13.3 - In Class Activity: How to Save a Life
To-Do Date: Sat Jan 16 2021 07:59:59 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
| In Class Activity |
| In Class Activity Continued... |
By doing some research, we can uncover the actual Compositional Intent from the composer himself:
According to lead singer Isaac Slade, the song was composed and influenced by his experience while working as a mentor at a camp for troubled teenagers.
"One of the youngsters I was paired up with was a musician. Here I was, a protected suburbanite, and he was just 17 and had all these problems. And no one could write a manual on how to save him.
Slade claims that the song is about all of the people that tried to reach out to the boy but were unsuccessful. As Slade says in an interview, the boy's friends and family approached him by saying, "Quit taking drugs and cutting yourself or I won't talk to you again," but all he needed was some support. The boy was losing friends and going through depression. He lost his best friend and could not deal with it. The verses of the song describe an attempt by an adult to confront a troubled teen. In the chorus, the singer laments that he himself was unable to save a friend because he did not know how."