anonymous September 7th, 2006 11:39PM  
This song is about Dave Matthews' sister who was killed by her husband. Her name was Grace who his daughter is named after.

anonymous September 15th, 2006 11:27AM  
Actually you are all completely wrong...Aparently no one has a clue...But "grace is gone" is not about his sister grace, because he doesn't have one. His sister that was murdered by her husband was anne, and his other sister is jane...Not mother-in-law either...Stupid fuck haha...It is about being inlove through all the hard times but then losing that love of your life, and turning to alcohol as recovery...Or an escape...Peace

anonymous October 18th, 2006 05:07PM  
I agree completely. The song is definitely not about his sister or mother-in-law. While we are at it, let's take god out of the equation, too.
One definition for the word grace is: "generosity of spirit" meaning a capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people.
"she broke my heart, my grace is gone..." means that he doesn't have the ability to tolerate or deal with anyone right now. The love of his life left him, ripped his heart out of his chest, and he is coping with it by turning to alcohol. He wants to remember, but at the same time forget that she ever existed.
All of this, of course, is figuratively speaking.

anonymous November 16th, 2006 05:18PM  
wowawiwo. I know for a fact that this song is for his step-father. at one of his shows he said "this song I wrote just after my step-dad died. I found it hard to squeeze stepfather into a song so.. I just did the easy thing". He meant this song to have an overtone about love, but the undertone is about the loss of his stepfather.

anonymous November 21st, 2006 05:04PM  
i agree 100% that this is about his step-father who died. He loved him so much and decided to write a song about him but it wouldn't be Dave's style to write about a father, or a man for that matter. So he went with what people know him for writing about which is love and loss.

DarkNick January 18th, 2007 06:58AM  
I've got a live recording where Dave actually says that this song is about his father. He doesn't clarify any more than that...so take it for what it's worth.

BigEyedPhish December 1st, 2007 04:37PM  
Ok you dumb fucks..this song is not about anything yall have said. This song is about when he was dating his girlfriend who is now his wife and she had to move to california for college. After she moved dave got depressed and turned to drinking a shit load.

DmbDreamer January 21st, 2008 10:58PM  
Its not about a girl who moved away to college you moron. He would never write a song about something so lame. Dave is way to deep for that petty crap. It appears as if there is a lot of evidence about it being a song for a step father but now aware he ever had a step dad? His real father died when he was younger though. And his sister who died was named Anne!

anonymous February 11th, 2008 07:26PM  
Ok, thank god I don't have to register, it wouldn't let me, and I need to set everyone straight. I know this happens at least once on every interpretations page, but the line that goes "you think of things impossible, then the sun refuse to shine, I woke with you beside me, your cold hand lay in mine" it's about someone who had their true love, and she died unexpectedly in the middle of the night. or maybe it's about an older guy whose wife died, but the point is, this song IS about someone losing their love in the middle of the night to unexpected (possibly even expected, god, who CARES, you were all so damn wrong) death. That is all.

anonymous March 23rd, 2008 01:30AM  
Obviously this song is about him being dumped. Due to the line "I could never love again so much as I loved you, where you went where I begin Its like a river flowing through."

anonymous March 23rd, 2008 01:32AM  
How can it be about his love dying in the middle of the night? all he talks about his his love breaking his heart. I know losing someone is heartbreaking, but not in the text he is using it in.

anonymous April 18th, 2008 02:44PM  
A couple of you are right, he has said that this song is about his step-father dying, but he says he is too "pussywhipped" to write about it in that light. So he wrote about losing a girl.

anonymous April 27th, 2008 05:25AM  
This song is about his sister Anne who was murdered. Grace is referring to how he is acting or feeling, and being drunk. He wrote this she died. Dave cried during the first time he played the song.

oregoniangal July 24th, 2008 11:18PM  
"Grace is gone" is about one losing their faith, strength, and spirit, not in a religious way, but in a spiritual way. someone has broken his heart. "her cold hand lay in mine"...could be interpreted as death, but more of the loss and death of a relationship. It is the hand of the one he loves who no longer loves him the way he wants her to. Her hand doesn't have the love and warmth it used to.

anonymous September 12th, 2008 10:34AM  
I 100% guarantee you it is written in memory of his step dad, who had a significant and positive influence in Dave's life. Obviously its not meant to be interpreted literally and is merely a melancholy song expressing the grief he felt at the man's passing. please refrain from ridiculing each others interpretations. What's real to one person may not be real to another. Its good to express what you think a song is about, but in doing so there is no need to belittle someone else's opinion.

kaseitz24 October 11th, 2008 02:49AM  
This song is about his stepdad dying

He says at the beginning of one live version:
"This was just after my step dad died, so it's the kind of song that was dedicated to him sort of... but I found it hard to squeeze a step dad into a song, so I sort of did the easy thing"

Astout_fiveonetree December 30th, 2008 06:09AM  
These "interpretations" are what you think they mean not the reasons he wrote them....right?

anonymous September 9th, 2009 09:31PM  
This is about the death of his step father who happened to be "full of grace" in life.