My Immortal

This article is about the Evanescence song. For the Ben Moody version, see My Immortal (Ben Moody).

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General information

Written by: A. Lee, B. Moody and D. Hodges

My Immortal is the fourth track from Evanescence's debut album, Fallen. This is one of the most popular songs ever recorded by the band and lasts the entire span of Evanescence’s recording history. It is credited as the fourth song ever written for Evanescence. Ben Moody wrote the original in full when he was 15 years old. It is the second song that he wrote for the band (Understanding is credited as his first). In the later versions of the song, Amy Lee is credited to have written the middle eight and the coinciding piano part to the song. It is believed that David Hodges arranged or played the piano accompaniment for the Fallen version of the song. There are seven different recorded versions of the song. The Fallen version of the song has strings by composer Graeme Revell.

Since Ben is credited for having written the song's lyrics, Amy said in an interview that it's weird to sing someone else's lyrics, but she learned to reinterpret them and make sense to her.

The Origin version was recorded late at night at the radio station where Amy's father worked because the band couldn't afford a "real session."

Until near the end of 2002, the Fallen version was played live. They then began playing the 'Band' version, which later became the version they released as a single. When performed live, Amy is playing the piano herself, but the notes are changed into a much simpler melody, probably to avoid mistakes during live playing. Amy has stated she hates the song because "it's just not [her]" and she feels that she "grown so much now".

The Mystary EP version is like the band version's demo recording. Amy is playing piano with added strings in the background. It also has some similarities to the Fallen version, although a lot of fans say that this one has a more sophisticated piano arrangement. Amy also takes short pauses in the choruses. The verses don't have much of a difference to the band version. Like the Fallen version, this version doesn't include the rock part at the end.

The band version was the version originally intended to be on Fallen, but Wind-up Records were unhappy with this version and decided that the Origin version was best but with more strings in the background.

The song has many different interpretations. Ben wrote a short story before writing the lyrics to the song. According to Ben, the song is about a spirit staying with you after its death and haunting you until you actually wish that the spirit were gone because it won't leave you alone. Ben dedicated the song along with Fallen to his grandfather. The song peaked at #2 on the pop chart just behind Britney Spears' "Toxic".

At the end of the Fallen and the band versions a beeps code can be heard. This effect was used also at the end of Breathe No More and Give Unto Me. This code was believed to be a morse code, but it turned out to be a false information; this is what Ben Moody explained about it:

It's actually a preset pattern on a keyboard synthesizer that we were using on that song. And if you sustain the note long enough, it trails off into this beeping that sounds a lot like Morse Code and we thought that it sounded really cool, so we left it. So it's there by accident, to be perfectly honest with you.

My Immortal was confirmed to be reworked and included on the orchestral album, Synthesis, when the track list was revealed through the album's pre-order on September 15, 2017. This version was performed live for the first time on October 14, 2017 at the Pearl Concert Theater in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Synthesis Live tour. Watch a performance of the song here.

In an 2017 interview, Amy noted that My Immortal is not her favourite song and almost didn't make it to Synthesis. Yet, she decided to re-record it:

I seriously considered not putting it on the album, but it’s this really cool opportunity to do it again. The version that I hear 99.9 percent of the time, I’m in a grocery store and it comes on, is this old demo that I cannot stand. It’s not even a real piano and it’s me singing late at night at my dad’s work where they had a studio and he let us go in there and record and I was in high school. So part of me just wanted to rerecord it and it was just too good of an opportunity to put a new version with David Campbell’s beautiful arrangement at the top of the pile. But that song I’ve never really felt close to. It was written a really long time ago, but now it’s become this big part of our history between our fans and me and I think about the song and the way it makes me feel now. It’s about them, it’s about my relationship with our fans over the years.

When asked which Evanescence song that she got bored of in a interview in December 2020, Amy replied My Immortal:

I went through a phase where I considered never playing it again because I'm so sick of it. It's hard to have your sound wrapped up into one song, but in general artists are known for one song above the others and for us that's either 'Bring Me To Life' or 'My Immortal'. Both of them have something that doesn't sum up our band right, 'Bring Me To Life' has the rap, but 'My Immortal' is the one Evanescence song that I didn't write the lyrics to. It's precious and from this formative time where we were learning how to make music, but our old guitar player wrote the words and I've never liked them. You tend to love something that you pour your real self and heart into more, so it was never my favourite.

