him cutting himself (And I can feel the pull begin I feel my conscience wearing thin And my skin It will start to break up and fall apart) Because of his thoughts. His conscience was demanding him to not kill himself, but it is wearing thin, and he can't control himself.
(Every time I feel selfish ambition Is taking my vision And my crime is my sentence Repentance is taking commission) A selfish ambition takes his normal thoughts, and repentance is starting. The depression gets worst if you don't get help.
(It's taking a toll On my soul I'm screaming submission and, I don't know if I am dying or living) I'm screaming for help, and i don't know if depression is taking over or i am just living
('Cause I will save face For name's sake Abuse grace Take aim to obtain a new name And a newer place) He wants to change by leaving,
(But my name is lame I can't walk and I ain't the same And my name became A new destiny to the grave) He realities that this new thing is lame and he isn't the same, and he should've asked for help before.
Tyler doesn't want to fall away because falling away is falling away from God, the beginning of a loss of faith. The beginning of the end of time.
In my opinion the religious reference is clear.
From my knowledge Fall away is a reference to basketball when a shooter falls away from the basket when making a shot. I know that Tyler played basketball in highschool around the time he wrote the lyrics of some parts of this song. How I see it is that he was forced into playing so he could get a scholarship for college.
In the lines 'I will lie and I will take my precious time' is could be suggesting that Tyler has to lie to his basketball coach father about liking basketball and is wasting his precious time with something he doesn't feel is worth while or what he wants to do with his life. This also links with the line 'I'll try to delay what you make of my life' where is suggests he is dragging on getting the scholarship -which in guessing is his parents dream for him. Saying that it is what they want and not him. Again to add to this point the line 'I don't want your way, I want mine' saying he has other plans perhaps music and songwriting.
Next the chorus and second verse definitely suggest that the things I have previously mentioned have a massive toll on Tyler's mental health as he recycled lyrics from his song 'drown' while is about depression and suicidal thoughts. When Tyler refers to his love for the other ambition (most likely music) as a 'selfish ambition' it makes me think firstly that he shouldn't be doing it as it is for his self and doesn't think it will help his family or be accepted by them but also could be shamed upon by the church as musicians are often seen as sinful for being greedy and self-centred other such things.
When he writes he is 'screaming submission' it creates the idea he is violently against what his life is planning out to be and also doesn't know if he is 'dying or living' making me think he wants to be dead than live a life he doesn't want.
This is just my interpretation though as everyone has there own view on what twenty one pilots' songs mean. That is the beautiful thing about music- you can take out of it depending on what help you need at that time.
I mean, we know that Tyler is a talented writter and this is such and deep song.
I think that there is three cote theme on this song :
- religion
- relationships
- suicide
And it's quite logical that they are linked cause there is never just one problem in life.
I am not gonna do a proper breakdown of the lyrics but there is defenitly some different questioning in here.
Religion :
---obviously religion is quite important background to Tyler and the religion reference here is pretty obvious, talking about such things as "the lights on"
-He is waiting for his judgement and seems scared of admitting
Suicide:
---He defenitly talks about waiting for death to come. He stuggling to understand the difference between "living" and "dying" because after all, no matter what life we are living we are all gonna die in the end and we all re closer to death with every breath we take. Which leads us to number 3:
Relationship:
---I use that as a very lousy term. I know that this song came up way before Bluryface but I believe that....Well you live with depression all of your life and that might have been when Tyler started putting words on Bluryface. This is the relation ship that he has with his other side, with his demons ("feel the pull begin"
" and I'll try to delay what you make of my life" this sounds defenitly like Depression and anxiety taking over. He is talking to a "you" which is deffo a personalisation of Blury.
"I can't walk and I ain't the same" sounds defenitly like he is falling away from HIMSELF towards Blury?
---I said relation ship in a large term cause in see some reference to what he is expected to be and what he is.
-There is defenitly the basketball reference in the title so maybe he refers to what he should have been/shouldn't have been in there. He was obviously destined to play music and maybe that songs echo the feeling he had in high school maybe when he was doing music and lost interest in basketball? (Haha sorry I don't know enough of the back story to assume too much about what happen then)
-There is the expectation from his religion, to be a "good" Christian, and he can't do that because he is obviously he has those suicidal thought and it is offence, but at the same time, being suicidal is not a choice and he might struggle with the clash between the concept that God made him the way he is (including suicidal) but the bible doesn't seem to accept suicide.
- There is probably relationships and expectations that are subtext here and happen to everyone like parents and friends expectation too. (" i dont want your way i want mine")
People dont necesarily understand the stuggling of mental health and other problem that might be going on in general, and that might push him not to reach for help neither (" I dsguise and I will lie"/" believe me I'm fine, but I'm lying, I'm so very far from fine").
Anyway, that went a bit deeper than I thought but I think it was kinda important to see the bigger picture and see all of the theme at once.
Please correct me if any mistake on religion has been done. And on the interpretation as well as english is not my first language.
Once again this is just my personal interpretation I can't even pretend to know what those lyrics are about and just assume.
Suicide is certainly something God considers a sin. This is kind of a difficult topic, and I'm no theologian, but I'll do my best to explain :) It's a sin like any other sin really. I mean sin is despicable no matter what, there are no good sins if you know what I mean. The thing with suicide is that it is a decision you make once, and there is no turning back. But it isn't an unforgivable sin, and God in his mercy would surely forgive it. Now Christians often get depressed, but we have the incredible hope of eternity with God, so suicide is so unnecessary.
You are entirely correct about how God is the only one to decide when life ends.
You have done very well on a tricky topic, and you've helped me appreciate this song even more, so thanks mate :)
I love your interpretation!
Stay alive I-/
Suicide is certainly something God considers a sin. This is kind of a difficult topic, and I'm no theologian, but I'll do my best to explain :) It's a sin like any other sin really. I mean sin is despicable no matter what, there are no good sins if you know what I mean. The thing with suicide is that it is a decision you make once, and there is no turning back. But it isn't an unforgivable sin, and God in his mercy would surely forgive it. Now Christians often get depressed, but we have the incredible hope of eternity with God, so suicide is so unnecessary.
You are entirely correct about how God is the only one to decide when life ends.
You have done very well on a tricky topic, and you've helped me appreciate this song even more, so thanks mate :)
I love your interpretation!
Stay alive I-/
Suicide is certainly something God considers a sin. This is kind of a difficult topic, and I'm no theologian, but I'll do my best to explain :) It's a sin like any other sin really. I mean sin is despicable no matter what, there are no good sins if you know what I mean. The thing with suicide is that it is a decision you make once, and there is no turning back. But it isn't an unforgivable sin, and God in his mercy would surely forgive it. Now Christians often get depressed, but we have the incredible hope of eternity with God, so suicide is so unnecessary.
You are entirely correct about how God is the only one to decide when life ends.
You have done very well on a tricky topic, and you've helped me appreciate this song even more, so thanks mate :)
I love your interpretation!
Stay alive I-/