The Fray "How to Save a Life"
The gentlemen of The Fray rock well together in their album, How to Save A Life, and present thoughtful exploration of the many dichotomies that divide relationships and confuse us everyday. The vocals and piano are provided by Isaac Slade, the guitar provided by Joe King and Dave Welsh, and Ben Wysocki plays the drums. From start to finish, they have lots of questions that they’re willing to ask—and their not clear how many answers they expect spelled out for them.
In “She Is,� Slade longs for a girl who is “everything I need that I never knew I wanted/She is everything I want that I never knew I needed.� The differences bring them together and tear them apart, as well as provide him clarity while tearing out his heart. Ah yes, clear as mud! It seems that love in its many forms is a wonder to The Fray, and why shouldn’t it be? These guys are professing Christians who don’t want to be considered a “Christian band,� and here they are as young men exploring relationships in their confusing natures.
This confusion in relationships really seems to stem from their own lack of identity. In “Over My Head,� they’re looking for the truth as everything falls apart. “It’s coming down to nothing more than apathy/I’d rather run the other way than stay and see/The smoke and who’s still standing when it clears,� sings Slade. Admitting that he’s being outclassed, he lacks the initiative to make the right decision because failure looms large. This carries over into “How to Save a Life,� a tongue-in-cheek layout for the moves needed to prevent someone else from hurting themselves. It’s tongue-in-cheek because the directions are things we do that we shouldn’t when trying to help someone: offering to listen but really thinking of what to say, believing that you know better than person in the situation, never believe that person actually will commit suicide. The refrain reflects, “Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend/Somewhere along in the bitterness/And I would have stayed up with you all night/Had I known how to save a life.�
The criticism of ‘standard’ expectations continues in “All At Once,� a knock on romantic expectations that must be put aside to truly find love in relationships and “Far Away,� a reminder that the past resurfaces unless it’s been dealt with fully. Then it’s back to the dichotomy of relationships in “Heaven Forbid� and “Look After You.� In “Look,� Slade longs to derive some reassurance from a relationship, but he’s in a rush: “Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait/My heart has started to separate.� By the end he begins to recognize that he must allow for letting go if he wants to build that trust and gain something more than temporary.
After a few more lovesick insecurities, The Fray returns with “Little House,� a song about a girl who won’t share her pain with others, instead opting to try anything short of suicide. She cuts herself, scratching out what she wants to forget about and no one expects her to recover. Slade encourages her to look back through her childhood and work through it so that she can recover. Here, the band seems more willing to save a life!
The album closes with “Trust Me,� as the band is “looking for something I’ve never seen/Alone and I’m in between/The place that I’m from and the place that I’m in.� Slade recognizes that we can come and go, holding the world during our turn we don’t always recognize that we have a responsibility to take care of it. He sings that “If I say who I know it just goes to show/You need me less than I need you,� possibly alluding to their understanding of the Christian God. Still, the Fray is openly expressing here and throughout the album that they don’t have all the answers and nor do they understand everything.
I found their music ‘easy on the ears’ and their message to be refreshing—they didn’t claim to know everything but it’s still powered by hope and love.
In “She Is,� Slade longs for a girl who is “everything I need that I never knew I wanted/She is everything I want that I never knew I needed.� The differences bring them together and tear them apart, as well as provide him clarity while tearing out his heart. Ah yes, clear as mud! It seems that love in its many forms is a wonder to The Fray, and why shouldn’t it be? These guys are professing Christians who don’t want to be considered a “Christian band,� and here they are as young men exploring relationships in their confusing natures.
This confusion in relationships really seems to stem from their own lack of identity. In “Over My Head,� they’re looking for the truth as everything falls apart. “It’s coming down to nothing more than apathy/I’d rather run the other way than stay and see/The smoke and who’s still standing when it clears,� sings Slade. Admitting that he’s being outclassed, he lacks the initiative to make the right decision because failure looms large. This carries over into “How to Save a Life,� a tongue-in-cheek layout for the moves needed to prevent someone else from hurting themselves. It’s tongue-in-cheek because the directions are things we do that we shouldn’t when trying to help someone: offering to listen but really thinking of what to say, believing that you know better than person in the situation, never believe that person actually will commit suicide. The refrain reflects, “Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend/Somewhere along in the bitterness/And I would have stayed up with you all night/Had I known how to save a life.�
The criticism of ‘standard’ expectations continues in “All At Once,� a knock on romantic expectations that must be put aside to truly find love in relationships and “Far Away,� a reminder that the past resurfaces unless it’s been dealt with fully. Then it’s back to the dichotomy of relationships in “Heaven Forbid� and “Look After You.� In “Look,� Slade longs to derive some reassurance from a relationship, but he’s in a rush: “Forgive the urgency but hurry up and wait/My heart has started to separate.� By the end he begins to recognize that he must allow for letting go if he wants to build that trust and gain something more than temporary.
After a few more lovesick insecurities, The Fray returns with “Little House,� a song about a girl who won’t share her pain with others, instead opting to try anything short of suicide. She cuts herself, scratching out what she wants to forget about and no one expects her to recover. Slade encourages her to look back through her childhood and work through it so that she can recover. Here, the band seems more willing to save a life!
The album closes with “Trust Me,� as the band is “looking for something I’ve never seen/Alone and I’m in between/The place that I’m from and the place that I’m in.� Slade recognizes that we can come and go, holding the world during our turn we don’t always recognize that we have a responsibility to take care of it. He sings that “If I say who I know it just goes to show/You need me less than I need you,� possibly alluding to their understanding of the Christian God. Still, the Fray is openly expressing here and throughout the album that they don’t have all the answers and nor do they understand everything.
I found their music ‘easy on the ears’ and their message to be refreshing—they didn’t claim to know everything but it’s still powered by hope and love.
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