Save Yourself

Album: Darkest Days (1998)
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Songfacts®:

  • There are many songs out there about helping a loved one in need, but far fewer about letting that person know they're on their own. In "Save Yourself," Stabbing Westward lead singer Christopher Hall makes it clear he's in no position to help:

    I can not save you
    I can't even save myself


    This person may be looking for a savior-type figure, but fails to recognize that other people have problems as well.
  • In a Songfacts interview with Christopher Hall, he told the story behind this song. "It was after we had success with 'What Do I Have To Do?' and 'Shame,'" he said. "We had a song on our record [Wither Blister Burn & Peel, 1996] called 'Sleep,' which was a song about a girl who had been molested, and what she did to try and deal with it on a nightly basis. That song touched a lot of people that had similar experiences. They all reached out to me at shows, in letters, and in email, which was just starting to become a thing back then. They all had these tragic stories.

    I just felt like everyone was looking to me for some sort of answer, because not only did we have 'Sleep,' but we had songs about mental illness and depression and dealing with hard times and loss and things like that, and everyone thought that since I had written these songs that I had found the answer. I hadn't. That's what 'Save Yourself' is about. I know nothing. I'm right there with you, feeling the same things you're feeling. You have to figure it out for yourself.

    At the time, it felt like a selfish song, like, 'I can't help you, sorry.' But I was trying to help them by saying only you can help yourself."
  • Stabbing Westward had some success on Modern Rock radio in the mid-'90s, but by the end of the decade the format was fading, as were the fortunes of the band. Like many "alternative" bands of the era, they were dropped from their record label, Columbia, even though the Darkest Days album was certified Gold. Stabbing Westward leaned toward industrial, which was a particularly vulnerable format at the time. With the industrial era over, they picked up with an independent label called Koch Records, where they released a self-titled album in 2020.

Comments: 2

  • Saaaaahrundpity from Hell.. M123456789101112121212I'll never let go jack, Titanic yourself, the brother and sister and Dad like Mount Everest iceberg too much weight and the brothers through the knife to the dad, and the dad cut the rope, the tank,(yeah you know the one you know the guy) you shall not pass, wet dreams,ohmagawrsh What dreams... Vietnam all sorts like for example forest.. gump forrest Gump, .self esteem selfless deeds, somebody conferences you just say that to somebody else and then the next day the person you told that to chatted with the person that told you to say what you said and that person tonight everything is that oh my gosh they told you to get lost? I can't believe they would do that that's awful!.. never mind emotional blackmail and extortion and being held hostage human playing flooded scenarios loaded questions Sophie's choice divide and conquerand being mostly emotionally held hostage and... Placing them against me and all I've been trying to do is help and I am a hypocrite hypocrite and the only reason I have asked for advice every single step of the way is of course because I wanted the right thing but I've been conditioned over the years to always keep my card up because no matter what things go back have to rest of the way for advice and followed enough to be thrown back in my face but no matter what ladies and gentlemen boys and girls the struggles real and stop thinking better on struggles and think about others and try to help them and you can only help those that want to be helped and when you catch yourself perpetuating anything crappy
  • Jeff from Casa Grande, Azhow true. they were bold to say it. I respect that. modern times, what a b/tch?
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