Lyric discussion by Vivial 

Cover art for Dance With The Devil lyrics by Breaking Benjamin

As soon as I heard the song and really started thinking about its meaning I saw a man dancing in a ball room with a beautiful woman in a red dress. While slowly dancing the woman whispers something in the man’s ear. The woman is seducing the man to come back to her place and sleep with her, the only problem with that is the man happens to be married. Unfortunately the marriage isn’t going well and there is a lot of stress and disappointment in the man’s life which leads to depression. To deal with this the man has been drinking, doing drugs, going out to parties, steeling, gambling, flirting, basically all the sinful habits of the meaningless bachelor life. He’s so deep in shame from all of this and all of the lies he tells his wife he decides there is absolutely no chance of going back to the good honest life he used to have. So here he is dancing in the ball room, thinking about committing one the greatest sins of all, adultery… The person talking in the song is the man, only it’s his inner conscience talking to him. “Close your eyes so many days go by”. I think he’s been keeping his eyes closed while life goes by, almost like he’s avoiding it for some reason; maybe because he is ashamed or afraid of what he has to face. “Easy to find what’s wrong, harder to find what’s right”. I think he’s realizing that because it’s so easy to fall into temptations and doing these things that wrong, doing the right thing is starting to become difficult. “I believe in you I can show you I can see right through all your empty lies”. He’s telling himself that there is still good in him. You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to keep on lying. They are not you’re your answers. Remember how it was before all of this. I can show you that again. “I won't stay long, in this world so wrong”. Again his conscience is talking to him, telling him that the good in wont last much longer if he keeps living like this. “Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil tonight. Don't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight”. His conscience is warning him, “This is it, you’re about to make a choice that will change your life forever. Don’t look him in the eye, don’t even think about it, don’t fall for her! Your dancing with the devil here, you need to stop!” “Trembling, crawling across my skin, feeling your cold dead eyes stealing the life of mine”. He is nervous and scared as the temptation rises. I can imagine the woman pushing her body up to his. She is like a mythical siren, sucking him into her trap. The temptation is staring right at him and the more he looks at it the more tempting it is to him. It is stealing his life away, almost as if he’s turning into a zombie or caught in a trance. Then it comes to the last part, “Hold on, Hold on”. This part is obvious, His conscience is screaming at him, begging him to hold on, stop, to think about this.

Well this is just how I see it. Hope it painted a picture for you like it did for me.

My Interpretation