Erase This

Erase This está disponible en español. Ver el artículo Το άρθρο Erase This είναι διαθέσιμο στα ελληνικά. Δείτε το άρθρο Erase This è disponibile in italiano. Vedi l'articolo Erase This está disponível em português. Ver o artigo

Genneral information

Written by: A. Lee, T. Balsamo, T. McCord, T. McLawhorn and W. Hunt

Erase This is the sixth track from Evanescence's third studio album, Evanescence. Working titles for the song were "Vanilla" and "Sharkfin Backpack". On April 12, 2011, Amy uploaded a video on TwitVid titled "Will Shreds" in which Will plays the last drum part of "Erase This".

In a track-by-track interview with NME.com, Amy said:

"Erase This" used to be called "Vanilla", also we're getting used to that name. This was one of the very last ones to finish. I was writing the lyrics throughout the recording process, like I'd always have homework at night. Would be working in the studio and going for it and I'd be going home and finishing lyrics to songs before we got there, which was crazy. I'm not really like that, there's always a little bit of writing going on in the studio but for me I usually have the songs really mapped out vocally before we go in. But since we did so much writing in that pre-production phase, I had a lot of lyrics to write. The lyrics take me the longest, like, we'd come up with the music and the melodies but then I have to really spent some serious deep thinking time alone.

In a live Q&A, Amy stated that she started writing this song with Terry around June 2010. She further said that they couldn't come up with a chorus for a song, and Nick Raskulinecz had the idea to combine the verse and chorus from two separate songs together, making Erase This.

In an interview with Italian Metal Hammer in October 2011, Amy talked about working on the song:

Take into account that up to a certain point in the recordings, we had a structure for that song, but we still didn't have the chorus. We basically rehearsed and rehearsed it in at least four different sessions, between September 2010 and March of this year, and finally managed to record it just a few days before the end of recordings. Why didn't we turn it into an outtake? Well, because the band believed in it.... We felt there was something worthwhile in that harmony and so we racked our brains to the last!

In another interview, it was revealed the song had three different demos before being finished.

It went through three different demos with three different titles; it was born in June 2010 with a duet between me and Terry, but we couldn't get out of it. We put it aside in September, when we brought it back together with the rest of the band. We went on for a long time, but we couldn't finish it. We picked it up at least two more times and only finished it in pre-production... I think it was March of this year! It was a real work of construction: take the chorus, change the key, attach that other piece to it... and in the end a great beautiful song came out, whose best aspect is precisely the glimpse of the patchwork from which it was born.

The song was performed live for the first time on January 13, 2012 at the Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, SC during the Evanescence Tour. Watch a performance of the song here.

Versions

Studio versions:

Erase This

• Recording Date: April 2011 - July 2011
• Status: Released
• Released On: Evanescence (track #6)
• Length: 3:52

Live versions:

Erase This [Live]

• Performing period: January 13 - January 28, 2012; November 2015; May 2, April 30, 2016
• Example: Tabernacle, Atlanta, Georgia (January 14)

Lyrics

It’s too late to change your mind
Even though this fragile world
Is tearing apart at the seams
I can’t wash these sins away
This sinking feeling every day
I’m waking up in someone else’s life

Is it so hard for you?
‘Cause it’s so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed
Could ever come to life again
‘Cause I cannot erase this lie

I’m not gonna let this day go by
I’m gonna save this wasted life
And nothing can stand in my way
Not enough to say goodbye
Burn it 'til there’s nothing left
I'm drowning in the mess that I have made

Is it so hard for you?
‘Cause it’s so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed
Could ever come to life again
‘Cause I cannot erase this darkness in me

The water’s rising around us
There is no other way down
I only have myself to blame
For it all, all

Is it so hard for you?
‘Cause it’s so hard for me
To believe that what we dreamed
Could ever come to life again
If I could just erase my mind
But I cannot erase this lie