Versions

Studio versions:

My Immortal [Fallen version]

• Recording date: 1999, 2002 (Strings)
• Status: Released
• Released on:

Fallen (track #4) – the third single off the album

Daredevil: The Album (track #17)

most of "My Immortal" single editions

• Length: 4:24

My Immortal [Mystary version]

• Recording date: 2001–2002
• Status: Released
• Released on: Mystary EP (track #2)
• Length: 4:40

My Immortal [Band version]

• Recording date: August - November 2002
• Status: Released
• Released on:

Re-release of Fallen (track #12, track #13 on Japanese editions)

All of the "My Immortal" single editions and numerous compilation CDs

• Length: 4:36

My Immortal [Band version (Guitars down)]

• Recording date: August - November 2002
• Status: Released
• Released on: "My Immortal" UK CD 2 single and most of the promotional singles
• Length: 4:36

My Immortal [Band version (No strings)]

• Recording date: August - November 2002
• Status: Released
• Released on: Most of the "My Immortal" promotional singles
• Length: 4:36

My Immortal [Origin version]

• Recording date: 1999
• Status: Released
• Released on: Origin (track #4)
• Length: 4:26

My Immortal [Evanescence EP outtake]

• Recording date: 1998
• Status: Unreleased
• Length: 5:20

My Immortal [Synthesis version]

• Recording date: May - August 2017
• Status: Released
• Released on: Synthesis (track #14)
• Length: 4:25

Live versions:

My Immortal [2000–2004 Live]

• Performing period: 2000 - August 14, 2004
• Status: Released
• Recording date: October 17, 2003 ("My Immortal" single), May 25, 2004 (Anywhere but Home)
• Released on:

"My Immortal" single

Anywhere but Home (track #9)

• Length: 4:15 ("My Immortal" single), 4:38 (Anywhere but Home)

My Immortal [2006–2007 Live]

• Performing period: October 5, 2006 - December 8, 2007
• Example: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada (January 8, 2007)

My Immortal [2009 Live]

• Performing Period: November 4, November 8, 2009
• Performed at: New York City secret gig (November 4) and Maquinaria Festival, São Paulo, Brazil (November 8)

My Immortal [2011–2012 Live]

• Performing Period: August 17, 2011 - November 9, 2012
• Example: Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, California, USA (October 11, 2011)

My Immortal [2016 Live]

• Performing Period: October - November 2016
• Example: The Diamond Ballroom, Oklahoma City, OK (October 30th, 2016)

My Immortal [2017 Live]

• Performing Period: April 2017
• Example: Arenele Romane, Bucharest, Romania (June 29th, 2017)

My Immortal [Synthesis Live]

• Performing period: October 14, 2017 - September 8, 2018
• Status: Released
• Recording date: November 3, 2017
• Released on: Synthesis Live (track #14)
• Length: 4:47

My Immortal [Acoustic]

• Performing period: 2003; December 7, 2011; November 2015; April - May 2016
• Status: Released
• Released on:

"Bring Me to Life" UK DVD single (track #4)

"My Immortal" German (Pock-It!®) single (track #2)

"Lost in Paradise" digital single (track #3)

• Length: 4:29

Download

• My Immortal (Evanescence EP Outtake)
• My Immortal (Origin)
• My Immortal (Mystary EP)

Lyrics

Fallen, Origin, Mystary, acoustic and band versions

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

Evanescence EP outtake

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
I would give the very breath from my chest
To give you all the things that my mind couldn't bear
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

I'd love to walk away and pull myself out of the rain
But I can't leave without you
I'd love to live without the constant fear and endless doubt
But I can't live without you

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have all of me

Video

My Immortal Video

The video for "My Immortal" was shot in Barcelona (the fountain in the video is a tourist stop for many fans) and played in black-and-white. Throughout the video, Lee is never seen touching the ground because she is a ghost. It was released on November 9, 2003.

In an interview with Rock Sound magazine, Lee commented on the video's concept:

You know what? When you see the video it's really amazing. Obviously we filmed it before this [Ben Moody's departure] happened and it's amazing irony, how much it makes sense. We're all separated and wandering the streets looking like it's the day after a funeral, with Ben in a suit and bare feet, and I'm never touching the ground. I'm sitting on a phone booth or lying on a car, to hint that I'm dead, that I'm singing from the dead. It's all about separation. It's almost like the director knew what was going to happen, but he can't have known. It's just one of those fate things.

The video was filmed 2 weeks before Ben Moody left the band.

In a comment on EvBoard, Amy said that her hair in the video is very similar to the way her hair is naturally (she straightens it normally).

• Watch the video on YouTube.com

Commercial release

Main article: My Immortal Single

The "My Immortal" single was released on December 8, 2003.

Tracks released with this single include:

1. "My Immortal" [Band version]
2. "My Immortal" [Live from Cologne]
3. "Haunted" [Live from Sessions@AOL]
4. "My Immortal" [Video]
5. "My Immortal" [Video - Behind the Scenes]
6. "My Immortal" [Band version (No strings)]
7. "My Immortal" [Band version (Guitars down)]
8. "My Immortal" [Fallen version]
9. "My Immortal" [Live acoustic]

Guitar tabs & sheet music

• Piano sheet music (Live version) - arranged by Nolan
• Piano sheet music (Album version) - arranged by Yi Su
• Piano sheet music (Piano/vocal version - 1998 demos) - arranged by Kyle Marcolini
• Piano sheet music (real)