Song Meanings

Aaron Lewis 
Break The Cycle - Track 01

"The lyrics are very old. Those are from like 10th or 11th grade in high school. 
For some strange reason while we were in recording I was having a hard time 
coming up with something for it. Sitting there, listening to it over and over 
again to have some sort of inspirational moment, these lyrics to this old song 
from a long time ago came into my head. I don't usually write observationally, 
I usually write introspectively, and this song is very observational."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 02

"'Pressure' is my response to the pressure I was under to get this record done. 
It's like a culmination of the pressure that I was under at the time because 
I was like half way through the record and I was now out of stuff that was readily 
and easily flowing through me. It was a combination of the pressure of that 
and a panic attack, which I get."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 03
 
"'Fade' is like my reply, I'll just kind of leave it like that."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 04

"It's just kind of an introspective song about realizing that it's been awhile since 
a lot of things. It's been awhile since I could hold my head up high, it's been 
awhile since I said I was sorry, it's been awhile since I could say that I wasn't 
addicted, it's been awhile since I could say I love myself. It's kind of an 
acknowledgement that it's been awhile." 

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 05

"Change" is about trying to deal with what's going on in my life." 

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 06

"'Can't Believe' is a reply to the blatant disrespect for human beings that 
I see every night at our shows. It's like fucking "Lord Of The Flies" sometimes. 
I see little 12, 13 year old girls basically getting raped on top of the crowd, 
getting their clothes torn off them, clutching themselves. Just terrible, terrible 
shit that I see. Just blatant disrespect for the people around you. You know it's 
somebody's little sister, it's somebody's daughter. Where the fuck did you come 
up with the idea that you think it's ok to do that just because you're at a concert? 
It goes to show that the most important job in the whole world, which is being 
a parent, has been completely forgotten about. People have forgotten how to be 
parents. That's like the beginning of the end. You wait. If shit doesn't change, 
you wait and see what it's like in 20 years."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 07

"'Epiphany' is just kind of another realization type of song, kind of an 
explanation. It was an epiphany in the fact that I had heard the whole 
song in my head and just had to keep doing things until it was complete. 
I did everything on that song. I programmed the drums, I did the 
keyboards for the strings of the chorus, played the guitar, played the bass 
and did the vocals."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 08

"Wake up and look around you and see what the fuck is going on. 
The more you see, the more you do, the television's feeding you 
with what you want to hear, anger and fear, because we suffer. 
One of the many cycles in life that just continue going around in 
cycles unless they're broken."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 09

"My song to my wife."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 10

"'For You' is for the kids. It's totally written for the kids, it's for them 
to be able to turn up real loud so that their parents can hear what I'm 
saying. It's basically a song for the kids to sing to their parents. I wrote 
it in the shoes of these kids who come up and talk to me all the time."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 11

"I still don't know what "Outside" is about."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 12

"'Waste' is about a kid that killed himself and I guess was a 
big fan of Staind. His mother came to a show of ours and stood 
outside the bus crying kind of wanting me to come off the bus and 
talk to her and give her answers to all the questions she had when I 
didn't know the kid. It's kind of my reply to the completely 
uncomfortable situation that I was put into."

Aaron Lewis
Break The Cycle - Track 13

"'Take It' is like the final song on the record. The chorus to "Take It" 
is "everything that I can say to you won't help you, everything you 
need is right in front of you, just take it". It's kind of like my last 
attempt to say that I'm no different than you. Everything is right 
there in front of you and you just have to take it."

Aaron Lewis
Dysfunction - Track 6

"Yeah, [Dysfunction] was a day in my life. A lot of our songs are from experience. 
That whole record was basically my life up until I wrote the record, for the most part. 
Actually, the song "Home" was written about being in Jacksonville at Fred's house, 
and being away from my wife."

Aaron Lewis
Tormented - Track 6
Dysfunction - Track 5
"...It was actually about the end of my last relationship before I met my wife."

Aaron Lewis
14 Shades Of Grey - Track 8

"My daughter Zoe was born the day [Alice in Chains frontman] Layne [Staley] 
died," Lewis said. "I say that in the song, but Zoe is a song to let her 
know how much her coming into this world has done for me."

Aaron Lewis
14 Shades of Grey - Track 6

" 'Layne' came out from my disappointment with the whole industry in letting 
Layne's death go somewhat unnoticed," Lewis said. "There was never a tribute 
show put together or anything to celebrate his life and his death. He was such 
an influential singer and songwriter, and pretty much every vocalist that's 
out there right now that listened to that type of music has been influenced 
by him. But his death was kind of a non-event. It was almost like everyone 
went, 'Oh, another rock and roll junkie died. Let's move on.' That was really 
sad to me."

Aaron Lewis
14 Shades of Grey - Track 4

"I guess its looking back in wonderment and amazement as to where I came from 
and what I've been through to get here."

Aaron Lewis
14 Shades of Grey - Track 2

"The song's kind of to the people in the [music] business, they think they can 
just sit behind a desk and tell us all how to do it.  If they knew how to do 
it, they wouldn't be behind a desk."